I guess I was fortunate, having been taken to a handful of games in the second half of the 1991/92 season, to start my love affair with Burnley. Huge gates for the division at the back end; a wonderful derby with Blackpool being my first game. On my dad’s part, getting me to fall in love with the club didn’t take much effort...indeed just two years later we were at Wembley and celebrating a second promotion in just 24 months.

BUT...who had it the hard way? Yes of course, THE Orient game brought great ecstasy and no doubt a thirst for more...but how did you cope during that campaign, if it was your introductory year to the Turf?

What are your memories of what was such a forgetful season, bar one or two games?

J

Jdrobbo, I always thought you were s lot older. No offence.

I'd be surprised if many chose that season as their first.

I went to my first game in October 1987 so missed the very worst and was there from the start of the slow climb back. Going to Wembley at the end of that season was a bonus.

That was my first proper season. Don't remember much other than the Orient game but my brother remembers a lot more of the games.

Those who started then deserved a medal
We played some of the worst football in my 50+ yrs supporting the Clarets
Back then living in Essex it seemed a lifetime since Div 1 days and the Premier League a complete pipe dream
But everything comes to those that wait.

I had been going on home matches since 81/82 but that season was the first time I'd been to away matches. My dad has been a season ticket holder for donkeys and has been going since the 50s but never really did away games. When he realised it could be our last season we went to most of the away matches in the run in. Football was crap but I loved it. Some real old dumps. Wigan and the Old Showground at Scunthorpe spring to mind.

Gresty Road took some beating in those days in terms of away fans ' facilities'

"A great deal of ecstasy" you say?

Not the words I would choose for my feelings before during or after the Orient game.

My first full season aged 9. Been to a couple of games before, first being 1984 and NYD 1986 but started going with old man and uncle. I was an armchair Everton fan at the time and the footy on offer was dreadful but that Orient game changed me. When on the pitch at the end I knew that this was now my club. Still have season ticket now and take my 11 YO who loves it and has been going since 6. I always marvel at the difference of experience between mine and his. Don't remember too much of the season. Got loads of autographs and remember Leighton James running out for his return after being told how good a player he was.

86/87 was my first season. Peterborough United at home, 0-0 in front of maybe 2,000. Loved every minute of it.

2 Bee Holed wrote: ↑

Wed May 06, 2020 7:33 pm

"A great deal of ecstasy" you say?

Not the words I would choose for my feelings before during or after the Orient game.

"A huge sigh of relief" is the phrase i'd use,that last half-hour listening to the wireless was torture,after the aptly named Alan Comfort scored.Ah! the good old World Service days.

That was probably my 1st real season of following the Clarets,even at such a tender age,i was only 10/11,i'd heard all the tales of the 60's legends from older family members,and through reading various books on the club,but despite not being allowed to attend the turf by my mother,i knew that Orient game was important,thankfully we came out the other side,and i finally attended my first game the following season,accompanied naturally by an older relative,that's the ultimate case of fine margins,to quote SD.

rayzer wrote: ↑

Wed May 06, 2020 7:04 pm

Jdrobbo, I always thought you were s lot older. No offence.

None taken. May I ask why?

That is the first season when I can properly remember watching the matches with interest and actually wanting to go ( surprisingly). I was taken on by family in the late 70s but was too young to appreciate what was going on ( when I could see the pitch but can remember liking Peter Noble. I missed all of the early 80s. So the 86/87 season was the first season I personally chose to go and was hooked. It was probably the banter more than the football. Missed the Orient game though but listened to it on the radio.

NottsClaret wrote: ↑

Wed May 06, 2020 7:41 pm

86/87 was my first season. Peterborough United at home, 0-0 in front of maybe 2,000. Loved every minute of it.

Are you a masochistic NC

This must be the game in 1 November 1986 Peterborough United (H) 0–0 2,229

Amazingly that was one of our larger home crowds that campaign,there's several recorded under 2,000,that's how dire it was.

rayzer - jdrobbo only started watching us when he was in his 30's, so maybe that explains it, as a proud Bradfordian he was watching his local club.

Bore off bodge and get back in yer Yarkshire hole!

Thanks Bodge. That's the reason why I thought he was older

March 87 was my first game. Exeter, nil nil, snowed, baldy keeper. By the time of the Orient game it was cricket season and we were 'strongly encouraged' by the school to not bunk off to go to the match. Should have told them to cock off in hindsight. Got my first ST the next season.

Had been going for a few years to home's and local-ish aways but 86/87 i started going to a lot of the further afield away days.. Started at Torquay
on the saturday evening kick-off Hereford,Aldershot,Exeter and many more saw some horror shows .. Telford in the FA Cup .. awful .. Always
remember coming home from Crewe and a man probably in his late 60's crying at the front of our bus as we all thought it was over ..

It's amazing how global communications have expanded. I was living upstate in California that season and was barely aware of what was going on. I sometimes went to Los Angeles and read the British papers in UCLA library, but that was often weeks behind. We had the World Service at Saturday breakfast time, but the reception was terrible and there always seemed to more interference just as Burnley's result came in. I can remember clutching the aerial and pushing my ear agains the speaker. The upside of it was that I didn't have to go through the torment of listening to that game.

I can't even begin to describe the feeling at the final whistle to be honest - definitely not ecstacy, just pure emotion and relief. When I went on the Turf that day, after almost 27 years of being a Claret, I feared and thought it might be the last time.

I am emotional but I've only twice cried at football. The second time was at Wembley in 2009; the final whistle of the Orient game was the first.

It was my first proper season of supporting. I didn't manage every home game..in fact i was watching Bury v Newport with a friend on the day we got hammered by Wolves at home but i did attend the majority. Used to walk to school instead of buying my bus pass and also put my paper round money towards going on and I went on on my own. Clearly remember the Hereford game, Torquay at home in a rearranged midweek game where we scraped a 2-2 draw. How crucial was that? Beating runaway champions Northampton at home in a rare good performance.
I had been on games before that season..taken with with my grandfather and uncle but they were few and far between. First game about 1978 i think.

I remember adverts on stickers in the windows of my school bus advertising the next game and i was intrigued. I think i attended the last game of the previous season at home to Scunthorpe and wanted more. So yes i started at the very bottom. Then again i didnt know any different with the standard of football. I was hooked though. Started going to away games about 88 or 89 and made my way to most of them for several years. I am one of those who looks back on our lower division days with fondness and many great memories.

Bodge is spot on as per usual.... except when talking about Cricket.... happy feet is the oldest goalkeeper in the West Yorks leagues now, well into his 60’s....

Anyway, back to the topic..... it was my first full season. Prior to this I’d been to Liverpool vs Spurs at Anfield and Juventus vs Torino with my uncles in Italy.... then it was Burnley vs Grimsby with Grandad.... it was bad..... but not as bad as Cotterball from memory