A late goal brings a point and a sit in
Burnley extended their unbeaten run to four games when Notts County visited Turf Moor but it was a close-run thing with us needing a late goal to secure a point.
It’s always nice to start with some good news and we can with one of the most go ahead companies in the area announcing a massive jobs boost. Time Computer Systems Ltd. who were based at the old Mullards site at Simonstone, were taking on 45 new staff to add the five hundred who had already been recruited in the previous twelve months.
Mr Rob Davies, on behalf of the company, said: “The vast majority of the jobs are full time and will go to people locally. We are looking at the year 1999 being particularly good because the demand for computers is still great.”
When I read of a youth having been bitten, I suspected a dog might have been involved. It wasn’t. Local man Leighton James Kay Briggs had left a youth screaming in pain. Police were called and he tried to headbutt one officer while making offensive remarks about police wives.
Mr Briggs told the court he was ashamed by his behaviour which had been brought on by drink. Mr Nick Dearing (defending) said: “This is a young man who cannot take his booze. He is aware of it and is trying to put a stop to it. The offences, on the face of it, were an evening of yobbish behaviour and the defendant couldn’t believe he said what he did to the officers. He doesn’t need to be a drain on society by being put in prison.”
The defendant hadn’t touched any drink since the arrest and he was given a combination order of twelve months probation and 180 hours of community service along with £145 in fines and compensation.
It was once said that garlic bread was the future but it came close to causing major panic at Burnley General Hospital when the oven in which it was being baked overheated. The fire brigade had to be called to the hospital and their good work ensured no patients had to be evacuated.
A trip to Yorkshire Television for residents of Crow Wood Court ended in disaster. Mr Arthur Croasdale, one of the residents, took a fall and it was Carol Vorderman who rushed to his aid. Sadly, 88-year-old Mr Croasdale died. Warden Mrs Marjorie Bolton said: “Carol and Richard Whiteley were marvellous. They both rang me afterwards and said they were all devastated. They also wrote to Mr Croasdale’s son Derek.”
Having been one of the Burnley supporters who suffered the long delays in getting away from Reading’s new Madejski Stadium, local MP Peter Pike wrote to both Reading and the Football League expressing his dissatisfaction at it taking two hours to get away.
Reading Chief Executive Mr Nigel Howe wrote to the Football League with a detailed explanation which was passed on to Mr Pike. He admitted there had been teething problems and in the letter wrote: “It had been agreed before the match to experiment with manual operation of traffic lights but the operators had not turned up.” He also confirmed that evening kick offs would be moved to 8 p.m. to help relieve traffic congestion.
Former Burnley captain and manager Jimmy Adamson had won the Footballer of the Year Award in 1962 and had decided to donate his coveted trophy to Towneley Hall. Staff at the hall were delighted with Adamson explaining: “I’ve had so much pleasure in the Towneley grounds with my children and grandchildren and I’ve also played a lot of bowls here. I wanted the people of the town to be able to see the trophy for themselves. If it had gone to Turf Moor that might not have been possible.”
The next piece of news would not have pleased football club chairman Frank Teasdale. New investor Barry Kilby confirmed he’d held talks with Ray Ingleby. Still awaiting news that he would be offered a place on the board, Mr Kilby said: “I am still a relative outsider at the club and I want to get inside as soon as possible to show my authority. Once we get things sorted out at board level we can all focus on what is happening on the pitch. The club has been in the lower regions of the league for too long. We should be a First Division club at least. Reaching there would be stage one and then we can start looking further upwards.”
There had been rumours of an early rift between Kilby and Teasdale that Kilby played down but Teasdale was still revealing that the Peter Shackleton bid was still very much in the picture although he admitted: “I don’t know if he will resurrect his deal or not. I ger the odd fax from him now and again but there is nothing to report. I wish there was.” It appeared Teasdale was clinging on to power.
Teasdale had been up in front of the Football League with Burnley accused of having made an illegal approach for Stan Ternent and Sam Ellis. “We have no case to answer,” the Burnley chairman had said but Bury had reported us and their chairman Terry Robinson said: “This is a confidential matter and I am not prepared to discuss it. I await with interest the decision of the Football League commission.”
It turned out we did have a case to answer. Burnley were found guilty of making an illegal approach to Ternent. We were fined £2,500 and ordered to pay Bury a sum of £12,500 in compensation for Ternent and Ellis.
“It isn’t the amount of the fine or compensation that is disappointing, it is just the principle,” Teasdale said. “We have been found guilty of a breach of the rule and we felt we had no case to answer. We insisted on doing everything in an ethical manner, and I feel we did everything by the book.” Burnley were considering an appeal.
Ahead of the Notts County game, Ternent confirmed that Rune Vindheim had now signed a deal until the end of the season. “He has done well and will only get better when he gets fitter and stronger,” the manager said of his new man.
Mark Winstanley’s initial loan at Shrewsbury was close to ending but they were hoping to extend it, and another of the gang of four had gone; Steve Blatherwick had signed for Chesterfield for an initial two month loan. Alson on his way out was goalkeeper Tony Parks; he’d joined Barrow on a deal until the end of the 2000/01 season. With the capture of Frank Petter Kval, Ternent was willing to let Parks go.
Burnley made one change from the team that had won 4-0 at Colchester. Peter Swan, available again having served a suspension following his red card at Reading, came in for Chris Scott in an otherwise unchanged team.
It was a day of drama, falling behind, a manager sent off, a simply appalling referee, a late equaliser and then a fans’ sit in.
Where to start? Going behind with a goal as early as the eighth minute is the obvious place. It was a simple goal too. Notts won a corner which was taken by Steve Finnan. It was headed towards goal by Matt Redmile with Dennis PEARCE forcing it home from close range.
Burnley responded really well but came up against a very organised side although Andy Payton was so close to equalising within a minute of the goal only to see his header blocked on the line. Darren Ward then saved well to deny Vindheim but this was no one way traffic and Gavin Ward did well to prevent Steve Finnan doubling their lead just before half time.
We did not deserve to be behind at half time and we continued into the second half in the same way. Glen Little saw a shot go just wide and then came probably the worst of countless poor decisions from referee Mark Warren. Just eight minutes into the second half, Payton went for goal with a close range shot. It beat the goalkeeper but not the defender who prevented it from crossing the line with his hand. We’d won a penalty and they were going down to ten men, or so we thought. Nothing given by Warren who found just about the whole Burnley team swarming round him in desperate appeal.
There was more to come from the official too. Darren Ward cleared a ball upfield for Notts and then proceeded to barge Andy Cooke over. The referee saw nothing but astonishingly yellow carded Cooke.
Quite how our management team on the touchline dealt with this level of refereeing is hard to believe but when he got another decision badly wrong, and this time in our favour, Notts manager Sam Allardyce was not quite so calm about it and found himself being sent off having had a word too many with Warren.
We kept pushing and pushing but nothing would break for us. Five extra minutes were added on at the end and with time running out Matt Heywood launched the ball forward. Swan, who had moved up front, headed it on for new boy VINDHEIM to fire into the top corner.
It was a performance that had deserved a win but at least we stretched the unbeaten run to four games and things were looking up on the field.
Off the field, over 2,000 fans braved the cold weather to remain in their seats in a protest aimed at the board which had been organised by the Clarets Independent Supporters’ Association. They’d also received over 5,000 signatures in a petition giving a vote of no confidence in the board which was handed to club director Bob Blakeborough by CISA chairman Peter Heywood.
Those remaining in their seats were given a huge boost when they were joined by Stan Ternent who clearly appeared to be supporting the fans when he came onto the pitch during the warm down. We didn’t know at the time but he was no longer speaking to the board.
Stan was sorting it, as he promised he would, with the team. All we could do now was hope that new man Barry Kilby could do likewise off the pitch.
The teams were;
Burnley: Gavin Ward, Matt Heywood, Peter Swan, Brian Reid, Gordon Armstrong, Glen Little, Mark Robertson, Rune Vindheim, Paul Smith (Colin Carr-Lawton 73), Andy Cooke, Andy Payton. Subs not used: Carl Smith, Brad Maylett.
Notts County: Darren Ward, Ian Hendon, Richard Liburd, Gary Strodder, Matt Redmile, Steve Finnan, Tony Garcia, Andy Hughes, Lee Matthews (Craig Dudley 85), Gary Jones, Dennis Pearce. Subs not used: Gary Owers, Shaun Murray.
Referee: Mark Warren (Walsall).
Attendance: 10,559.
Only Bournemouth in the top six failed to win and there were familiar names on the scoresheet for second place Preston who beat Colchester 2-0 with David Eyres and Kurt Nogan scoring the goals. They weren’t the only ex-Clarets to score. David Reeves was on the mark for Chesterfield in their 2-1 home win against York and Doug Hodgson scored for Northampton in their 1-1 draw at Bournemouth.
Another point for Burnley but we remained eighteenth in the table.
Division Two Results
Saturday 17th October
Bournemouth 1 Northampton 1
Bristol Rovers 0 Wrexham 0
Burnley 1 Notts County 1
Chesterfield 2 York 1
Lincoln 1 Stoke 2
Luton 2 Oldham 0
Millwall 0 Fulham 1
Preston 2 Colchester 0
Reading 0 Gillingham 0
Walsall 1 Blackpool 0
Wigan 0 Manchester City 1
Wycombe 3 Macclesfield 0
Burnley Goalscorers (League)
8: Andy Payton
4: Andy Cooke
2: Rune Vindheim
1; Gordon Armstrong, Brian Reid
Burnley Goalscorers (Cups)
1: Andy Cooke, Andy Payton
Leading Goalscorers
8: Richard Cresswell (York), Shaun Goater (Manchester City), Andy Payton (Burnley)
7: Stuart Barlow (Wigan), Barry Hayles (Bristol Rovers), Andy Rammell (Walsall)
6: Dean Crowe (Stoke), Kurt Nogan (Preston)
5: Martin Aldridge (Blackpool), Carlo Corazzin (Northampton), Steve Davis (Luton), David Eyres (Preston), Ian Hendon (Notts County), Paul Shaw (Millwall), Mark Stein (Bournemouth), Martin Williams (Reading)
League Table
| Pos | Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | gd | pts |
| 1 | Stoke | 13 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 20 | 11 | 9 | 28 |
| 2 | Preston | 13 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 25 | 12 | 13 | 27 |
| 3 | Walsall | 13 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 17 | 14 | 3 | 25 |
| 4 | Luton | 13 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 19 | 12 | 7 | 24 |
| 5 | Fulham | 12 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 16 | 9 | 7 | 24 |
| 6 | Bournemouth | 13 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 17 | 10 | 7 | 22 |
| 7 | Manchester City | 13 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 17 | 13 | 4 | 21 |
| 8 | Blackpool | 13 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 18 | 18 | 0 | 20 |
| 9 | York | 12 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 20 | 18 | 2 | 19 |
| 10 | Wrexham | 13 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 15 | 16 | -1 | 19 |
| 11 | Chesterfield | 13 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 9 | -1 | 19 |
| 12 | Millwall | 13 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 13 | 15 | -2 | 18 |
| 13 | Bristol Rovers | 13 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 16 | 14 | 2 | 17 |
| 14 | Wigan | 13 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 15 | 14 | 1 | 17 |
| 15 | Gillingham | 13 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 18 | 13 | 5 | 16 |
| 16 | Notts County | 13 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 17 | 16 | 1 | 16 |
| 17 | Colchester | 13 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 12 | 18 | -6 | 15 |
| 18 | Burnley | 13 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 16 | 16 | 0 | 14 |
| 19 | Northampton | 13 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 14 | 17 | -3 | 12 |
| 20 | Reading | 11 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 11 | 17 | -6 | 12 |
| 21 | Oldham | 13 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 12 | 21 | -9 | 11 |
| 22 | Macclesfield | 13 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 9 | 18 | -9 | 10 |
| 23 | Lincoln | 13 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 12 | 24 | -12 | 8 |
| 24 | Wycombe | 13 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 9 | 21 | -12 | 6 |
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