You could go on a Canary Islands
cruise for £83. You could get a fridge for as little as £34. A one-year old mini could
have been yours for a mere £750. Even a 16 oz packet of cornflakes would only set you
back 11p. But don’t be fooled. This was a melancholy time. As if the weather
wasn’t chilly enough, the whole country had to contend with daily power cuts as Heath
slugged it out with the miners over pay. Later that month the miners were bought off with
a £6 per week pay rise. It was one among a series of abject defeats endured by this Tory
government. These humiliations would not be forgotten, particularly by one of Heath’s
ministers, one Margaret Thatcher. In 1984 she would exact her full and bloody revenge.
The miners, power workers and railwaymen had successfully closed
ranks to exert maximum pressure on Heath. Ray Buckton of the train drivers’ union
made this clear when he insisted that his members would not move oil past miners’
pickets. Certainly, the Hapton miners ensured that no fuel supplies got through to power
stations in the Burnley area. Padiham B station had been closed for over a fortnight
before the game with Hull.
We took it in turns to be cut off. The rotas appeared in the local
papers, indicating when and which districts were at ‘high’, ‘moderate’
or ‘low’ risk of disconnection. We were also asked to heat one room only, in
order to conserve power. Only the major hospitals were spared, although Marsden Hospital
in Burnley had to borrow an Army power generator to keep it going. Of course, these
blackouts impacted on industry, forcing it to succumb to the ‘three day week’.
In Burnley, Vokes Ltd. announced that one of its factories would have to close, affecting
the livelihood of 100 workers. Coronation Mill was then running at 50% production
capacity, operating on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. But unemployment in the area
was still running at only 4%. This was small beer when compared to Newry, in Northern
Ireland, where almost a quarter of the working population was without employment. Anyway,
in the good old Blitz tradition, the fond media message was ‘We can take it’.
This was the line taken by the Burnley Express in its 16th February
edition. Fronting that issue was a picture of the barmaid at the Talbot Hotel cheerfully
serving pints by candlelight. And just to emphasise the ‘party on’ call, on the
back page we had a piccy from the ‘Tots to Teens’ dance at Padiham Town Hall.
Whoever thought that a ‘tot’ in ‘hot pants’ was a good idea? And tell
me this, what self-respecting teenager would be seen embalmed at a ‘Tots to
Teens’ dance?
But despite the brave front being shown in the local paper, there
was little cheer at Turf Moor. Despite the emergence of Leighton James as a major talent,
the season’s early promise had soured with the onset of winter. The season
hadn’t turned so much pear-shaped as pumpkin-shaped. Only two victories were secured
after Middlesborough were thumped 5-2 on November 13th. Peter Mellor never
really recovered his form after a shoulder injury and Burnley had to dig deep to replace
him. Former Chesterfield keeper Alan Stevenson, was that replacement at a cost of
£50,000. The left back position continued to be problematic, too. Four different players
were selected to play there over the season. One supporter suggested that Burnley needed a
full back like Keith Newton. He would soon get his wish.
Hull were struggling when they came to Turf Moor. Their upward
momentum of the late Sixties had halted. They still had considerable drawing power,
though, as the 15,500 gate for their October home game with Burnley had indicated. They
had former ‘Gunner’ and player-manager Terry Neill at the back, they had
ex-‘Terrier’ Jimmy McGill and former ‘Baggie’ John Kaye in midfield
alongside Ken Knighton (once of Blackburn and Preston) and two top class strikers in
Stuart Pearson and Ken Wagstaffe. However, the Tigers' form in 1971/72 had been poor,
despite Cup wins at Norwich and Coventry. They had lost 2-1 to the Clarets in October
(Fletcher and James had scored) and were placed third from bottom going into the return
match. Their away form had been woeful. By contrast, Burnley were in eighth spot, albeit
some way off the pace being set by Norwich, who had ten points more. This should have been
a home banker.
February 12th was a grey, wet winter’s day.
T.Rex’s ‘Telegram Sam’ was the number one single. Fortunately, it
appeared to be seeing off the challenge of Neil Reid’s quite appalling 'Mother of
Mine'. It was also ahead of Chicory Tip’s 'Son of My Father', Don
McLean’s 'American Pie', The Chi-Lites’ 'Have You Seen Her?',
Nilsson’s 'Without You' and The New Seekers’ future Coke anthem, 'I’d
Like To Teach The World To Sing'. Cat Stevens’ 'Teaser and the Firecat' was
the top selling album. The counter attractions on this dismal day included Mike
Nichols’ bitter 'Carnal Knowledge', at the Burnley Odeon and 'Shaft',
with its famous Isaac Hayes soundtrack, at Studio 1 in Market Street. Well they were
the main alternatives if you discounted the oldies being shown at the Unit 4 in
Brierfield, like 'Julius Caesar' with Charlton Heston and the pitiful 'Seven
Brides For Seven Brothers'. But, quite frankly, even Howard Keel and chums would have
provided better entertainment than what was served up at a muddy Turf Moor on that
February Saturday. For this game was truly dire.
Burnley were in the midst of a goal drought and it showed. In the
first 45 minutes they created just the one scoring opportunity. Mind you, it was a
gilt-edged chance. It came early on, too. But Fletcher headed wide Alan West’s
perfect cross. This was as good as it got for the remainder of the first half, although
Burnley had most of the possession. Only Leighton James did himself justice. By contrast,
Dave Thomas had a stinker. As bad as Hull had been on their travels, they seemed to have
little difficulty in keeping Burnley out.
Immediately after half-time, Hull showed they could sting as well
as tame. In the 47th minute, Neill played a free-kick to Wagstaffe who fed
Banks on the right. Burnley’s left flank again proved to be their undoing as
Banks’ cross eluded all except Butler who slid the ball in. Burnley tried to up the
tempo, but they seemed incapable of mounting any real threat to the Hull goal. Having said
that, Fletcher was very unfortunate when his header beat keeper McKechnie, only for full
back De Vries to deflect the ball over the bar. Other than that, Burnley’s efforts on
goal were either weak or lacking in direction. Apart from Fletcher, the main culprits were
Casper, Kindon and James. However, Hull managed to exert a bit of pressure themselves,
using long passes to good effect. Alan Stevenson, in only his third game for Burnley, had
to make athletic saves from Pearson and Lord. He was also at full stretch to deny Colin
Waldron an own goal. But Stevenson could do nothing to prevent Wagstaffe scoring
Hull’s second, two minutes from time. With Burnley committed to an all-out final
assault, Wagstaffe picked up Casper’s misplaced pass just inside the Burnley half and
raced through for a fine individual goal. The game’s only other item of note was that
Billy Ingham made his debut as a second half substitute. He is unlikely to remember this
game with any fondness. Neither will Jimmy Adamson. The second half was punctuated by the
Burnley crowd’s chanting of, "Adamson out!"
Jimmy Adamson made no excuses. He told Keith McNee of the Burnley
Express, "It was a poor game and one we shouldn’t have lost… Generally,
we had too many important players below par. When Hull scored the players got anxious, the
crowd got anxious and we couldn’t recover… Our supporters were fully justified
in their criticisms. We can't put on an exhibition like that and hope to get away with it.
We are entertainers and we must do a heck of a lot better than this." However, Jimmy
remained phlegmatic about it all. He explained, "All I can say is that this has
happened to better men than me and will again. This is part of the hazards of being a
manager, and I have got to take it on the chin."
The Daily Mirror reckoned Burnley needed someone like Jimmy
Adamson out on the park: "Someone who can take stock, point the way and calm their
hell-for-leather approach." The Daily Express thought that Burnley’s
problems were due to a lack of mental toughness: "In short, Burnley’s prodigies
always look hurt and surprised if their dazzling footwork fails to bring goals. Lesser
players than Terry Neill and Ken Wagstaffe smack their lips when they see that."
Despite the supporters’ protests, Bob Lord remained resolute
in his backing of Jimmy. He told Keith McNee, "This is not Jimmy’s fault. The
players are not getting the results. Our team didn’t play well. Jimmy Adamson has
done a lot for Burnley and will do a lot more in future." Captain Colin Waldron
agreed. He said, "There were eleven guilty men on Saturday. It was our worst display
and we deserved to lose. We feel the chanting is not justified. We wouldn’t have
minded if it had been directed at us." So, the club pulled together, at least in
public. But Adamson’s record as manager was pretty uninspiring. Taking all
competitive games into account, up to and including the Hull game, he had presided over 24
wins, 23 draws and 41 defeats. As it turned out, Burnley enjoyed a brilliant end-of-season
run of six consecutive victories. Nevertheless, the next time there was a serious crisis
of confidence in Adamson’s management, at the beginning of 1976, Bob Lord was not
prepared to be as supportive.
