| Bob 70-71 Home
Latest
News
70-71
Teams
A-Z
Players
Search
the Site
FAQs
Quiz
Thirty
Years Ago!
Articles
Where
are they now?
Quizlet
Links
Guestbook
E-mail me
Chat
About
Bob 70-71
|
Caught In Time
Featured
in the back of the Sports section of the Sunday Times,
the Caught in Time
series features a picture of a famous team, offers a
profile of each player, and answers the question 'Where
are they now?'.
Burnley
win the League title, 1960
by Greg
Struthers
When Brian Pilkington joined Burnley in 1951, he had been
learning how to paint buses at Leyland Motors. Nine years
later he was riding in an open-top bus with the First
Division trophy in his hands, an elated member of a team
that clinched the championship on a dramatic last day.
"I had watched the team developing over the years,
with players coming and going, and we had a good
side," he recalls. "The favourites to win the
title in 1960 were Wolves, and although we had been going
well, they beat us 6-1 near the end of the season. We
then managed to beat Birmingham 1-0 on the last Wednesday
and drew 0-0 with Fulham on the Saturday." All the
other teams had completed their fixtures, leaving Burnley
needing to beat Manchester City on the Monday.
"About 65,000 people turned up at Maine Road, and
there was quite a lot of tension. I scored an early goal,
which eased things a bit, and we won 2-1," says
Pilkington.
Trevor Meredith, a stand-in outside-right for the injured
John Connelly, scored the other goal for Burnley.
Those were the days when small-town n teams such as
Burnley could match the big-money clubs. The maximum wage
of 20 pounds a week made it a level playing field, and in
Harry Potts the club had a manager who turned a team of
budding players into winners.
"He never shouted or ranted. That wasn't his style.
He would always offer encouragement, and his method got
the best out of players," Pilkington says
1 Alex Elder (Stoke
City)
Signed as a 17 year old from Glentoran in January 1959,
he was called into the first team the next season because
of injuries. A solid tackling left-back with good passing
skills and the ability to run at defenders, Elder made
330 appearances for the club. He moved to Stoke for
50,000 pounds in 1967, but was troubled by knee injuries.
He lives in Burnley, where his business sells catering
equipment to licensed and retail outlets.
2 Jimmy Robson
He was the first Burnley player to score at Wembley when
he equalised in the 1962 FA Cup final. He joined the club
at the age of 17 in 1956 and played in 242 games in nine
years as a professional. Robson was a tall striker who
took two seasons to secure a regular place in the team.
He, Connelly and Ray Pointer scored 79 of the team's 100
goals in League and cup competitions in the title-winning
season. Robson scored five goals in an 8-0 win against
Nottingham Forest. He signed for Blackpool for 10,000
pounds in 1965, and also played for Barnsley and Bury .
He is a youth coach at Burnley.
3 Tommy Cummings
An apprentice mining engineer, he signed for Burnley in
1947 and became a fixture at the heart of the defence for
the next 15 years. One of the quickest defenders in the
country , he was appointed club captain in 1951. His
479th and final match for Burnley was at the start of the
1962 season. He was appointed manager of Mansfield Town
and won promotion to the Third Division in his first
season. He was also in the hotseat at Aston Villa for a
season in 1967. A former chairman of the Professional
Footballers' Association, Cummings became a publican in
Burnley, . where he still lives in retirement.
4 Adam Blacklaw
The son of a ship's carpenter was snapped up by Burnley
in 1954. He spent several seasons in the shadow of
regular goalkeeper Colin McDonald before winning a place
when McDonald's career was ended by injury in 1959.
Blacklaw missed only three games in five seasons and won
three caps for Scotland. After 383 games for the Clarets,
he moved to Blackburn in 1967, and also played for
Blackpool. He was steward at Burnley Cricket Club from
1980 and was a publican. He works for a further education
college in Nelson.
5 Brian Miller
Burnley-born Miller joined his boyhood heroes at the age
of 15 in 1952 and served them as player, coach, manager
and chief s scout. The wing-half's strong tackling was a
fine asset during the championship- winning season, when
he was ever-present in the team. He played in 455 games
in 12 years and won one cap for England before a knee
injury finished his career in 1967. The club retained him
in a coaching role, and he took over as manager from
Potts in 1979, winning the Third Division in 1982. He was
sacked the next season, but returned in 1986 to help the
club retain its League status on a memorable final day.
Miller was chief scout for Burnley, and ran a news
agency, but has now retired.
6 John Angus (Burnley)
He signed as a 17-year-old in 1956 and a crop of injuries
in the first team gave him an opportunity to play there
at right-back. Within two seasons the unflappable
defender was a regular, making 520 appearances in 16
years. He won one cap for England. Angus retired from
football in 1972 and moved back to his native
Northumberland. He plays golf most days.
7 Trevor Meredith
The striker who scored the winner to secure the League
title, Meredith played in 38 games during a five-year
spell at Turf Moor. He moved to Shrewsbury, where he
spent seven years until he finished playing in 1971. He
was a primary school teacher in Preston and recently
retired.
8 John Connelly
He joined Burnley while an apprentice joiner in 1956, but
the 18-year-old had to wait a few seasons before he
became a regular in the first team. He found the net on
20 occasions in the title-winning campaign, but injury
forced him to sit out the last few games. His skill and
pace on the right wing attracted the attention of
Manchester United, who signed him for 56,000 pounds in
the summer of 1964. United won the League title in
Connelly's first season. He also played for Blackburn and
Bury, and he picked up 20 caps for England. Connelly
recently sold his fish and chip shop in Brierfield to
travel the world.
9 Jimmy Mcllroy
He is regarded by many as the finest player to don the
club's claret-and-blue shirt. The Northern Irishman was
signed from Glentoran for 8,000 pounds in 1950. He was a
skilful inside-right whose fine touch was acquired as a
schoolboy when he learnt to control a tennis ball. He
played in 497 games in 13 years and was signed by Stoke ,
City for 25,000 pounds in 1963, a shock move that
signalled the break -up of the championship team. After
stints as coach and manager at Oldham, Stoke and Bolton,
McIlroy became a journalist for the Burnley Express. He
still writes, and he has become an acclaimed artist.
10 Jimmy Adamson (Burnley
manager)
Plucked from the northeast as a teenager he joined
Burnley from Ashington in 1946. Adamson became a familiar
sight at righthalf with his ability to read the game. In
1962 the Clarets captain was voted FootbaIler of the Year
after nearly leading Burnley to the League and FA Cup
double.
He was assistant England manager at the 1962 World Cup in
Chile. His playing career ended in 1964 after 486 matches
for Burnley in 14 years. Adamson took over as manager in
1970, with mixed success. He was also in charge at
Sunderland and Leeds. Now retired, he lives in Burnley.
11 Ray Pointer
The Blonde Bombshell scored 23 League and cup goals in
the season. He joined the club in 1957 and scored in both
his games for England, but an ankle injury ended his days
at Turf Moor in 1965. He also played for Bury , Coventry
and Portsmouth. He was youth coach at Burnley and had a
shop in Blackpool. He has now retired.
12 Brian Pilkington
He won one cap for England, but it was at Turf Moor that
he made his name. A short, stocky and fast winger,
Pilkington joined Burnley in 1951. After winning the
title, he was sold to Bolton the next season, and then
played for Bury and Barrow. "I was bought for 10
pounds and sold for 30.000 pounds," he says. "I
was on 20 pounds per week for 10 years, so I calculate
the club made 20,000 pounds out of me. I probably paid
for the flood lights," he jokes. He is vice-chairman
of Chorley and was a magistrate for 35 years.
From The
Sunday Times 28 December 2003.
Sports Section
Return to
the Caught In Time Index
|
|
