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Sixties snapshots
1967/68 and 1968/69
"I
heard the news today, oh boy,
Four thousand holes in Blackburn Lancashire."
('A Day In The Life', The Beatles, 1967)
Nuff said.
They called it the ‘Summer of Love’ (I
wasn’t qualified to say, not because of age but more a lack of opportunity). If you
were then a flower child, since ‘hippie’ is now a term of abuse, the things to
wear were kaftans, beads and bells and, oh yes, flowers, lots of them. As Scott
McKenzie’s 'San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair)' and The
Flowerpot Men’s 'Let’s Go To San Francisco' suggested, the place to be was,
well, San Francisco. And if you did go to San Francisco, Haight-Ashbury was ‘where
it’s at’. There were no prizes for guessing what the substance of ‘it’
was. The district became renamed as ‘Hashbury’ for reasons other than brevity.
The music was pretty good. I’m not talking about the bandwagon jumping Scott here.
There were much more interesting West Coast sounds than that. This area spawned a clutch
of innovative bands including The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, Frank
Zappa’s Mothers, The magical Captain Beefheart, Country Joe and The Fish and Big
Brother and The Holding Company.
Big Brother were then fronted by a raw female vocalist.
She would stamp, plead, exact and accuse, her booze-soaked voice flitting from balmy
sweetness to husky desperation. This was no sappy flower trip. This was full tilt blues.
Somehow you couldn’t see a future for Janis on the tuxedo cabaret circuit. It was
academic. She didn’t have a future.
Over in the East, there was a darker take on the hippie
thing. In New York, Andy Warhol’s Exploding Plastic Inevitable featured a four-piece
band. They were loud, discordant and unsettling. They were The Velvet Underground. Their
subject matter wasn’t the stuff that typically engaged the ‘beautiful
people’. For they seemed more preoccupied with pushers, pimps and prostitutes than
‘free love’. Transvestites, bad trips and sado-masochism were more their stock
in trade as 'Venus In Furs' illustrated. Just listen how John Cale’s scraping viola
gives that piece a neurotic edge. It contributed as much to the ‘Summer of Love’
as Charles Manson.
Back in Britain, we were about to break with tradition.
The Beeb had decided to run its own pop music station. In a splurge of imagination they
christened it Radio One. As for the presenters, it was a straight case of poachers
becoming gamekeepers as ‘pirate’ jocks like Tony Blackburn and John Peel took
the Queen’s shilling. On Saturday 30th September 1967, Tony Blackburn
first put the show on the road with The Move’s 'Flowers in the Rain'. Remember that
one, it’s a Trivial Pursuit question.
On this same bright, warm Saturday Burnley beat a
relegation-bound Fulham 2-0 at Turf Moor. Their success owed something to a break with
tradition, too. For the opening goal was scored by summer purchase Frank Casper. Bob Lord
explained the change of policy thus. "What we cannot afford to do is go into the
Second Division. If we stuck to our earlier aim not to buy, we would deserve to be called
arrogant fools."
But goalscoring didn’t seem to be the problem.
After a 2-3 defeat at Molineux on the 23rd September, Burnley had established
themselves as the Division’s highest scorers. Unfortunately, they were shipping too
many at the other end. A week prior to a home game with Chelsea (1-1), Colin Waldron was
bought for £30,000 from their London opponents. Colin hadn’t settled in the capital
after his move from Bury. However, Colin didn’t exactly settle in Burnley’s
defence, either. In his third game, Burnley crashed 1-8 at West Brom. Other bad defeats
followed that season like at newly-promoted Coventry (1-5). And of course, there was our
annual thrashing by Spurs (0-5). In the period 1967-71, Burnley would concede twenty goals
and score none during their four visits to White Hart Lane.
Burnley v
Arsenal
The League Cup provided a dalliance of sorts. Thanks to
the efforts of Irvine and Casper, Cardiff, Notts Forest and current Champions QPR were all
seen off in the earlier rounds. This left the Clarets having to face Arsenal in the
quarter-final. They had the benefit of a home tie while their opponents had lost four and
drawn just one of their previous five away games.
Burnley started off like a train, going two goals up
within nine minutes. Lochhead and O’Neil did the damage. However, Burnley’s
defence did its disappearing routine as George Graham (twice) and Frank McLintock smacked
in three goals in a ten minute spell, leaving the Gunners 3-2 ahead at halftime. Then
shortly after the interval, Arsenal full back Bob McNab was dismissed. This allowed
Burnley back in. Nevertheless, it took a late equaliser from Willie Irvine to ensure a
replay.
A lot of bad feeling had been generated during the Cup
game. So it was unfortunate that the home league fixture with Arsenal (1-0) should follow
just three days later. Again, tempers quickly flared and McLintock was controversially
sent off after Frank Casper was floored. Using TV evidence, McLintock managed later to
overturn the referee’s decision at a FA Disciplinary hearing. But TV evidence
didn’t help team mate Peter Storey. For he was also dismissed after protesting too
vigorously about Gordon Harris’s goal. The goal resulted from a free kick awarded
against him. According to 'Match of the Day' evidence, Storey’s tackle seemed
legitimate enough. The Cup replay looked as if it would be a joy.
In the third game, Arsenal’s Pat Rice made his
debut at left back in place of the suspended Bob McNab. Such was the state of
Burnley’s defence that Harry tried Andy Lochhead in a sweeper role. It did the
Clarets no good. Although Irvine contributed his last strike for the club, Arsenal scraped
through with goals from John Radford and Terry Neill. Arsenal then proceeded to make it to
Wembley where they lost 1-0 to Revie’s Leeds in a truly dire final.
The Arsenal tie was also a watershed for Gordon Harris.
After the match Burnley suspended him. It was alleged that he had been out on the night
before the game. Harris was unhappy apparently feeling that he was being blamed for the
club’s mediocre results. In January 1968 he moved to Sunderland for £70,000.
January 1968 was a bad month. It was icily cold for the
first two weeks, causing postponements of both league games. When Burnley did get going,
they managed to grab a point at Roker (2-2) but then went out of the FA Cup at the first
time of asking. Frank Casper scored again but Burnley couldn’t make home advantage
tell against West Ham (1-3).
It was a bad month for the US military commanders, too.
The Tet offensive simply exploded the myth that they were winning this war. A B-52 bomber
also crashed in Greenland, causing a big nuclear contamination scare. Its bombs have never
been recovered. However, while the war was hitting the US hard at home and abroad, we were
being very patriotic. The ‘I’m Backing Britain’ campaign was launched on
New Year’s Day. The idea came from a heating and ventilation firm in Surbiton. As a
means of combating the current economic blight, its female workers promised to work an
extra half-hour each day free of charge. The press quickly picked up the cause. So did the
Labour Party. Bruce Forsyth climbed on board as well, again proving that nothing rolls so
fast through a vacuum as a bandwagon.
As for Man Utd’s bandwagon, that seemed
unstoppable. Coming into their fixture at Turf Moor they had enjoyed an twelve match
unbeaten run in the league. Only Spurs had overcome them in a FA Cup replay. They were en
route for European Cup glory, too. Brian Kidd had successfully replaced David Herd,
contributing 15 league goals in his debut year. But this was George Best’s season. On
top of his Wembley heroics he also put away 28 league goals. Burnley had blown a two goal
lead at Old Trafford in early September (2-2). But the pools tipsters had this one down
for an away banker. Eddie Simmons was there.
Burnley v
Man Utd
17th February 1968
"This was one of my first visits to Turf Moor,
living in my home town of Leeds. I paid the fourteen shillings return train fare
travelling via Skipton and Colne. I was unaware the match had an all ticket tag but was
able to get in and I stood on the Bee Hole terraces. Manchester United had taken over the
Longside.
Manchester United were reigning League champions and
were currently top of the League with 41 points from 27 games, one point ahead and two
games in hand of Leeds.
The first half saw Manchester United in command, their
superior class showing and they took an early lead through one George Best, who took
advantage of a defensive mix-up between Waldron and Thomson. Stiles and Crerand were
dominating midfield and both Best and Charlton were able to expose gaps in the Burnley
defence on many occasions. he Clarets looked well beaten.
The second half, however, saw Burnley tighten things
up. Latcham was able to shut out the threat of Best, as he did on numerous other occasions
and Merrington kept a close guard on Law, who missed two glorious chances in the match.
The equaliser came from a 25 yard drive from O’Neil, who more than made up for his
poor first half performance. Burnley were now buzzing and Dobson, who had replaced the
injured Lochhead (he’d been signed that season from Bolton as a centre forward),
scored six minutes later after a good run by Latcham. An all action finale followed, which
saw Frank Casper sent off by referee GW Handley after bringing down Francis Burns. A
tremendous fight back after looking well beaten brought Burnley both points."
Burnley:
Thomson, Angus, Latcham, Todd, Waldron, Merrington, Morgan, O’Neil, Lochhead, Casper,
Coates. sub. Dobson.
Man Utd:
Stepney, Dunne, Burns, Crerand, Sadler, Stiles, Best, Kidd, Charlton, Law, Aston.
Attendance:
31,965
Eddie
Simmons
The royal
flush of youth
In a season of mixed results and comings and goings,
Burnley’s FA Youth Cup side gave us the biggest lift. Kindon scored twice in the
first round tie with Manchester City (4-3) and from then on the youngsters never looked
back. Man Utd, Everton and Sheffield United were all beaten, enabling Burnley to progress
to a two-legged final with Coventry. Although the away leg was lost 1-2, an injury to the
Coventry keeper during the home tie helped Burnley secure the Cup with a 2-0 win. David
Hartley was the local hero, scoring both second half goals. As a matter of interest, the
name of the Coventry keeper was David Icke. Remember him? Once a Hereford professional,
once a broadcaster and once an industrial strength weirdo. Perhaps keeping goal for
Hereford inspires messianic notions? Not sure about the turquoise bit though.
Burnley:
McEvoy, Jones, Docherty, Wrigley, Cliff, Probert, West, Hartley, Brown, Thomas, Kindon.
As for the first team, a stirring end of season win
against Leeds (3-0) enabled them to maintain their fourteenth position. The financial
situation was still troublesome. The annual wage bill had increased from £116,241 to
£123,263 and several reserves were released including Stan Ternent who transferred to
Carlisle for £4,000. However, Willie Morgan’s refusal to re-sign was the biggest
concern. But with David Thomas now waiting in the wings, the club seemed to have something
in reserve.
1968 - a
momentous year
As Burnley’s 1967/68 season was stuttering to a
close, Martin Luther King was gunned down in Memphis. His death triggered race riots in
towns and cities right across the USA. It heralded a new militancy in Black politics. At
the Olympic Games later that year, US sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos gave the
clenched fist Black Panther salute from the victory podium. Even Black music became more
politicised. James Brown’s stomping ‘Say It Loud I’m Black and I’m
Proud’ seemed a far cry from Motown’s crossover harmonies. In South Africa,
Prime Minister Vorster angrily cancelled the MCC tour after hearing of Basil
D’Oliveira’s selection. "This is not a cricket team," he ranted,
"but a team of troublemakers for South Africa’s separate development
policies."
Enoch Powell thought we had enough troubles of our own.
He warned of a "Tiber foaming with much blood" if we didn’t address
Britain’s race relations issues. His answer was to curb immigration. The subsequent
collapse of his political career was as dramatic as that of Ronan Point, a 22 storey GLC
tower block, which crumbled like a pack of cards after a gas explosion. Another of the
year’s casualties was Alexander Dubcek. The weight of Soviet tank tracks simply
ground his liberal reforms into the Prague dust. As for the Kennedy family, 1968 proved to
be yet another tragic year when Bobby became the victim of a Palestinian assassin named
Sirhan Sirhan. But Jackie K helped put Dallas behind her as she finally became Jackie O.
1968 was also a year of student revolt. In Paris some
graffiti read, "Do not adjust your mind – there is a fault in reality." For
a time, the improbable seemed possible as French workers backed the rioting students.
Student leader, Danny ‘the Red’ Cohn-Bendit masqueraded as a latter day Lenin,
hogging the world’s media and merging anarchist and socialist principles in his
combustible multi-lingual diatribes. But De Gaulle didn’t blink. His nerve held.
"Yes to reform," he retorted, "No to fouling the bed." No arguments
with that, Charles. Soon the threat of revolution receded.
Burnley v
Leeds
19th October 1968
At the start of the new season, Willie Morgan moved
onto Man Utd for £117,000, where he would become the ‘poor man’s George
Best’. That epithet really seemed to irk him. Perhaps that’s why he was ready to
badmouth George publicly when the United star started to go AWOL. But this is just tittle
tattle.
Morgan’s fee was put to good use immediately.
Defender Jim Thomson was signed from Chelsea for a club record fee of £40,000. God knows,
he seemed to be needed. The previous season’s defensive problems had not been sorted,
as two drubbings in London proved. Not that Jim’s debut had a startling effect.
Liverpool came to Turf Moor on the 5th October and just cleaned up (0-4). Four
changes were made for the next home game against West Ham. Thomson was axed and there was
no place for Lochhead and O’Neil. The changes worked. West Ham were beaten 3-1 with
goals from new starlet John Murray, Dobson and Kindon. The first away win of the season
was then secured at Stoke on the following Saturday (3-1) with Murray again grabbing a
goal. This brought Leeds to Turf Moor on a grey autumn Saturday. Eddie
Simmons was again there to see one of Burnley’s most memorable
performances. Mary Hopkin’s 'Those Were The Days' was, quite appropriately, at Number
one.
"Leeds United, managed by Don Revie, were leading
the First Division while Burnley were in mid table. The Burnley side had an average age of
22. Most of their players had very few first team appearances behind them whereas Leeds
were brimming with internationals. Not that Burnley found this to be at all daunting.
Leeds were overrun from kick off by Burnley’s
enthusiasm. The Clarets scored first through Coates in the 19th minute. Thomas
crossed from the left to Casper who passed back for Coates to let fly from 25 yards
leaving Sprake helpless. In no time at all Burnley went further ahead when Casper put away
a header from Coates’ left wing cross. The Clarets then had a fright as Waldron
singed his own post and from the resulting corner Bremner hooked the ball into the net.
There were two more chances for each side before the break. First a Dobson pile driver was
fisted away by Sprake (for once in the right place) and Giles who went close with a right
foot shot.
In less than a minute from the restart Murray scored a
third for Burnley with the help of some slack marking by Madeley. Burnley were now playing
with confidence and enthusiasm. The final two goals came shortly before the end. In the 78th
minute Murray sent a ball through for Kindon who despite a heavy nudge from a Leeds
defender was able to crash the ball home. Then in the 81st minute Sprake again
advanced off his line as Casper sent a shot over him and into the net for his second and
Burnley’s fifth. The Turf Moor crowd gave Burnley a great ovation at the end and left
with their expectations raised by the quality of the ‘whizz kids’
performance."
Burnley:
Thomson, Smith, Latcham, Dobson, Waldron, Blant, Thomas, Murray, Casper, Coates, Kindon.
Leeds:
Sprake, Reaney, Cooper, Bremner, Charlton, Hunter, O’Grady, Giles, Jones, Madeley,
Gray. sub. Lorimer for Cooper
Attendance:
26,423
Eddie
Simmons
On the following day, the Sunday Papers were drooling
hyperboles. On Monday, it was the same. The Daily Telegraph correspondent wrote,
"Burnley’s capacity for producing the goods just when they seem about to join
the other Lancashire teams in the Second Division is enough to send rich clubs flocking to
see what the Turf Moor boffins do in their mysterious laboratories." The Daily Mirror
reporter added, "The best defence in England was thrown into confusion by players who
have not yet achieved the status of household names in Burnley, let mind the country.
Whoever heard of David Thomas, Steve Kindon and John Murray for instance?"
John Murray’s name got around quite quickly
though, particularly among First Division defenders. His eight goals in eight league and
cup games helped propel Burnley on an eight match winning sequence. It also earned him
selection for the England Under-23 squad. With Murray on such a hot streak, the club
deemed Lochhead surplus to requirements and sold him to Leicester for £70,000. This was a
risky strategy given the inexperience of the Burnley team. Moreover, set back by an injury
in November, Murray’s knack deserted him as rapidly as he’d found it and he,
too, was sold on in the following season after requesting a move.
Burnley’s run of excellent form enabled them to
reach the semi-finals of the league cup. There they met Third Division Swindon, who had
embarked upon a major giant killing exercise. Burnley lost the home leg 2-1, with future
Clarets hero Peter Noble scoring the winner. However the score was reversed at the County
Ground, setting up a replay at the Hawthorns on December 18th. Michael Benyon was there to see it.
Burnley v
Swindon
18th December 1968
"Just a fortnight had elapsed since the Clarets
magnificent win in Swindon. It was now Wednesday 18th December and the date for
the replay at the Hawthorns. The portents were not good, for Burnley had already had a 3-2
defeat here and also suffered the horrendous 8-1 defeat last year, which I had been
privileged to see. On top of that the two Saturday results in between the Cup games had
been a 7-0 defeat at Maine Road and a 1-1 home draw with Stoke. Still hope springs eternal
etc and so I turned up at 3-45pm to await friend Eric and his van. Regrettably, he did not
appear until half past four and then proceeded to get petrol and fix a rear light to my
distress. With it being teatime and dark and wet, conditions were not good for rushing and
predictably we arrived at the ground only five minutes before kick off. I left Eric to
park the van and joined the shortest queue, which was at the main road end. Even so, I
missed the kick off and the first couple of minutes to my disgust.
The Burnley defence resumed its recent bad habits,
resulting in havoc whenever Swindon had possession. It was not long before they scored. In
the 9th minute Smart put a ball through for Smith to run onto and score after
carrying it fifteen yards or so. Despite this early blow they avoided further punishment
before half time, which gave me a chance to read my programme. This was a normal West
Bromwich issue for that season and cost me 1/- for 12 boring pages; these revealed that it
was Burnley’s 8th and Swindon’s 11th game in this
season’s League Cup competition.
At the resumption it was clear that Mick Docherty had
substituted for Jim Thomson in defence. The second half was a different story from the
first half with Ralph Coates inspiring Burnley to many attacks. However time kept passing
and it seemed odds on the one early goal settling the issue until Burnley equalised with
25 seconds of normal time remaining. Coates took the ball half the length of the pitch
before being fouled by Smith. The free kick was played across to Dave Thomas who
side-stepped a ruck of players, not easy due to the mud, and hammered the ball into the
roof of the net. So justice was done and almost at once the whistle went to signal the end
of normal time.
After the usual break, 30 minutes extra time commenced.
With a wet and muddy pitch it is not surprising that this turned out to be very exciting
and things got off to a great start with Burnley scoring in the first minute. Coates took
the ball down the wing and crossed for Casper on the edge of the area. He mishit his
hurried shot but it rebounded to him and Frank made no mistake the second time around to
put Burnley 2-1 up.
Unfortunately, from here on it was downhill for Burnley
as Swindon lasted the pace better and took the upper hand (as they would during extra time
in the final with Arsenal). This was made worse by a tragic own goal from Arthur Bellamy
who sliced a clearance into his own net. I was right behind the line of the shot, which
hit the outside of his right boot and bent neatly into the bottom corner of the net –
it was in all the way with Harry Thomson wrong footed in goal. This seemed to knock the
stuffing out of the Clarets and not long afterwards Latcham mishit a clearance right to
Peter Noble’s feet. He stuck it away to give Swindon a 3-2 win and put them through
to a Wembley final against Arsenal.
Needless to say my disappointment was immense and
perhaps because I was younger I was much more upset than I was in March 1974 when
Newcastle defeated Burnley in the FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough. I always rate this
defeat by a Third Division team, who admittedly went on to win the trophy, as my biggest
disappointment watching Burnley – probably because of the feeling that the hard work
had been done not to mention the ups and downs during the game. The journey home was
naturally very quiet, enlivened only by the very noisy gathering of fans at Keele service
area, so we went to Knutsford. Not until 2am did I get to bed."
Burnley: H
Thomson, Smith, Latcham, J Thomson (Docherty), Wrigley, Blant, Thomas, Coates, Casper,
Bellamy, Kindon.
Swindon:
Downsborough, Dawson, Thomas, Butler, Burrows, Harland, Heath, Smart, Smith, Noble,
Rogers.
Referee:
Jim Finney of Hereford.
Attendance:
20,000
Michael
Benyon
Three days later, a rampant Leeds side gained ample
revenge for their humiliation at Turf Moor in October. Hapless Burnley went down 1-6 at
Elland Road. A central defensive pairing of Blant and Docherty was simply not strong nor
experienced enough to deal with a Leeds side at the peak of their powers. However, Burnley
were one of only two clubs to have defeated Leeds during that season.
On Boxing Day, Waldron and Merrington were restored to
the central defence and the difference was immediate. A creditable 1-1 draw was achieved
at Anfield. Two days later, Doug Collins scored his first Burnley goal as the Clarets took
the points off eventual FA Cup finalists but relegation-bound Leicester (2-1).
January 1969 started with freezing fog and persistent
frost. Australian Rupert Murdoch was first up on the news front as he fought off Czech
Robert Maxwell’s challenge to buy The News of the World. The paper was supposed to
remain ‘as British as roast beef’. At least that was the claim of its former
editor before the sale went through. As a result of the New Year’s Honours, Sir
Learie Constantine became Britain’s first black life peer. Ulster police clashed with
a civil rights march in Londonderry. The conflict appeared to hinge on a dispute over
voting rights and related concerns about discriminatory council housing policies. But soon
it would become apparent that it was national identity, which was at issue here much more
than civil liberties or religion. The troubles were about to begin. At the top of the
charts was The Scaffold’s 'Lily The Pink', but their Christmas tongue-in-cheek
novelty hit was beginning to falter. Those awfully nice boys, who called themselves
Marmalade, were about to depose them. Do you remember Marmalade’s cover of The
Beatles 'Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da'? Don’t try too hard, though.
Then on the 4th January, Derby came to Turf
Moor for the start of the FA Cup campaign. It represented an opportunity to get the
Hawthorns out of their system. Eddie Simmons
recalls the game.
Burnley v
Derby County
4th January 1969
"Derby County came to Turf Moor as the Second
Division’s leaders. Managed by Brian Clough they were in the ascendant mode.
Burnley were first to score from an 8th
minute free kick by Dave Thomas, which Colin Blant headed in. Kevin Hector went close for
Derby after half an hour, but it was Frank Casper who put Burnley two up two minutes from
half time. He ran onto a pass from Ralph Coates, drew Green off his line and scored in off
the post.
Referee Kevin Howley had not that much to do in this
half, although there had been plenty of fouls, but things were soon to change. Burnley
were able to extend their lead after 53 minutes when Casper scored his second. Green could
not hold a Thomas cross, the ball spinning out of his hands and falling to Casper, who
slotted it home. Three minutes later tempers frayed as John Robson was sent off for
kicking an opponent already on the ground. Fred Smith was also booked eight minutes from
time for tripping a Derby player. The resulting free kick enabled Hector to reduce the
deficit. Three minutes later violence erupted again as half a dozen players started to
throw punches, as a result of which three players ended up floored in the centre circle.
Order was finally restored but a further minute had not passed before Blant was booked for
a crude tackle on McFarland. Clough was incandescent, maintaining that McFarland might
never play again. The final whistle was a relief to everyone."
Burnley:
Thomson, Smith, Latcham, Merrington, Waldron, Blant, Thomas, Coates, Casper, Bellamy,
Collins
Derby
County: Green, Webster, Robson, Durban, McFarland, Richardson, McGovern, Carlin,
O’Hare, Hector, Hinton
Eddie
Simmons
But any hope that Burnley might have had that this was
the start of successful Cup run were dashed in front of 53,000 at Anfield (1-2).
Burnley v
Nottingham Forest
1St March 1969
Just days before Concorde’s maiden flight and the
Krays’ imprisonment, Nottingham Forest came to Turf Moor. Harry Potts had this to say
about the game: "In spite of the biting cold wind on Saturday afternoon it was
obvious as the muffled supporters made their way to Turf Moor that the resumption of
football after the weather hold-ups of February was eagerly awaited by many followers of
the game.
It is quite a long time since a mid-winter months’
soccer programme was so severely disrupted as during the last few weeks. In our own case
we had been restricted to one match on our own ground in the period of six weeks. That was
our Central League encounter with Liverpool.
To go six weeks in a season without a League game here
is rare indeed, but evidently the football urge has not rusted, for there was clear
evidence of eagerness for the back-to-normal state of things when the gates were opened
again for Saturday’s encounter with Nottingham Forest.
And I am pleased to be able to compliment all the
players taking part in the game on their display of enthusiasm for attacking football. It
was a warming current on such a cold afternoon.
It was a very exciting and highly entertaining game to
thrill the spectators. Nottingham’s football was far ahead of the standard a study of
their League position led one to expect, and clarified their astonishing victory a couple
of weeks ago at Anfield Road, Liverpool. No follower of football needs to be reminded of
the calibre of Forest’s centre-forward Joe Baker, but I imagine few (comparatively)
have seen him score a more brilliant and rip-roaring goal than the thrilling spectacular
with which he put his side on level terms in Saturday’s sensational opening five
minutes, with Casper putting us into a first minute lead.
The pattern of excitement continued with skilful ball
play and appreciation of the virtues of attacking methods creating pulsating situations
all the game.
Our 3-1 victory, with two smartly taken goals by
Dobson, was a worthy performance and I am sure those who were in attendance to see it will
often recall this game with pleasure and also the sound work of Rodney Jones in our goal,
where he figured through the indisposition of Harry Thomson and crowned a fine
afternoon’s duty with a magnificent save from Jim Baxter’s penalty kick."
Burnley:
Jones, Smith, Latcham, Bellamy, Waldron, Blant, Thomas, Coates, Casper, Dobson, Collins.
A few days later, Burnley would win again, 2-1 against
current League champions Manchester City with Dave Merrington scoring his one and only
goal for the club. However, despite another worthy victory at Stamford Bridge (3-2),
Burnley’s away form continued to be dire. Fourteen of their twenty-one away fixtures
were lost. But because their home record had been pretty good, fourteenth position was
again maintained. Yet while Burnley were treading water on the playing side, their
financial situation was coming under increasing pressure despite continuing sales. Their
crowd attendance figures were the lowest in the First Division and eight Second Division
clubs had better average gates. Even Swindon in the Third Division attracted more people
than Burnley. The penultimate home game with Sheffield Wednesday only drew 9,597.
Nevertheless, Bob Lord was now determined to press ahead with ground development, having
decided that a new stand should be erected on the Brunshaw Road flank. Its official name
would be the Bob Lord stand but most of us regard it as the Martin Dobson stand, since his
eventual sale helped finance it. Mind you, Burnley were not the only big names down on
their luck. Spare a thought for poor Prince Philip. For this was the year he announced on
Stateside TV, "We sold off a small yacht and I may have to give up polo. We may have
to leave Buckingham Palace next year if we go into the red." Apparently a civil list
allowance of £475,000 per annum was too meagre. All together now, ‘AHH!'
Tim Quelch
1999
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