Post by Deleted on May 26, 2009 21:13:03 GMT
Dave is right in saying that Burnley is a rather different town to Torbay but Merse is correct in telling us that it's a real old-fashioned football town. It's one of those places which would be barely known if it didn't have a professional football club. From a South Devon perspective, you can't imagine how big an institution the club is within the town.
Yes, the population is smaller than Torbay but - just as Burnley has a younger age-profile - you also need to remember that 7-8% of the townspeople are of Asian origin, very few of whom attend matches at Turf Moor. Furthermore, as Torbay's population grows (and becomes slightly younger), Burnley's is declining. Then bear in mind that Burnley to Blackburn is roughly the same distance as Newton Abbot to Paignton with Accrington in between. This tends to restrict the Clarets' hinterland to the west and, from my time living up the road in Nelson, I seem to remember the club compensated by drawing a surprising level of interest from some of the West Yorkshire towns around Skipton and Keighley. I always assumed this spread of support was a throwback to the 1959/60 championship year when average crowds reached 27,000 (although this was down on the post-war boom years when the average was in excess of 30,000). Where on earth did they all come from?
I'm saying "level of interest" rather than support because in my days in those parts - the mid 1980s - the club was at its lowest ebb as we know all too well from the events of 9 May 1987. I saw our game at Turf Moor that season - when Lors (on loan from QPR) was at his very, very best - and the crowd was just 2718. But that was the hardest of times for both Burnley and the game in general. And - small town or not - it really was, in football terms, a case of how the mighty had fallen. The great years of the 1960s soon ended but were then followed by a revivial which saw the club win the old Division 2 in 1973 with some really great players. This team was prematurely heralded as "The Team of the Seventies" but the rot set in as players were sold and old Bob Lord (the man whose name adorns our trophy) became increasingly dictatorial and out-of-touch. By 1987 it was an utter shambles - as were Bolton Wanderers, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Preston North End - but they come back, don't they?
Two memories of my time there - one of which I've mentioned before - stem from working in local schools and colleges. When at the school in Brierfield, I walked downhill to the local chippy one lunchtime where I was served by John Connelly, ex-Burnley and England. I can still picture an oil painting of the Burnley v Spurs FA Cup final (in the days Burnley were the mighty Spurs' closest challengers) hanging on the wall of his cafe. Then, on another occasion, when working at Nelson and Colne College, I came across two sixth formers - the best of friends - one of whom was called Lochhead, the other Noble. I wonder who their dads were?
Yes, the population is smaller than Torbay but - just as Burnley has a younger age-profile - you also need to remember that 7-8% of the townspeople are of Asian origin, very few of whom attend matches at Turf Moor. Furthermore, as Torbay's population grows (and becomes slightly younger), Burnley's is declining. Then bear in mind that Burnley to Blackburn is roughly the same distance as Newton Abbot to Paignton with Accrington in between. This tends to restrict the Clarets' hinterland to the west and, from my time living up the road in Nelson, I seem to remember the club compensated by drawing a surprising level of interest from some of the West Yorkshire towns around Skipton and Keighley. I always assumed this spread of support was a throwback to the 1959/60 championship year when average crowds reached 27,000 (although this was down on the post-war boom years when the average was in excess of 30,000). Where on earth did they all come from?
I'm saying "level of interest" rather than support because in my days in those parts - the mid 1980s - the club was at its lowest ebb as we know all too well from the events of 9 May 1987. I saw our game at Turf Moor that season - when Lors (on loan from QPR) was at his very, very best - and the crowd was just 2718. But that was the hardest of times for both Burnley and the game in general. And - small town or not - it really was, in football terms, a case of how the mighty had fallen. The great years of the 1960s soon ended but were then followed by a revivial which saw the club win the old Division 2 in 1973 with some really great players. This team was prematurely heralded as "The Team of the Seventies" but the rot set in as players were sold and old Bob Lord (the man whose name adorns our trophy) became increasingly dictatorial and out-of-touch. By 1987 it was an utter shambles - as were Bolton Wanderers, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Preston North End - but they come back, don't they?
Two memories of my time there - one of which I've mentioned before - stem from working in local schools and colleges. When at the school in Brierfield, I walked downhill to the local chippy one lunchtime where I was served by John Connelly, ex-Burnley and England. I can still picture an oil painting of the Burnley v Spurs FA Cup final (in the days Burnley were the mighty Spurs' closest challengers) hanging on the wall of his cafe. Then, on another occasion, when working at Nelson and Colne College, I came across two sixth formers - the best of friends - one of whom was called Lochhead, the other Noble. I wonder who their dads were?
Willie Brown was a memorable player for all who merely saw him play, but for those privileged to know him he was an even more special person.