Northern Exposure

Tim Quelch

Description

Northern Exposure is an enthralling account of the sharply undulating fortunes of Burnley FC over the course of half a century, as seen through the eyes of long-standing fan Tim Quelch. To tell the club's story, Tim calls on current and former players, managers and directors, who share their memories and observations. The book captures all the highs and lows, providing vibrant accounts of key games played in the top flight and in each of the Football League divisions below. The story starts in March 1970 in the aftermath of the club's glory days, and charts its rapid decline in the late 70s, plus its threatened extinction a decade later, before a bumpy recovery improbably brought six consecutive years of top-flight football and a place in the Europa League. This stirring tale of a small northern town football club is set against the backdrop of a changing Britain and shifting rock music scene.

Informations

• Publié par: Distributed by eBookpartnership
• Date de parution: 17 octobre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781801503495
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2022
Pitch Publishing
A2 Yeoman Gate
Yeoman Way
Durrington
BN13 3QZ
www.pitchpublishing.co.uk
Tim Quelch, 2022
Every effort has been made to trace the copyright.
Any oversight will be rectified in future editions at the earliest opportunity by the publisher.
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A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library
Print ISBN 9781801501903
eBook ISBN 9781801503495
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CONTENTS
Many Thanks
Introduction
Part 1: Whatever Happened to The Team of the Seventies ? 1970 to 1979
1. First Game: 1969/70 Season
2. The Disastrous 1970/71 Season
3. Post-Relegation Blues 1971/72
4. Champions Again 1972/73
5. Back in the Big Time 1973/74
6. Indian Summer 1974//75
7. Wild Day in Blackpool 1975/76
8. Harry s Game 1976/77
9. Big Stevie Wonder 1977/78
10. Cup Winners Again 1978/79
11. The End of the Seventies
Part 2: On the Road to Oblivion 1980 to 1987
1. A New Low 1979/80
2. A Brief Revival 1980/82
3. Cup Fever/League Lament 1982/83
4. Lost Hope 1983/84
5. Supping at the Last-Chance Saloon: 1985 to 1987
Part 3: Things Can Only Get Better 1988 to 1994
1. Wembley Way 1987/88
2. Jimmy Mullen s Claret and Blue Army : 1991 to 1994
3. Back at Wembley 1994
Part 4: On a Wild Rollercoaster. 1994 to 2002
1. The Calamitous 1994/95 Season
2. Backs against the Wall 1995 to 1999
3. Back among the Big Boys 1999 to 2000
4. The End of the Nineties and What Came After
Part 5: Missed Glory and Beating The Retreat. 2000 to 2007
1. Premier Ambitions 2000 to 2002
2. On the Back Foot 2002 to 2007
3. The Dream Soars
Part 6: Capital Punishment. 2008 to 2009
1. Fake It To Make It The Coyle Way
2. Wembley Triumph 2009
Part 7: Decline and Fall. 2010 to 2012
1. The Dream Sours and Dies: 2010
2. What Goes Up
3. New Broom and Sweeping Changes: 2011/12
Part 8: The Dyche Factor. 2012 to 2022
1. To Succeed You Must Start at the Back
2. Room at the Top
3. Boarding the Orient Express
4. My Zero
5. Back to Basics
6. You Want It Darker? Covid Calls 2020
Epilogue: Will the North Rise Again?
References
Photos
MANY THANKS
This book has been written to raise funds for Asthma + Lung UK. All my royalties will be donated to this national charity to assist in combating lung diseases such as those that brought about the premature deaths of two friends. It seems an appropriate charity to support at this time given the vulnerability of those with lung conditions to coronavirus infections.
Although this book is essentially a personal diary, I am indebted to the memories of many others who have shared some or all of this 50-year journey, notably the contributors to the excellent London Clarets magazine, Something to Write Home About . I would like to thank the Burnley footballers and managers listed here for their past reflections including: Steve Kindon, Brian Miller, Martin Dobson, Geoff Nulty, Jimmy Adamson, Harry Potts, Arthur Bellamy, Les Latcham, Colin Waldron, Ralph Coates, Brian Laws, Paul Fletcher, Ian Britton, Jimmy Robson, Ian Wright, Ian Moore, Gareth Taylor, Glen Little, Mike Conroy, Roger Eli, David Eyres, Brian Jensen, Robbie Blake, Wade Elliott, Steven Caldwell, Graham Alexander, Frank Sinclair, Clarke Carlisle, Andy Payton, Keith Treacy, Gerry Harrison, Danny Ings, Kieran Trippier, Dean Marney, Eddie Howe, Stan Ternent, Harry Potts, Jimmy Mullen, Sean Dyche, Ashley Barnes, Ben Mee, Charlie Austin, Jason Shackell, Martin Paterson, Michael Keane, Steven Defour, Sam Vokes, Stephen Ward, and Tom Heaton.
I am also indebted to present and former board members, including Barry Kilby, Clive Holt, Frank Teasdale, John Banaszkiewicz, and Ray Griffiths, whose contributions also featured in my previous book From Orient to the Emirates , short extracts of which have been reused here. I would also like to thank existing board member Mike Garlick and for his past and present contributions, extracts of which I have used here.
I am grateful to other Burnley writers for use of brief segments of their work, notably Dave Thomas, Ray Simpson, former club historian, Tony Scholes of Up the Clarets website, Darren Bentley, the former Burnley media manager, and Phil Whalley, co-editor of Something to Write Home About and curator of The Claret Archives. I am indebted to the local press, particularly the Burnley Express and Lancashire Telegraph for their past match reports which have helped jog my memory.
A big thank you to Matthew Riley, for use of his superb photographs of Burnley players; to Dave Hird for use of his superb historical Burnley videos; to Darren Bentley for re-use of his stunning Burnley images; and to Paul Fletcher for his personal Burnley shots. Finally, thank you to everyone at Pitch for your valued help and guidance. I am particularly grateful to Duncan for his superb graphic design work and to Katie Field for her rigorous and thoughtful editing.
In the reference section I have listed all sources which have assisted my recollections.
INTRODUCTION
I went North in 1968, arriving at Lancaster University in a dank, glum autumn. Yet I fell in love with the north, with its people, its moors, fells, and lakes, once I had learnt to cope with its petrifying cold and insurgent damp. I also developed a soft spot for one of its struggling football teams, Burnley FC, set well away from the national motorways in its isolated Pennine valley. My first visit was on a cold and wet Saturday in March 1970. Despite the grubby post-industrial dereliction, I warmed to the Burnley fans chirpy resilience. Having seen their side come from behind to beat West Bromwich in front of a sadly depleted crowd, my head was turned. This born-again allegiance has stayed with me wherever I have lived and worked since - in Rochdale, Halifax, Leicester, Bristol, and London before returning to the north in 2010, following retirement. Now I can watch my team - pandemic excepting - without the exhausting journeys I made for much of my working life, sometimes with my wife, Liz, who was as keen as I during the seventies, and sometimes with our daughter, Lydia, who developed a fondness for the Clarets during her nineties adolescence. My work colleague, Andrew, often came with me too as we drove the length and breadth of the country to watch Burnley play.
Because it is impossible to cram the experience of watching Burnley for a half-century into a book of moderate size, I have chosen to provide an overview of the club s progress that traces its wildly fluctuating fortunes, from the aftermath of its sixties glory days, through its subsequent decline in the late seventies and threatened extinction in the latter eighties, before a bumpy recovery took place, which ultimately led it back, quite improbably, to top-flight football. Here, it became the smallest and least wealthy Premier League club to earn a place in a European competition.
To put more flesh on these bones I have chosen to dwell on four momentous periods in the club s recent history. I have gone back to my early adulthood, when I first became a Claret, when Jimmy Adamson boasted that his talented young Burnley side would become the team of the seventies . Having watched Burnley regularly for much of this decade I examine what became of this vaunted team, helped by the views of some of those who played under Adamson. Moving on, I have revisited the early nineties when Jimmy Mullen raised the flagging spirits of Burnley fans by choosing to play exciting, attacking, and entertaining football, helping the club rise from the lower reaches of Division Four to the second tier, only to falter once there. Thirdly, I look at the essential contributions made by former manager Stan Ternent and ex-chairman Barry Kilby in establishing the club s firm foothold in the Championship despite severe financial pressures, notably those caused by the collapse of ITV Digital broadcasting. Their estimable efforts in the late nineties and early noughties paved the way for the club s rise into the Premier League. Finally, I focus on the eight incredible seasons that Burnley have spent playing in the Premier League since 2009, seven of these under the club s remarkable manager, Sean Dyche, six consecutively. Sadly he lost his job on 15 April 2022, almost ten years after his appointment.. The song titles are included because of their personal associations on this 50-year journey.
Tim Quelch, June 2022
PART 1
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE TEAM OF THE SEVENTIES ?
1970 to 1979
Where Have All the Good Times Gone?
1. FIRST GAME: 1969/70 SEASON
Burnley 2 West Bromwich Albion 1 21 March 1970
In a Broken Dream
My first trip to Burnley seemed inauspicious. Stepping out of our car onto a greasy cobbled street, the gusting wind propelled icy rain into our screwed-up faces. We wondered whether we should have stayed in Lancaster. Burnley appeared broken. Around us were the scars of industrial blight: the derelict mills; the oily canal; the empty unwanted housing; and the rusted, weed-strewn marshalling yards. Yet overlooked by drab, rain-darkened moors, the occupied stone-terraced houses appeared snug and welcoming. Their flickering fires left an impression of homeliness. The packed pubs were inviting, too, with the Burnley fans amusing us with their sharp, ribald banter.
The football club, like its town, was a declin