The first of these polls was run by Radio
Lancashire, which invited listeners to vote for their football team of the century
selected from players of the four football league clubs within the area covered by the
station, namely Blackpool, Rovers, PNE and Burnley. The team which resulted was (in
numerical order, 1-11, something of a novelty in itself these days):
C McDonald (Burnley), J Armfield (Blackpool), W Eckersley (Rovers), R
Clayton (Rovers), M England (Rovers), W Shankley (PNE), S Matthews (Blackpool), B Douglas
(Rovers), A Shearer (Rovers), J McIlroy (Burnley), T Finney (PNE).
The first obvious point is that this team, with one notable (?) exception,
only contained players from the 50s and early 60s. This could reflect either the age
profile of the voters or, equally, the halcyon days of the clubs concerned. The second
obvious point is that the team is dominated by Rovers players (five), compared with only
two from each of the other clubs. It will no doubt be said that, as anyone could register
a vote, there can be no quibbles about the final selection. However, doubts still linger,
at least in the mind of this correspondent.
There can be little argument about the selection of nos. 1, 2, 7 and 11,
and 4 must probably be grudgingly accepted (capped for England whereas Adamson, his
contemporary, was not). I do not feel able to comment on 3 and 5, although it is
surprising that Keith Newton did not make no. 3 and was Shankley the player really that
good? However the real controversy to my mind concerns centre-half, inside and centre
forwards (I must apologise to younger readers for using these archaic terms). My chief
memory of Mike England (apart from seeing his timber lorries around the place) is of him
being ritually dismembered by Andy Lochead. It is probably fair to say that there has been
a dearth of really top flight centre-halves in Lancashire during the last 50 years but I
find it hard to believe that England was better than Tommy Cummings, and I suspect that
Adamson or Martin Dobson were at least as good, not to mention Alan Brown. The only good
thing that can be said about this selection is that at least it was not Hendry!
The selection of Shearer was presumably as the representative of the
Championship winning mercenaries as much as in his own right. In these circumstances, to
hear the touching reception that he received from the Ewood faithless during his recent FA
Cup visit and his subsequent acrimonious comments in the national media was deliciously
ironic. I should mention at this stage that the programme announcing the team took the
form of a studio discussion between four of its members, Armfield, Clayton, Finney and
McIlroy. On the subject of centre-forwards, Gentleman Jim appeared to take issue with the
selection by throwing in not only Tommy Lawton but especially Ray Pointer, for whom he
laid on so many goals.
This brings me finally to the two inside forward positions, which I found
particularly confusing. Granted, Douglas played in both inside forward positions and on
the right wing. But although Jimmy McIlroy actually made his debut for Burnley at no. 10,
it was as a no. 8 that he will be universally remembered, and it seems unlikely that
anyone would have voted for his selection in any other position. How then did Gentleman
Jim end up at no. 10 in this 'team of all the talents'? Furthermore, by playing both him
and Douglas, the team appears to have had two schemers and only one specialist striker (to
revert to modem parlance). It is hard to avoid the conclusion that the Radio Lancashire
sports staff must have appointed themselves managers, moving the players who received the
most votes around the field so as to fit them all in rather than sticking to the best
player in each position. This situation appears to be yet another example of the dilemma,
all too familiar to Burnley supporters, of whether to select the best players or the best
team!
So there we have it. Even though he has reclaimed his rightful position as
Burnley's greatest icon, Jimmy Mac, that most gentlemanly and self-effacing of players, is
still courted by controversy. However, over the Christmas period one long running mystery
concerning him was largely cleared up. Jimmy figured in a Radio Lancashire promotion for
the tremendous club video, ‘Rhapsody in Claret and Blue’, during which he
revealed that when Harry Potts called him into the office on that fateful morning of 21
February 1963, it was obvious from the manager's discomfort that it was not his idea to
place Jimmy on the transfer list. The actual reason for this cataclysmic decision was
never made clear but Jimmy expressed the belief that it was probably because his close
friendship with the son of the then Vice-Chairman of the football club, Mr R Cook, did not
meet with the Chairman's approval. Enough said?
I hope to follow this article with another which reveals the Lancashire
Evening Telegraph Hot 100 East Lancashire Sporting Heroes of the Millennium. If you think
some aspects of the Radio Lancashire team were bizarre, you ain't seen nothing yet!
