Monday January 30th 1995 was a sad
day in the history of Burnley Football Club. It was the day on which one of the
club’s most loyal servants of the modern era left for pastures new. After a long
running saga of will he or won’t he, Deary joined Rochdale for the ridiculously low
fee of £25,000. Thus ended his Burnley career after six years, 281 appearances, plus ten
as substitute, and thirty goals.
Deary arrived at Turf Moor prior to the 1989/90
season for the bargain price of £30,000 from close neighbours Blackpool, where he had
spent the previous nine years. At the time that Frank Casper signed Deary, it was reported
that ten other clubs were interested in acquiring the signature of the tough-tackling
midfielder, but Deary chose Burnley and the rest is history.
John Deary made his first team debut on August
12th 1989 in the Lancashire Manx Cup fixture at home to Wigan and his full
league debut came on September 1st at Chesterfield in a 1-0 victory for the
Clarets. Deary had to wait until October 7th for his first goal for the club;
it was the winner in a 2-1 win at Maidstone, and if I remember rightly, it consisted of a
marvellous lob over the helpless goalkeeper… off his shin. He went on to make 39
league appearances that season plus two as substitute, scoring two goals. He was also on
the scoresheet at Scunthorpe in the FA Cup but he had to wait over a year to notch his
first goal in front of the Turf Moor crowd. This came on the opening day of the new
season, against Lincoln City.
But for two suspensions, Deary was ever present
during the 1990/91 season, with forty-four league appearances and seven league goals
helping Burnley to a play-off semi-final, which they lost to Torquay.
Deary’s first league goal of the momentous
1991/92 season came at the Shay. We saw there for the first time the Clarets’ free
kick – the ball is knocked to the right, the said player feints to shoot but takes
the ball sideways before shooting. And it worked! I was right behind the Halifax goal and
it was in all the way.
Deary played a crucial role that season and went
onto score six league goals, including an excellent header after just two minutes at
Chesterfield, setting up a clinical 2-0 win on New Years Day 1992.
But John’s finest hour was to come, like
for so many of the Clarets’ side, at Bootham Crescent, York. The Clarets needed a
draw to win promotion but a win would take the Championship. After 43 minutes we went
behind to an Ian Blackstone goal, but who was urging his teammates on? Yes, you’ve
guessed it. Deary can be seen quite clearly on the video telling his colleagues in no
uncertain terms that they can still do it. Quite fittingly, it was John Deary who scored
the equaliser, hammering the ball into the roof of the net after the City keeper’s
mistake had let in Robbie Painter. He was also booked for attempting to throttle the
keeper, who had kicked out at the celebrating Painter. That was typical Deary. He was the
goalscoring hero but he was more concerned for his teammate.
During the following season, Deary made an
effort to clean up his act. He was never a dirty player but was occasionally hotheaded and
prone to retaliation. After an innocuous clash with a Shrewsbury player in a FA Cup-tie,
his opponent went down as if pole-axed. Deary was red-carded but wouldn’t walk. Joe
Jakub and Mike Conroy attempted to escort him off and finally succeeded, but not before
Deary had chased the play acting opponent across part of the pitch. You could never accuse
Deary of being boring. By the end of the match he was back on the pitch, running from the
dugout and doing a dance of celebration after Mike Conroy’s 90th minute
winner.
By John Deary’s own high standards, this
season was a poor one on the goal-scoring front; just two were scored in the league. But
then again, he missed a quarter of the league games, mainly because of a freak training
accident, which almost left him blinded. Thankfully, he made a full recovery.
Deary had a knack of scoring important goals and
I would have staked my life on him scoring in one-on-one situations. Probably my favourite
moment of the 1993/94 season concerning Deary came at a rain-swept Boothferry Park, where
his goal, a smart finish from twelve yards, gave us a rare away victory. His celebrations
also cheered up thousands of saturated Clarets fans, too. He missed just three league
games that season and built up a fine understanding with Adrian Randall.
Deary’s experience was to prove crucial,
especially at places like Plymouth in the play-offs where the atmosphere was red hot and
hostile. Deary held our midfield together, allowing Warren Joyce to make forward runs like
the one which led to him scoring our third goal.
Wembley was a fitting stage for Deary. After
five loyal years he was finally able to tread on the sacred turf. He told the press that
he’d only been once before and that was to watch Liverpool.
Deary had a fine game in midfield and won a
deserved winners’ medal to add to his Fourth Division Champions medal. Unfortunately,
his opportunities during the 1994/95 season were limited, although he did score with a
scorching drive against Bolton. His final Clarets’ goal came at Turf Moor on November
12th 1994 in the FA Cup second round tie with Shrewsbury Town. The game was
finely poised at 1-1 following an entertaining first half. After the break, we were
immediately on the attack and Adrian Heath played the ball through to Deary, who shrugged
off the close attention of a defender and slotted the ball home from the tightest of
angles.
He was to start just two more games, even though
he had been playing some of the best football of his Burnley career. His last appearance
came unsatisfactorily in the debacle at Notts County, when he came on as a second half
substitute for Liam Robinson. Little did we know that when he left the field, it was to be
the last time that he would so in a Burnley shirt.
John, we miss your all action style, your
commitment, loyalty and enthusiasm. You were the ultimate midfielder, strong, mobile,
tough as old boots and a goalscorer. We are left with our memories of a fine player, a
real crowd favourite, whom had a distinctive battling quality.
Brent
Whittam
February 1995
'My Hero' menu
The 1991/1992 season menu
