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The
Year of the Phoenix
The 1991-92 season game by
game - part four
October
On October 3 1991, Frank Casper resigned. He cited not the team’s poor form, but personal reasons, particularly the recent premature death of a close friend. That’s as maybe, but I’ve always felt that, on the whole, successful managers keep their jobs. It did genuinely appear to be a resignation, though, as opposed to the sackings that usually lurk beneath the phrase ‘by mutual consent’. Still, the offer would have been a convenient one for the club, and one they could not refuse. It was clear that we had lost our way for another season. And how many seasons could we endure in the Fourth Division? The post Orient Game momentum had long been lost.
That was the story of Casper’s time in charge: flattery to deceive, occasional hope disappointed, and underachievement. Ultimately, while often not dreadful, we hadn’t ever quite been good enough. When given a glimpse of success - particularly when we played Torquay in the 1991 play-offs - he had, personally, blown it. Many of those who were there that day in Devon couldn’t forgive him. For me, the final straw had been that home defeat against Rochdale, when we couldn’t even win with 12 Clarets on the pitch.
So that was Casper out. In his place, the board acted quickly and predictably. Casper’s Assistant, Jimmy Mullen, was put in immediate temporary charge of the team. And I thought it was a dreadful decision. I thought the board had shown no imagination at all. Even while celebrating the departure of Casper, I decried his caretaker replacement as evidently useless.
In truth, I knew little of Mullen. I knew that he had been manager of Blackpool for a short and disastrous period,
when we’d found his lack of success amusing. He’d also been assistant manager at Aberdeen, for reasons unknown. I knew,
or thought I knew, that he was an exponent of the direct, long ball method of football, which naturally I decried.
It wasn’t much knowledge, but this was what I’d understood on his arrival at the club in 1990 to replace Mick Docherty
as Casper’s assistant, and I’d not really heard of him since. Apparently his most significant act from a Clarets perspective had been to break Trevor Steven's leg in his playing days! This was before the days of internet information overload, you must remember. And you have to admit, it doesn’t sound much of a CV.
Expectations of Mullen were generally low. It wasn’t just me who was underwhelmed. In fact, regardless of his temporary appointment, all the speculation surrounded who would be brought in as the new manager. It amounted to pretty much a list of the usual suspects, although my brother was a strong advocate of the former Southampton manager Chris Nicholl. The names bandied around most often were Martin Dobson, Brian Flynn, Leighton James. Martin Dobson was sacked by Bristol Rovers two days after Casper's resignation, which you could be tempted to read something into. But that list shows the rut our thinking had got stuck in. After the days of Bond and Buchan, outsiders weren’t to be trusted. You were supposed to have put in the years on the pitch to understand the Burnley way. But wasn’t the Burnley one of disappointment and failure?
All this was about to change. We weren’t to know it, but by accident, we had finally stumbled on someone who was going to shake Burnley out of years of underachievement. Fantastically, I couldn’t have been more wrong.
5 October
Burnley 2 Carlisle 0
That said, Jimmy’s start was a quiet one. No one this day would have thought something big was about to happen. Carlisle weren’t any good - there’s a surprise - and we didn’t have to do anything special to beat them in a dour game. But, after a dismal run, it was nice to win again. Mullen made one immediate change, dispensing with the poncy five at the back bit and sending out a no-nonsense 4-4-2 formation. Mark Monington was the unlucky defender to be dropped, but really, Davis and Pender were indispensable.
Pender even scored a goal at the right end, with his header in the general direction fortunately looping in. Then this young lad Lancashire made it comfortable in the second half. A terrible piece of defending squirted the ball right to where he was lurking, and he pounced from close range. It was a predator’s goal. Lancashire was doing well. He’d only got his chance because Conroy was injured and Francis suspended, but this was looking promising. Carlisle even had a player sent off - there were so many opposition players sent off this season - for fouling him.
But did it feel like a new dawn? Look at the attendance.
Team: Marriott, Measham, Bray, Davis, Pender, Farrell, Harper, Deary, Lancashire, Jakub (Yates), Eli.
Burnley scorers: Pender (23), Lancashire (57).
Attendance: 6,157.
12 October
Wrexham 2 Burnley 6
Bloody hell, but this felt like something. It was stunning stuff… and I missed it. I could have gone, too. Wrexham was hardly hundreds of miles away, and I’ve definitely done the journey at least once from Nelson, along with plenty of other times since. But who could have guessed this was going to happen? Back in the gloomy days of September, I’d planned a weekend in Leeds buying records, drinking beer and sleeping on a mate’s floor, and naturally I’d arranged not to miss a home game, but an away one of limited interest. Even writing now, the regret is strong.
I think I’d been out around Kirkgate market looking for cheap meat when I phoned home to get this preposterous score. Even dafter, Wrexham had taken an early lead. They’d scored after two minutes. As the season progressed, we’d get used to conquering setbacks, but to bounce back within a couple of minutes was something new. I can describe the goals because I recently watched them on video. Wrexham’s opener came after the defending evaporated, our attractive blue shirts notably absent as Marriott was left exposed. But our equaliser a minute later was down to skill and persistence. Jakub’s through ball lead to Deary’s run and shot. The goalkeeper saved, but there was Lancashire steaming in to crash home the rebound. A further minute on, we had the lead. Eli ran and passed neatly to Harper, whose precise angled finish just eluded the keeper.
Then, the still 18 year old Lancashire went on to score two more for his hat-trick. As you do. For his second, an excellent Davis cross found him well placed in front of goal, and his header was a precise, no fuss finish. But his third was something special. Eli, again, headed a ball on to Lancashire on the edge of the penalty area. He instantly lobbed the ball high into the air, sending it looping over the helpless goalkeeper and in. It was an audacious piece of skill from a young lad without fear, and it announced, so we thought, the arrival of a major talent. It was his fifth goal in three starts, and after having waited six and a half years for Roger Eli’s hat-trick against Chesterfield, we’d only had to wait six games for another.
So after less than half an hour we were 4-1 up. Wrexham pulled one back to make it 4-2 at half time, but our players were obviously enjoying themselves, and we scored two more in the second half. In front of a huge Burnley following, a smart Davis header from a free kick made it five, and right at the end Eli chested the ball down and slid it in. This was our best away result in years - 30, according to the records. It was the sort of thing that Burnley weren’t supposed to do. Other sides got results like this, but not mine. Straight away, we moved up three places to 8th.
Team: Marriott, France, Bray, Davis, Pender, Farrell, Harper, Deary, Lancashire (Monington), Jakub, Eli. Sub not used: Yates.
Burnley scorers: Lancashire (3, 27,29), Harper (4), Davis (57), Eli (89).
Attendance: 3,181.
The rest was a formality. The other candidates suddenly lost their lustre. Immediately Jimmy was the favourite, the people’s choice. That 6-2 win, and the team’s evident new found fighting spirit, did much to quell the doubts over his pre-Burnley track record. The board apparently did still interview other candidates, but on Thursday 17 October, Jimmy Mullen was appointed as the Manager of Burnley FC. History was being made.
19 October
Burnley 2 Walsall 0
Jimmy celebrated his appointment with another win, making it three from three. Graham Lancashire celebrated his 19th birthday with another goal, making it six from four. There was a danger of us getting used to this.
We scored twice early on and held the lead. Our first was a Steve Davis penalty, given after a handball on the line from Steve Harper’s shot. The culprit was Charlie Ntmark, a one time Cameroon international, and then a quite famous player, in the context of the fourth division. He was sent off for it, too. Lancashire quickly clinched the win. Again, it was a poacher’s goal. The keeper didn’t hold Deary’s shot and Lancashire blasted in another rebound.
We moved up another place, to 7th, and there was starting to be a bit of a buzz about the place. The Wrexham result brought more than an extra thousand to Turf Moor.
One of my favourite parts of the 91/92 commemorative video came after this match. Local tv had picked up on the Graham Lancashire phenomenon, and went to Gawthorpe to interview him and Mullen. Realising in mid sentence that he was about to swear, Jimmy described him a , “cocky little… so and so.”
Team: Marriott, France, Bray (Francis), Davis, Pender, Farrell, Harper, Deary, Lancashire, Jakub, Eli. Sub not used: Monington.
Burnley scorers: Davis (pen 20), Lancashire 23.
Attendance: 7,289.
22 October
Blackpool 1 Burnley 3 (Autoglass Trophy, group stage)
Yes, we did used to have to play in this. The problem with this competition was that it only seemed to matter when you got to the regional stage, and to do that you had to play so many games that nobody cared about. It’s interesting to note that Mullen put a first team out. Indeed, with Measham, Francis and Conroy coming back, it was getting closer to our best eleven. If you’re looking for significance in this game, note Jakub playing at left back and Francis wide. Those were to become their positions this season.
Blackpool scored first, through Tony Rodwell, who I had seen playing once or twice for the by now defunct Colne Dynamoes, on Saturdays when Burnley were far away. But we blitzed back with three goals in ten minutes to seal it by half time, giving further evidence of our resilience. If you count this victory at his old club, it made it four straight wins for Mullen. But it can’t have been a proper game, because Lancashire didn’t score.
Team: Marriott, Measham, Jakub, Davis, Pender, Farrell, Harper, Deary, Lancashire (Conroy), Eli, Francis. Sub not used: Yates.
Burnley scorers: Francis (32), Eli (36, 41).
Attendance: 2,805.
26 October
Lincoln 0 Burnley 3
Another convincing away win! And the goals kept coming. Again, I stayed in touch via the radio. It was interesting to note that, with Conroy returning, Mullen had dropped Lancashire to sub. Hmm. Of course, while we kept on winning, who could argue? Especially as both Conroy and Lancashire scored, Lancashire keeping up his league record.
In the days before substitute goalies, Lincoln’s keeper Matt Dickins spent a substantial part of the game off for treatment after collecting an injury in a clash with John Francis. When he came back on, Francis scored.
Team: Marriott, Measham, Jakub, Davis, Pender, Farrell, Harper, Deary, Francis, Conroy, Eli (Lancashire). Sub not used: Yates.
Burnley scorers: Francis (39), Conroy (75 pen), Lancashire (83).
Attendance: 3,235.
We had, so far, won every single game under Jimmy Mullen, which meant that we had won every game in October.
Bizarrely, Jimmy didn’t win October’s Manager of the Month!
George Foster of Mansfield, who had even lost against Wrexham, scooped the prize. It was ever thus. Surely it can't have been because
two of those wins had taken place while Mullen was only Caretaker Manager? But in Burnley, away from the gaze of the media, people were starting to get very excited. The shape of the team was beginning to emerge. Marriott was playing excellently in goal, and it was heartening that, at the end of October, we extended his loan into a third month. The four man defence of Davis and Pender, in the middle, Measham and Jakub, at full back, was looking ominously hard to beat. Farrell and Deary were competitive and hard-working in the centre, while we had, joyously, two attacking wide men, in Harper and Francis. Up front we had Conroy, scoring all the time, the ever committed Eli, and if that wasn’t enough, we looked to have a prodigy in Lancashire. All of them had belief and determination.
Given that Mullen was working with the same material Casper had failed with, the transformation looked remarkable. It was beginning to be the case that the next game couldn’t come soon enough. You wanted to watch this side. Roll on November!
Firmo
November 2001
Part five - November 2001
The 1991/1992 season
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