Maybe a bit controversial but here goes.
Bob Lord didn't seem that popular back in the 70s, selling our best players to fund our ground improvements etc. Or maybe did he do a good job in keeping us going ?
Is it set in stone that the stand on Brunshaw Rd is always to be called The Bob Lord Stand or can it be renamed at anytime ?
I would love it to be renamed the Kilby Stand.

It could be knocked down for me

I still call it the Martin Dobson stand, because his transfer money paid for it.

I still get tickets for the Longside and Bee Hole End. Changing names takes a bit of getting used to.

Aclaret wrote:Maybe a bit controversial but here goes.
Bob Lord didn't seem that popular back in the 70s, selling our best players to fund our ground improvements etc. Or maybe did he do a good job in keeping us going ?
Is it set in stone that the stand on Brunshaw Rd is always to be called The Bob Lord Stand or can it be renamed at anytime ?
I would love it to be renamed the Kilby Stand.

It was Bob Lord who decided it would be called the Bob Lord Stand. I don't know for certain but a director, now passed away, once told me that he'd had it written that the stand could never be renamed. They did take his picture down in the reception area though.

There is nothing to stop the club renaming the stand if they want to.

ClaretTony wrote:It was Bob Lord who decided it would be called the Bob Lord Stand. I don't know for certain but a director, now passed away, once told me that he'd had it written that the stand could never be renamed. They did take his picture down in the reception area though.

It takes an arrogant man to decide he will name a stand after himself, usually it's after he dies as a tribute.
Ah well, Bob Lord lives on, and on, and on.......

Even if the Bob Lords name is changed people will still call it that, The Barry Kilby stand would be a good thing should they decide to change?

moaninclaret wrote:Even if the Bob Lords name is changed people will still call it that, The Barry Kilby stand would be a good thing should they decide to change?

Maybe one day well get the Lord Barry Kilby stand? That would be richly deserved.

Although by all accounts he was an odious man he did a lot for the Club and kept it in the top flight after other smaller clubs had been relegated. So like it or not we owe his thinkings about the game a lot. Even if Alan Brown had the foresight about Gawthorpe it was BL that pushed it through and he was there when we were one of the first clubs with a youth policy and a training complex. Despite his rantings and I remember them well at the time his name should be remembered IMO even if others think the appellation should only be on the Gents Lavatories at the Turf.
He saw what was to become to English football after the abolition of the maximum wage which led to our decline along with all the other small clubs.
Of course the maximum wage was wrong but of interest from 1947-62 10 clubs won the league, 1962-1992- 10 clubs won the league and from 1993 in the premier league over 26 years there will have been just 6 winners (7 if Liverpool triumph this May).
In the FA Cup 12 winners 1947 (booooo) until 1961 15 winners from 1962 (booooo) to 1992 but just 8 from 1993 to present day.
For those of us who watched football in the 50's the game is vey different and not necessarily for the better competition wise. That level playing field has got a bigger slope on it year after year since 1961.
But yes BK deserves his name up there along with BL

Well done mdd2, you put forward a strong case for Bob Lord.
I suppose it's the hypothetical question, what if Bob Lord hadn't sold Dobbo and others , and we had indeed been the team of the 70s ?
Back in the day clubs obviously didn't have TV cash and wealthy benefactors ( or was BL our wealthy benefactor ) so we relied a lot on our gate receipts, which I think were decent back then.
Maybe Bob Lord didn't have a choice in selling our best players, I don't know.
Barry Kilby took over chairmanship in a completely different era with no cash, poor gates and other rival clubs with wealthy backers.
I personally thank Barry Kilby for our position in football rather than Bob Lord.

I always call it the Lord Bob, anyway.

Our best chairman of all time and onenof the best chairman in football history. Did so much good for us, the town and football generally. The least he deserves is a stand.

Aclaret wrote:Well done mdd2, you put forward a strong case for Bob Lord.
I suppose it's the hypothetical question, what if Bob Lord hadn't sold Dobbo and others , and we had indeed been the team of the 70s ?
Back in the day clubs obviously didn't have TV cash and wealthy benefactors ( or was BL our wealthy benefactor ) so we relied a lot on our gate receipts, which I think were decent back then.
Maybe Bob Lord didn't have a choice in selling our best players, I don't know.
Barry Kilby took over chairmanship in a completely different era with no cash, poor gates and other rival clubs with wealthy backers.
I personally thank Barry Kilby for our position in football rather than Bob Lord.

The question then arises:- Would there have been a Burnley Football Club for Barry Kilby et al to take over if it had not been for Bob Lord's efforts in the past?
The bottom line is that none of us really know about running a football club and what it entails. It is easy to criticise things as a fan, however, in the past we were very reliant on the cash input of the Board to keep going and those of us that have been around a long time know that we have been very near having to ask the question as to whether or not the club could carry on.
It is a different ball game these days with the money coming in from the PL, however, the outgoings have also increased and none of us really know just how we are in the grand scale of things.

Remember that it is only a few years ago, when we got into the Premier League, that lots of fans were criticising those Board members whose loans were repaid. Loans which, from all accounts, had kept the Club going through some very difficult financial times.

It is the sum of the whole that we should be considering and that is all part of the history of Burnley Football Club. It is a warts and all scenario and yet, here we are, plying our trade in the Premier League and not doing badly from all accounts. This is thanks to all those who have done their bit since the Club was formed and have managed, or sometimes mismanaged, events so that we can follow the Club today.

When this has been discussed in the past I have suggested the Orient game stand. Most important match in our history, a reminder of how far we have come and a warning 're what debt gets you .

bfcjg wrote:When this has been discussed in the past I have suggested the Orient game stand. Most important match in our history, a reminder of how far we have come and a warning 're what debt gets you .

Surely this is a **** take?

mdd2 wrote:Although by all accounts he was an odious man he did a lot for the Club and kept it in the top flight after other smaller clubs had been relegated. So like it or not we owe his thinkings about the game a lot. Even if Alan Brown had the foresight about Gawthorpe it was BL that pushed it through and he was there when we were one of the first clubs with a youth policy and a training complex. Despite his rantings and I remember them well at the time his name should be remembered IMO even if others think the appellation should only be on the Gents Lavatories at the Turf.
He saw what was to become to English football after the abolition of the maximum wage which led to our decline along with all the other small clubs.
Of course the maximum wage was wrong but of interest from 1947-62 10 clubs won the league, 1962-1992- 10 clubs won the league and from 1993 in the premier league over 26 years there will have been just 6 winners (7 if Liverpool triumph this May).
In the FA Cup 12 winners 1947 (booooo) until 1961 15 winners from 1962 (booooo) to 1992 but just 8 from 1993 to present day.
For those of us who watched football in the 50's the game is vey different and not necessarily for the better competition wise. That level playing field has got a bigger slope on it year after year since 1961.
But yes BK deserves his name up there along with BL

Bob Lords arrogance played a huge part in our plunge down the leagues

joey13 wrote:Bob Lords arrogance played a huge part in our plunge down the leagues

Did it really!

Wokingclaret wrote:Did it really!

Yes it did

Well, some would say we were on the way back when he died. 81/82

So one relegation too far to the 3rd Div. He appointed Miller and he got us on the way back, until the John Jackson debacle

I think our demise stemmed from other clubs developing youth policies the loss of the wage cap and you will see that our demise until Lord’s death was a few years behind the demise of Blackpool Bolton Blackburn Preston and other relatively small clubs like Portsmouth and Derby County

cricketfieldclarets wrote:Our best chairman of all time and onenof the best chairman in football history. Did so much good for us, the town and football generally. The least he deserves is a stand.

This !

TsarBomba wrote:Surely this is a **** take?

No, it's original and a p1s$ take would be the toilets at the top of the beehole entrance to the Longside stand.

ClaretTony wrote:It was Bob Lord who decided it would be called the Bob Lord Stand. I don't know for certain but a director, now passed away, once told me that he'd had it written that the stand could never be renamed. They did take his picture down in the reception area though.

I believe Tim Noone knows of the pictures whereabouts...

He was a man of his time and although he was very self centred, intransigent and utterly obstinate, he genuinely believed he was doing the best for Burnley FC with MOST decisions he made. At times however he allowed things to become too personal (like with Jimmy Mac or Bobby Seith for example) and that undermined some of his efforts unfortunately. But overall, during his tenure the club was well run, along the lines of most top clubs in those days and it was thriving and well able to compete at the highest levels. However, almost overnight he became an anacronism as football changed and others of his ilk stepped aside for a new breed of owner and new ways of running clubs, but Lord clung on and that was to the detriment of the club. When he eventually decided he HAD to to move over he was the one who anointed Jackson as his successor and that proved absolutely disastrous.

Dark Cloud wrote:When he eventually decided he HAD to to move over he was the one who anointed Jackson as his successor and that proved absolutely disastrous.

That's not true at all - Jackson was part of a consortium who bought the bulk of Lord's shares and he was appointed chairman by the new board (without Lord).

"......When he eventually decided he HAD to to move over he was the one who anointed Jackson as his successor and that proved absolutely disastrous."

Dark Cloud ---I do like the idea that he anointed Jackson ----surely he didn't have those sort of powers! lol

He probably deserves a statue when we get around to building a few - I won’t hold my breath because our club don’t like spending brass. If you’ve read his book you wouldn’t question his love of the club, despite his personal traits often having fans of the day question him.

ClaretTony wrote:That's not true at all - Jackson was part of a consortium who bought the bulk of Lord's shares and he was appointed chairman by the new board (without Lord).

I genuinely have always believed that Jackson was already on the board and Lord made sure he succeeded him as chairman. I assume from what you say you are better informed or remember things better than me and I have it wrong.
I will say I was a vociferous "Bob Lord out" chanter as we spectacularly declined after 1976 and I despised him and blamed him for many, many years, but looking back now I do thing SOME of the stick he took may have been harsh as he was simply trying to stem an almost inevitable tide. Even selling Dobbo to pay for the stand was something he probably HAD to do or we could have been playing on a three sided ground basically forever! BUT then naming the stand after himself is a completely different matter!!!!

joey13 wrote:Bob Lords arrogance played a huge part in our plunge down the leagues

I would suggest that's debatable ....

He was a dichotomy, that's for sure ! He forsaw the demise of the historic town Clubs once the maximum wage had been abolished, a correct decision, but one which favoured the big city Clubs, with their bigger gates & richer owners. Having said that, we were probably the last of the " Town " Clubs to be relegated as Rovers, Huddersfield, Preston, Blackpool & Bolton all went down before us. He was absolutely spot on with his comments about TV getting football " on the cheap ", as subsequent events have proven beyond his wildest thoughts I suspect. ( I believe he threw the BBC cameras out of Turf Moor, after the BBC offered £40 to screen highlights of a League Cup game, as he thought it would reduce the gate ! ). He was right to develop the youth system, Gawthorpe was the most advanced training ground in England when it opened, the players went on end of season foreign tours to the USA,Europe and Mauritius, ( Hence the joyous, life affirming contributions of " DaveManu " ), flew to away games and his development of two ends of the ground during the 1970's arguably saved us a fortune later on ....

That said, he was never a loss to the diplomatic service ! Comments about Manchester United's " Teddy boys ", the " Jews who run television ", and various other ill-chosen words lost him friends and support ... he sold Jimmy McIlroy ( £25k ) to Stoke, and declared that the Club, as a limited Company, should " always pay a dividend " .

The best quote I heard about him was from the late Eric Cookson, a local Business-man who tried to acquire enough shares to get on the Board when Lord was Chairman in the 1960's, but was blocked by him. I knew Mr Cookson towards the end of his life, and he told me, " I've mellowed now, Bob was a stubborn B****rd at times, but he was our B****rd, and always did what he thought was best for the Club, rightly or wrongly "

This article, from the Guardian, earlier this year and it's reader's comments make interesting reading .....

https://www.theguardian.com/football/bl ... rovocation

UTC !!

Bob Lord didn't make the Teddy Boys comment, he states in his autobiography that it was said by another director, the press prefered to put it down to him though, sell more papers that way. Anyway more of an insult to Teddy Boys to be compared to the United players that day.

Dark Cloud wrote:I genuinely have always believed that Jackson was already on the board and Lord made sure he succeeded him as chairman. I assume from what you say you are better informed or remember things better than me and I have it wrong.
I will say I was a vociferous "Bob Lord out" chanter as we spectacularly declined after 1976 and I despised him and blamed him for many, many years, but looking back now I do thing SOME of the stick he took may have been harsh as he was simply trying to stem an almost inevitable tide. Even selling Dobbo to pay for the stand was something he probably HAD to do or we could have been playing on a three sided ground basically forever! BUT then naming the stand after himself is a completely different matter!!!!

Jackson was on the board but formed a consortium with other directors to buy out Lord - Iven & Eglin I think were the others there at the time who were involved. Lord's son-in-law Jeffrey Harrison and Wilde (I think Jimmy but can't be certain of his first name), a big friend of Lord, were very quickly removed from the board. Lord remained on the board officially until death, he'd retained 100 shares to ensure he did so.

Wilde had been a director of Preston previously and then went to join the board at Blackpool, or it might have been Blackpool and then Preston.

Clarets4me wrote:The best quote I heard about him was from the late Eric Cookson, a local Business-man who tried to acquire enough shares to get on the Board when Lord was Chairman in the 1960's, but was blocked by him. I knew Mr Cookson towards the end of his life, and he told me, " I've mellowed now, Bob was a stubborn B****rd at times, but he was our B****rd, and always did what he thought was best for the Club, rightly or wrongly "

And look who tried to buy them after Cookson.

http://www.uptheclarets.com/lord-sees-o ... nger-bates" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

For the record - Lord said he'd never made the Teddy Boys comment about Man U players - he said another Burnley director had said it and he had permission to say so. I believe on that, he was very much correct.

cricketfieldclarets wrote:I believe Tim Noone knows of the pictures whereabouts...

Bob Lord........... Was my Father!

ClaretTony wrote:For the record - Lord said he'd never made the Teddy Boys comment about Man U players - he said another Burnley director had said it and he had permission to say so. I believe on that, he was very much correct.

I stand corrected, however the " gist " of my post remains true, Mr Lord's public utterances were occasionally controversial at the time, and judged by modern standards, painfully insensitive !!

However, as the " Grauniad " article's comments make clear, he was a man of his time, and Munich was only 16 years after " D-day " .... at a time when a generation or two had received telegrams or letters advising of the loss of their husbands, sons, brothers etc on " active service " during two Wars. Although the Country was greatly sympathetic, the loss of a few well paid young men in Europe, on an adventure advised against by the FA, would not have resonated as it would do today, sadly ....

The picture of Bob (Mr) Lord at the bottom of the stairs in the reception area always made me aware he was looking at every person who walked through the front entrance. But whether you walked to the left or right of it, his eyes followed you. Brilliant photo and whoever has it, I hope they treasure it.
Like him or loathe him, people around the UK, when you mentioned Burnley FC, always responded with "Bob Lord".
In the 60s we lads had little Red books we called Thoughts of Chairman Bob, (along the lines of Chairman Mou) where we wrote comments made by Mr Lord, who no one would ever call Bob.
To ever get into his inner circle, you had to be in a Masonic Lodge, that applied to a lot of his staff including some managers, where some serious football decisions were made.
I hazard a guess that background information checks were made by Mr Lord, through his contacts in various Lodges on Cookson and Bates, to establish their suitability to become board members. One thing for sure there wasn't ever going to be a board of directors with 2 forthright people of the likes of Lord and Bates in it.

Satire wins

I remember a book that was done called BFC and me. I think Paul Fletcher did it to make money for the club and numerous ex players put stories in it from their time at Burnley. Some of the tales were hilarious but one ex player wrote in capital letters 'Bob Lord built an empire and then destroyed it.' Can't be positive but I think it was Jimmy Adamson.

He’s back. 29.7.19

ClaretTony wrote:It was Bob Lord who decided it would be called the Bob Lord Stand. I don't know for certain but a director, now passed away, once told me that he'd had it written that the stand could never be renamed. They did take his picture down in the reception area though.

You don't know he decided that for certain, it's hearsay . It's a shame he can't give his side of all the stories that have come out after his death.

Anyone remember BLOB ?

Rumbletonk wrote:You don't know he decided that for certain, it's hearsay . It's a shame he can't give his side of all the stories that have come out after his death.

Many stories were out there before his death , he courted controversy

Couldn’t we just leave it as the BL stand and rename the James Hargreaves after Kilby?

If I were a Biliionaire Oligarch, I would buy the Club and re-build the whole stadium in Lord Bob’s honour. It would be a Pork Pie shaped arena with a retractable ‘pie-crust lid’ roof, complete with the hole in the middle when fully closed.
I would call it the Lord Bob Pork Pie Dome at Turf Moor.
I’d even re-build the Cricket Club Pavilion in the shape of a Pickled Egg that sat next to the Pie.

Lord Beamish wrote:If I were a Biliionaire Oligarch, I would buy the Club and re-build the whole stadium in Lord Bob’s honour. It would be a Pork Pie shaped arena with a retractable ‘pie-crust lid’ roof, complete with the hole in the middle when fully closed.
I would call it the Lord Bob Pork Pie Dome at Turf Moor.
I’d even re-build the Cricket Club Pavilion in the shape of a Pickled Egg that sat next to the Pie.

And have some bisto powder around the hole in the middle so when it rained, turned to gravy.

Aclaret wrote:And have some bisto powder around the hole in the middle so when it rained, turned to gravy.

Now that would just be silly...

joey13 wrote:Many stories were out there before his death , he courted controversy

No doubting that. The thought of someone deciding to take his picture down just annoyed me

I am not sure Barry Kilby would wish to displace Bob Lord.

Perhaps the Lord Kilby Stand!

IanMcL wrote:I am not sure Barry Kilby would wish to displace Bob Lord.

Perhaps the Lord Kilby Stand!

See my post (9)