Burnley Football Club - The Clarets

Burnley Football Club History

2006-07 Season

15th in the Championship
League Cup: 1st round: Hartlepool United h. 0-1
FA Cup: 3rd round, Reading a. 2-3

Highlight:
4-1 win at Norwich City, 1/10/06

Low Spot:
2-0 defeat at Preston, 17/3/07.

Good:
Andy Gray
14 goals was a good return and his influence was clearly demonstrated by the way the club struggled when he fell victim to injury midway through the season.
Michael Duff
Impressed at full back and in the centre of defence for the Clarets as well as playing his part in Northern Ireland's excellent campaign.

Bad:
Adi Akinbayi
Was the success story of Burnley's previous campaign but looked pretty clueless after returning from an ill fated spell at Sheffield United.
Which version will turn up next season?
Wayne Thomas
Showed an improvement on the previous season but still wasn't entirely convincing.

In Brief:
Burnley made a great start to the season and three wins in a row from the end of October had them sitting pretty in 3rd place.
This form collapsed completely after injury ruled out Andy Gray for a prolonged spell and after a harrowing run in which only one game in twenty two was won relegation became a distinct possibility.
Five wins in six games made sure this didn't happen as Gray returned to make his presence felt.
Next season will be of extreme importance to Steve Cotterill who found his popularity with the fans beginning to wane.
Much will depend if Adi Akinbayi remembers where the nets are and strikes up a partnership with Gray. Potentially this could be one of the better pairings in the Championship.

Burnley F.C. History

Burnley Football Club was formed in 1882 when the Burnley Rovers rugby club decided to change codes and start playing football instead. The club became original members of the Football League in 1888, finishing 9th in the first season.

The club made an ordinary start to life in the league and were relegated in 1897. First division status was reclaimed immediately in 1898 when Burnley made off with the Division Two title. They could only survive for two seasons before suffering another relegation, however.

Burnley then spent thirteen seasons in Division Two. An improvement was hinted at as the club reached the quarter finals of the FA Cup in both 1909 and 1911. This was confirmed in 1912-13 when Burnley reached the FA Cup semi finals, beating rivals Blackburn Rovers along the way before losing 3-2 in a replay to Sunderland, as well as winning promotion from the second division as runners up behind Preston North End.

The following season the Clarets surpassed this effort by actually winning the FA Cup. They beat Derby County, Bolton Wanderers, Sunderland and Sheffield United before overcoming Liverpool with a single Bert Freeman goal in the final.

Burnley remained a power when football resumed after the First World War. They finished runners up in the first division behind West Bromwich Albion in 1920 before claiming the league championship the following year, 1921, finishing a full five points ahead of Manchester City. During this season the club remained unbeaten for 30 league games between September and March.

This standing could not be maintained, however, and despite reaching the FA Cup semi finals again in 1924 the Clarets eventually dropped back into the second division in 1930.

Again Burnley enjoyed a fine season immediately after the end of a world war as they reached the FA Cup final and won promotion from the second division in 1947. They finished as runners up behind Manchester City in Division Two and lost 1-0 to Charlton Athletic in the cup final.

Burnley enjoyed their greatest days in the late 1950's and early 60's as they remained in the first division for 24 consecutive seasons. They reached the FA Cup quarter finals in three seasons out of four between 1957 and 1961. During that time the Clarets actually claimed another league title in 1960, pipping Wolves and Tottenham to the championship.

The following season they reached the FA Cup semi finals and made it all the way to Wembley the year after in 1962. They lost on both these occasions to Tottenham Hotspur, 3-0 in 1961 and 3-1 in 1962.

In 1960-61 Burnley represented England in the European Cup as league champions. They knocked out Stade de Reims of France before losing to SV Hamburg in the quarter finals. They managed a 3-1 victory in the first leg at Turf Moor before suffering a 4-1 defeat in Germany in the second.

Star players for the Clarets during this golden period included Jimmy Adamson, John Connelly, Jimmy McIlroy and Ray Pointer.

The abolition of the maximum wage around this time would eventually put an end to such lofty ambitions but Burnley continued to punch above their weight until well into the 1970's thanks mainly to an outstanding youth system.

The Clarets managed a top ten finish in the first division in every season between 1953 and 1964 and also qualified for the European Fairs Cup of 1966-67. Again they made the quarter finals, beating Stuttgart, Lausanne and Naples before losing 3-2 on aggregate to Eintracht Frankfurt.

Burnley did suffer relegation in 1971, having been dubbed the team of the 70's because of their young talent, but returned to the top flight in 1973 as second division champions and finished 6th in their first season back in Division One as well as reaching the FA Cup semi finals.

The Clarets knocked out Grimsby, Oldham, Aston Villa and Wrexham before falling to a 2-0 defeat in the last four against Newcastle United.

Among the Burnley discoveries at this time were Ralph Coates, Willie Morgan, Martin Dobson, Dave Thomas and Leighton James.

From this point on, however, Burnley slipped into decline. In 1975 they lost 1-0 at home to Wimbledon in the FA Cup and remain the last top flight club to suffer that ignomy against non-league opposition.

The following season they suffered relegation and have yet to return to the top flight. They did manage to win the Anglo Scottish Cup in 1979. Not the biggest trophy perhaps but sweet nonetheless as Burnley edged out bitter rivals Blackburn in the group stage, beat Celtic home and away in the quarter finals before hammering Oldham Athletic in the final.

In 1980 Burnley slipped into the third division for the first time but returned to the second division as champions two years later. From this point the club suffered a dreadful fall from grace. They were relegated immediately from Division Two in 1983 and plunged into the fourth division in 1985.

Then in 1986-87, when automatic relegation from the Football League was first introduced, Burnley were left staring straight into the abyss. Sitting bottom of the table going into the final day the Clarets escaped thanks to a 2-1 win over Orient with goals from Neil Grewcock and Ian Britton.

From there the club did recover although the process was steady and sometimes painful. They reached the final of the Sherpa Van Trophy the following season only to lose 2-0 to Wolves at Wembley.

In 1991 Burnley made it to the fourth division play offs but lost out in the semi finals to Torquay United. They made up for this by winning the championship the year after to return to the third tier.

The Clarets made it to the second division play offs in 1994 and claimed promotion after beating Plymouth Argyle in the semi finals and Stockport County 2-1 in the final. David Eyres and Gary Parkinson scored the goals in front of a 44,806 crowd at Wembley.

Unfortunately they suffered immediate relegation and had to wait until 2000 before returning to the second tier as runners up behind Preston.

Burnley finished just one place out of the play offs in their first two seasons in Division One but have slipped into a lower mid table position in the three seasons since.

Burnley have made it to the League Cup semi finals on three occasions, in 1961, 1969 and 1983.

In 1961 they lost out to Aston Villa after a replay at Old Trafford and also went to a third game in 1969 before losing to Swindon Town at the Hawthorns.

Their most noteworthy run came in 1983, however, a year they suffered relegation to the third division. Burnley beat Bury on an 8-4 aggregate in the first round and Middlesbrough on a 4-3 aggregate in the second. They then went to Coventry City and won 2-1, beat Birmingham 3-2 at Turf Moor before travelling to Tottenham in the quarter finals and trouncing them 4-1. Despite giving an excellent account of themselves in the semi final they lost on a 3-1 aggregate to Liverpool.

Burnley's record victory stands at 9-0, a result they have managed on four occasions against Darwen, Crystal Palace, New Brighton and Penrith, a motley crew.

The youngest player ever to represent the club is also perhaps the best. Tommy Lawton was only 16 years and 174 days old when he first pulled on the claret and blue shirt. It was not long before Everton prized him away to Goodison Park, however, to replace Dixie Dean.

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