A couple of pictures taken by Exeter fans at our 0-0 draw in March 1987. Only 1,787 witnessed the game, which you can see from the pictures.

The UK was in the midst of a cold snap, with snow causing chaos all over.

Fantastic.

Fantastic pictures.

Great pictures. Loved the huge floodlights and terracing. A proper football ground. Bitter conditions and no gloves, leggings or tights in sight.

Superb pics but heartbreaking to see the ground so empty for a first team game. At the time, we just got used to it being like that.

Great pics, my first season watching Burnley and as CT says, I just thought that's how it was and always would be.

Top effort from the Exeter fans getting there.

Re players not wearing leggings and gloves. They are running around.

Given someone in the CFS is having to use a brolly!
You have to question the mentality of the people choosing to go on the Bee Hole End.
They needed their heads felt.

From memory wasn't it the same price as the Longside?

Those people questioning the increase in wind due to the new stands......

Did you ever try the Bee Hole in winter?

2 Bee Holed wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 03, 2020 9:20 am

From memory wasn't it the same price as the Longside?

Until the away fan barriers went up you could enter at either end and walk freely between the two. After the barrier I only went in at Beehole end but stood on Longside.

Tricky Trevor wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 03, 2020 9:25 am

Until the away fan barriers went up you could enter at either end and walk freely between the two. After the barrier I only went in at Beehole end but stood on Longside.

Yes.....so they are choosing to stand out in that!

ClaretTony wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 03, 2020 8:58 am

Superb pics but heartbreaking to see the ground so empty for a first team game. At the time, we just got used to it being like that.

That was all I knew until the Orient game. The crowd at Wembley for the Sherpa Van trophy blew my mind!

Fair play to those Exeter fans as well!

Great pictures those.
If the camera was pointed further to the left I'd have been on that Bee Hole picture.
It's pretty shocking looking back to comprehend that it had just become perfectly normal to see the ground with that kind of attendance.

BFCmaj wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 03, 2020 10:12 am

That was all I knew until the Orient game. The trip to Wembley for the Sherpa Van trophy blew my mind!

For those of us who knew so much better times in previous years, it was heartbreaking to see the Turf like that and the few of us watching awful football that was so hard to take. For those like yourself, you knew nothing different. Both of these groups of fans can really appreciate what we have now.

Supporters who don't remember the late 80s are those who don't always understand when we refer back to it. They say every picture tells a story and those pictures do. That's why we refer back to it because that was the worst time ever to be a Burnley fan and we don't ever want to go back there.

I remember thinking that even the published attendance figures that season seemed a touch opimistic. It often seemed to me that there were literally just a few hundred in the ground particularly towards the end of a game if, as was usually the case, we were losing. As Tony said, heartbreaking times...

2 Bee Holed wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 03, 2020 9:20 am

Re players not wearing leggings and gloves. They are running around.

Given someone in the CFS is having to use a brolly!
You have to question the mentality of the people choosing to go on the Bee Hole End.
They needed their heads felt.

From memory wasn't it the same price as the Longside?

I think the brolly may have been to shield their eyes from the game.

2 Bee Holed wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 03, 2020 9:21 am

Those people questioning the increase in wind due to the new stands......

Did you ever try the Bee Hole in winter?

Yes, and in short pants. When my Dad first took me on I didn’t actually have any long pants. I did eventually have a track suit with long trousers and after an occasion where my knees went blue my Dad relented and let me wear them to games.

ClaretTony wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 03, 2020 10:16 am

Supporters who don't remember the late 80s are those who don't always understand when we refer back to it. They say every picture tells a story and those pictures do. That's why we refer back to it because that was the worst time ever to be a Burnley fan and we don't ever want to go back there.

Absolutely 100% correct with that, referring back to those days is nothing to do with trying to be seen as a 'super fan', but it was just such an unbelievable (for all the wrong reasons) time to support the club.
That said, I do have an appreciation as to why referring back to the past can rub people up the wrong way, because just to our right on the Bee Hole in those days were a group of older guys who found it impossible to accept that the players could ever do anything right given that we were where we were and that 20 years earlier we were playing in Europe and they used to wind the young me up to the max!
There are now the young adult sons and daughters of my friends who have only ever known us in the top two divisions, and almost half their lives in the Premier League!

Completely agree with what's being said about not wanting to be back there. However, worth noting for younger fans how low attendances were across football in those days. Some selected averages for that year...

Arsenal 29,022
Newcastle 24,792
Villa 18,172
Chelsea 17,694
5 top flight clubs with average attendances of under 12,000 including market leaders Leicester.

2nd Tier
Leeds 17,612
Sunderland 13,601
Pre-Walkers Millions 6,773 (season low of 4,144)

Some great stats on here - http://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn.htm

The first photo has an uncanny resemblance akin to a LS Lowry painting. Very difficult times. The club and town have always been comprehensively linked and it just felt like the heart and soul were being ripped out of both during that period.

Football in general, not just us, was on its arse in those days. Incredible how much has changed

randomclaret2 wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 03, 2020 11:04 am

Football in general, not just us, was on its arse in those days. Incredible how much has changed

We were right at the bottom of that arse though

An unfortunate image Tony lol...but sadly true

How many supporters of other clubs can say that they have seen their club occupy every single position in the league from 1-92?
I'm not sure that's necessarily anything to be particularly proud of as such, but it's been an interesting ride!

cricketfield73 wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 03, 2020 11:18 am

How many supporters of other clubs can say that they have seen their club occupy every single position in the league from 1-92?
I'm not sure that's necessarily anything to be particularly proud of as such, but it's been an interesting ride!

In my 60 years of watching Burnley I wouldn't think there are too many clubs who have played in all four divisions let alone occupied the two extreme positions. I've actually seen us play Blackpool, Bolton, Cardiff, Carlisle, Leyton Orient, Preston & Swansea in all four divisions. Also seen us play Northampton and Wolves in the top and bottom divisions but not all four.

Remember those days well and to see where we have come from

It was a dire time following Burnley for sure. Everything about the club was on its arse - the ground, the fans, the board and the players.
The good thing was from a fans point of view it only took a glimmer of hope and prospect of improvement to get fans back - it was only 3 or 4 years later we were reaching the play offs against Torquay and the crowds had started to return.

The other thing about this late 1980s period is that conversely amateur football around Burnley was thriving - 4 divisions in the burnley Saturday and Sunday leagues and teams like Belvedere and Grammar School OB fielding 7 teams each.
A lot of people who were fed up with the state of the club chose to play - these days those that are fed up with Dyche and the club choose to post on this board instead !!

Pan left in that photo of the CFS and I would have been sat there. Which year was the game that I think was against Exeter and there was one extremely hardy individual stood on the Bee Hole? Similar weather to this game too.....

The pictures show how low Burnley had fallen by then.
Never again.

I also remember this period in our history very well. I had been watching the Clarets religiously since 1957 and although I had a season ticket at this time I actually stopped going on the Turf for about two months and this was one of the games I missed through being totally p!ssed off at the state of our club. I returned to the Longside a couple of weeks after this game to see if there was any improvement. Sad times indeed.
And now? We are playing Spurs at home on Saturday. Thank you Mr Dyche and the board who support him.

Not wishing to distract from the tone of this thread, but had things turned out differently (i.e. only last night I was shocked to see where Middlesborough are at the moment considering that you couldn't put a Rizla paper between us a few short seasons ago) and we exchanged our current position with, say, Northampton Town, and it was them just about to secure a 5th consecutive season in the Premier League and you looked on their messageboard to read that there were posters calling for the manager to be sacked, I think it would surely be with a degree of disbelief!
I think that having been (un)fortunate enough to have experienced the darkest days in our history, if anything good has come of it, it has taught me only to pay any serious attention to the 'big picture' and not get too distressed when we plumb the depths of 15th in the Premier League after losing to Chelsea.

Oh for the days of a crush barrier each on the Beehole.

No thanks.

My first game.

jamesisaburyfan wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 03, 2020 8:48 am

Fantastic pictures.

Read James's book to get the full flavour of those days from a Shakers perspective.

Not sure how cold it was for that match but 9 Galway Utd players were treated for hypothermia and one hospitalised with frostbite after Saturdays match at Shamrock Rovers. Played during Storm Jorge.

I know you can't, but did the point from this match stop us from going out of existence?

Seem to remember sitting in the Bob Lord for this one, with my Brother.....he was just home from Israel and was desperate to get on.....ahmmmm!!

ClaretTony wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 03, 2020 10:16 am

For those of us who knew so much better times in previous years, it was heartbreaking to see the Turf like that and the few of us watching awful football that was so hard to take. For those like yourself, you knew nothing different. Both of these groups of fans can really appreciate what we have now.

Supporters who don't remember the late 80s are those who don't always understand when we refer back to it. They say every picture tells a story and those pictures do. That's why we refer back to it because that was the worst time ever to be a Burnley fan and we don't ever want to go back there.

I do remember enjoying the away matches much more than the home games around that time, expectancy level very low..so just enjoy the day out.

Everything was very cloak and dagger, I suppose at most clubs around that time...we knew nothing of what was really going on. Unlike today with Social Media as it is, nothing seems to stay hidden for very long....a good thing ?

2 Bee Holed wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 03, 2020 4:06 pm

I know you can't, but did the point from this match stop us from going out of existence?

All else being equal, yes. We finished a point above Torquay and Lincoln, with a worse goal difference.

You would think that with Ashley Hoskin and Neil Grewcock both playing most of the matches, we would have scored enough goals to be safe.

But then you see the list of centre forwards - Mark Caughey, Phil Devaney, Wayne Entwistle, Phil Murphy, Derrick Parker, Robert Regis ... and Ian Britton, who although he did get on the end of one vital cross , didn't win all that many headers for some reason!

ChorltonCharlie wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 03, 2020 10:48 am

Completely agree with what's being said about not wanting to be back there. However, worth noting for younger fans how low attendances were across football in those days. Some selected averages for that year...

Arsenal 29,022
Newcastle 24,792
Villa 18,172
Chelsea 17,694
5 top flight clubs with average attendances of under 12,000 including market leaders Leicester.

2nd Tier
Leeds 17,612
Sunderland 13,601
Pre-Walkers Millions 6,773 (season low of 4,144)

Some great stats on here - http://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn.htm

Wasn’t this when attendances were dropping off over violence?

Tricky Trevor wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 03, 2020 2:14 pm

Not sure how cold it was for that match but 9 Galway Utd players were treated for hypothermia and one hospitalised with frostbite after Saturdays match at Shamrock Rovers. Played during Storm Jorge.

Ahhhh yes indeed TT , now didn't travel myself but one lad said it just got worse as the game went on , now the fans were under cover it's the players that took the weather hit .

dsr wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 03, 2020 4:55 pm

You would think that with Ashley Hoskin and Neil Grewcock both playing most of the matches, we would have scored enough goals to be safe.

But then you see the list of centre forwards - Mark Caughey, Phil Devaney, Wayne Entwistle, Phil Murphy, Derrick Parker, Robert Regis ... and Ian Britton, who although he did get on the end of one vital cross , didn't win all that many headers for some reason!

Not a word against Wayne Enty please, subject of my favourite photo ever taken of a Bury player.

https://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl= ... h%2Fx%2Fim

My first game was in 1985 when I was 6, but this was my first year as a season ticket holder.

I remember asking my Dad if they were real games. He assured me they were but I didn’t believe him ..... the lack of a crowd made me think it was the reserves.

If you’d told me back then I’d see us in the top flight I simply wouldn’t have believed you. They were dark, dark days ..... I remember leaving the Crewe game in particular and I’d never seen my Dad like that.

Just over 4 years later, we played Blackpool on a Tuesday night in front of 18,395 ( 2-0 ) as we were pushing to cement our play-off place .... On the very amateur season's highlights Video ( Part 2 ), the coverage shows fans walking up Brunshaw Road from town .... You can clearly hear the camera-man through the effects microphone, " Christ, where have all this lot come from ! " .

Hard times I was on that game no doubt there will be 15000 others who miraculously remembered being on

Socrates wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 03, 2020 7:44 pm

My first game was in 1985 when I was 6, but this was my first year as a season ticket holder.

I remember asking my Dad if they were real games. He assured me they were but I didn’t believe him ..... the lack of a crowd made me think it was the reserves.

If you’d told me back then I’d see us in the top flight I simply wouldn’t have believed you. They were dark, dark days ..... I remember leaving the Crewe game in particular and I’d never seen my Dad like that.

And that night coming home from Crewe was as bad as it got. Utter despair amongst our lot, hardly a word spoken in the car and the reality of what was facing us as stark as could be. Then it was the wait; five days of not knowing what to do before the inevitability of what we had kept putting off reared its very ugly head.
Just to go back to that journey home from Crewe I remember us behind a coach carrying jubilant Everton fans returning from Norwich where they had won 1-0 in the afternoon to claim the league title. I'd seen us have so many tussles with Everton down the years and now there we were at the top and bottom of the league structure.
Good to see you posting again, Socrates.

ClaretTony wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 03, 2020 10:16 am

For those of us who knew so much better times in previous years, it was heartbreaking to see the Turf like that and the few of us watching awful football that was so hard to take. For those like yourself, you knew nothing different. Both of these groups of fans can really appreciate what we have now.

Supporters who don't remember the late 80s are those who don't always understand when we refer back to it. They say every picture tells a story and those pictures do. That's why we refer back to it because that was the worst time ever to be a Burnley fan and we don't ever want to go back there.

Even worse than Cotterball????

Even worse...

Socrates wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 03, 2020 7:44 pm

My first game was in 1985 when I was 6, but this was my first year as a season ticket holder.

I remember asking my Dad if they were real games. He assured me they were but I didn’t believe him ..... the lack of a crowd made me think it was the reserves.

If you’d told me back then I’d see us in the top flight I simply wouldn’t have believed you. They were dark, dark days ..... I remember leaving the Crewe game in particular and I’d never seen my Dad like that.

That journey home from Crewe was horrible. Most teams under threat had played in the afternoon and got results before we lost at Crewe. Utter despair on the way home knowing that it was all now out of our hands.

I’ve never felt as low as a Burnley fan. The next five days were difficult to deal with until that final whistle blew against Orient. It wasn’t time to celebrate, just relief that we’d survived.

That Crewe game was the lowest point I had experienced as a Burnley fan. We did appeal the result as the full 90 minutes weren't played, to no avail.

I had plans to go out and celebrate if we stayed in the league. I ended up going home and being physically sick once the reality of just how close we came to losing our league status and probably our club sank in. Horrible times.