In the spring of 1980 signs of serious civil unrest
were emerging. The St Paul’s area of Bristol was the first location of urban rioting.
Over the next year, similar disturbances would occur in Toxteth, Brixton and other parts
of London, Wolverhampton, Birmingham, Manchester, Reading, Luton, Chester, Hull and
Preston. This time, football couldn’t be blamed. Of course, there was opportunistic
rioting and looting. There were ‘copy cat’ elements, too, particularly as the
excitement at these combustible events spread. However, there was more to it than that.
Seething resentment at chronic unemployment, poor housing and racism surely provided the
tinder. A breakdown in social discipline and over-zealous policing probably provided the
spark.
At the start of the new football season the number of people unemployed passed
the two million mark. This was the highest figure since 1935. Publicly, Mrs Thatcher was
resolute. ‘The lady is not for turning,’ she told the Tory Party Conference in
October, ‘We have paid ourselves 22% more for producing 4% less.’ She believed
wage inflation was the cause of rising unemployment. For her, salvation lie in the growth
of the services trades like insurance and tourism. Meanwhile, high interest rates and an
over-valued pound were savaging British manufacturing industries. For the first time since
the Industrial Revolution we were experiencing a deficit in manufactured goods.
Mrs Thatcher reduced subsidies to council rents, rates, gas and electricity
prices, school meals and transport fares. After the 1979 budget, the burden of taxation
shifted more to VAT, driving up the prices of staple goods as well as luxury items. The
less well off suffered most from these policies, particularly those living in the
traditional manufacturing areas like Burnley.
Although she bought off a Miners’ strike in 1981, Mrs Thatcher was
determined to break the power of the unions. She believed that restrictive practices were
stifling the prospects of regeneration. And, of course, she thought she spoke for ordinary
people everywhere as she set about clipping their wings. How ironic that Lech
Walesa’s Solidarity union should have then represented a symbol of free expression in
the face of moribund, stifling communism.
This was the background to Burnley’s descent to the Third Division. The
club’s finances were in poor shape anyway. Now the club had to cut their wage bill by
around a third. Brian Miller reckoned that a Third Division team could only sustain a
first team squad of around twenty-two professionals. At the end of the previous season,
thirty-four professionals were on the books. It was hardly surprising that the end of
season clearout was followed by other outgoing moves. Billy Ingham went to Bradford for
£30,000 in August and Ian Brennan went to Bolton for £25,000 in December.
At the end of the previous season, Peter Higgs of the Burnley Express warned
that Burnley would have to improve for Division Three. He said, ‘Burnley are a long
way from being a convincing team and clearly need strengthening if any impact is to be
made in the unknown territory of the Third Division.’ Brian Miller recognised this,
signing defenders, Ian Wood (free) and David Holt (£45,000) from Oldham, striker, Steve
Taylor (£35,000) from Mansfield and Tommy Cassidy (£37,500) from Newcastle. Shortly
after the season had started, little Eric Potts was signed from Preston (£20,000).
Burnley made a slow start. They only won one of their opening four League games,
although Wrexham were seen off in the League Cup. Perhaps that’s why only 4,436
turned up for the home game with Colchester (1-0) on Saturday 6th September.
The current financial situation wouldn’t have helped. The game was momentous in one
sense, though. It marked the beginning of a seven-match run of clean sheets. In fact, a
club record of 21 clean sheets would be established that season.
After Millwall were thumped 5-0 with Steve Taylor scoring a hat trick, Burnley
started to press for a promotion place alongside Charlton, Barnsley and Rotherham. They
were still a team in transition, though. Consequently, results were not quite good enough
for them to sustain a challenge. One of their better performances was in the away fixture
at struggling Oxford.
Saturday, 6th December was a glorious day. The Manor Ground was
flooded with golden sunlight, re-invigorating the russet colours of the surrounding trees.
Just the solitary vapour trail marred the deep blue of the winter sky. It was a brilliant
day to be alive. Not that my two month old daughter cared too much. Tucked inside my coat,
she slept throughout the match.
Burnley lined up: Stevenson, Laws, Wharton, Scott, Overson, Dobson, Young,
Potts, Hamilton, Taylor, Caverner. Oxford included Malcolm Shotton, Gary Briggs and Kevin
Brock in their side. Little did we know it, then, but these three would play a focal role
in Oxford’s meteoric rise during the mid eighties. At that point, though, Burnley
appeared to have the better prospects. They were in sixth position, five points behind
Paul Walsh’s Charlton but only one point behind the other chasing teams. Oxford, on
the other hand, were languishing in twentieth place, having won only one of their eleven
home League games.
From the start, Burnley were composed and elegant. Brian Laws was assured on the
ball and linked well with his industrious central midfielders, Young and Scott. Dobson and
Overson appeared so solid at the back, easily containing Oxford’s Keith Cassells and
Peter Foley. Andy Wharton seemed less secure at left back, sometimes diving in too quickly
and sometimes advancing too far. Dobson kept urging him to track back more. Hamilton and
Taylor pushed up hard on their centre backs helping to create more space for Scott and
Young. These two revelled in this freedom. It was fitting then that Scott and Young should
secure the points. The first goal came midway through the first half. Scott picked up the
ball just inside the centre circle. While the Oxford defenders backed off, apparently more
concerned about Hamilton and Taylor, none of the home midfielders came to intercept. This
left Scott with a free run at goal and from around twenty-five yards he let fly with a
searing strike. The ball screamed into the top right hand corner just in front of the
ecstatic Burnley faithful. In the second half, Kevin Young set about balancing the record.
He did it in similar style but if anything his execution was even better. Running from a
central position just inside the Oxford half, Young chanced his arm from around thirty
yards. Roy Burton didn’t get so much a sniff as the ball soared over his head and
into the roof of the net. Baby or not, I was on my feet with this one. Absolutely
fantastic! The rest of the game was a bit of an anticlimax as Burnley were content to sit
on their lead and snuff out Oxford’s desperate sorties. Caverner decided to up the
ante by indulging in a bit of a slanging match with a few disgruntled Oxford youths. But
that was about that.
Two days after the victory at Oxford, John Lennon was murdered in New York by a
fan, a 25-year-old Hawaiian, Mark Chapman. Immediately, the conspiracy theorists got to
work, claiming that US service chiefs were ‘worried that (Lennon) would use his
influence in the cause of peace.’ The deaths of the Kennedys and Martin Luther King
were seen as linked with Lennon’s killing. I sometimes wonder whether you need to be
totally paranoid to be a committed conspiracy theorist or at least have the fantastic
notion that ugly events never happen randomly. Anyway John’s death was enough to send
the candle waving anthem Imagine back to the top of the charts.
Meanwhile back at the football, promotion was still a possibility at Christmas
with wins over Plymouth (2-1) and Blackpool (4-1). Burnley almost got something from the
Boxing Day scrap at Carlisle after being three goals down at half-time (2-3). Within the
Cumbrians’ ranks, Peter Beardsley was giving broad hints of his abundant talent.
However, after that Burnley’s challenge subsided. Only one of the next seven League
games were won and although they just managed to beat Scarborough in the FA Cup (1-0) they
were then eliminated by Port Vale following a replay (0-2). Impressive victories were
gained over Fulham (3-0), Reading, away, (3-1) and Huddersfield (4-2), against whom Trevor
Steven made his debut as substitute. However the season fizzled out with a series of
disappointing results. Firstly, Burnley failed to beat relegation-bound Blackpool at a
hot, sunny Bloomfield Road (0-0) after having almost all of the second half play. Scott
missed an absolute sitter. It also the last time that Willie Morgan would face his former
club. Then Burnley collapsed at home to Carlisle (0-3). The final home match with Oxford
(1-1) attracted a mere 3,947. But it wasn’t all doom and gloom. Far from it. For
there was much promise in this young team.
Traditionally, Burnley had always been able to rely upon a regular stream of
talented youth players making their way through the ranks. During the Seventies that
stream seemed to have dwindled. Now there was evidence that a new well had been tapped.
During this season, young players like Brian Laws, Vince Overson, Michael Phelan, Kevin
Young, Stuart Robertson and Phil Caverner would establish themselves, while others like
Trevor Steven and Andy Wharton appeared almost ready to play their part. Thereafter, the
wells dried up, either because the club was unable to attract the same calibre of
apprentice (a reflection of Burnley’s declining status) or because the club allocated
less priority to its youth policy. The resurgence of Burnley’s youth during the
1980/81 season meant that there was no longer any place for established players like Jim
Thomson, Ian Brennan or Billy Rodaway. Brennan (Bolton) and Rodaway (Peterborough) moved
to different clubs. Jim decided to try his hand as player coach at Morecambe. Next season,
we were to see just how good these Burnley youngsters were. Team of the Eighties? We
reserved judgement.
