Burnley pay the penalty at Goodison

Share this page :

This week in 1973 took Burnley to Goodison Park for a First Division fixture against Everton but it brought a defeat, just our second of the season, and in controversial circumstances.

Last week we reported on the disputes at Michelin. In the days following, the hourly paid workers accepted a deal and returned to full time work but when management made what they described as a move to make peace with salaried staff, their attempts were described as a slap in the face by union officials.

The major issue was the company negotiating with the hourly paid workers’ union but refusing to recognise the union representing the salaried staff. “Although shop floor workers have ended their one-day strikes, it won’t affect our dispute,” a union spokesman said. “They are already recognised as a union, but we aren’t.”

Burnley’s Accident Prevention Committee were set to launch a massive road safety campaign for the old folk in town, a response to receiving frightening accident figures for the over 65s. All five people killed on the Burnley roads in the twelve months from October 1972 had been aged 65 or over and of seventy serious injuries, fourteen of them were pensioners.

Accident Prevention Officer Mr J. D. Mackie said: “The figures are frightening and we must make every effort to get to our senior citizens and make them more safety conscious. We must warn them of the dangers of crossing the road and make them realise that they must judge the speed of traffic.”

He added: “If they can, they should wear something white at night and not be afraid to ask younger people to help them across the roads. Younger and middle-aged people can also help by being more willing to escort pensioners across the roads, but pensioners themselves must also try not to be as independent as sometimes they are. They must realise that there’s nothing wrong with being helped across the busy road.”

The plan was for Mr Mackie to organise a series of visits to old people’s centres and clubs throughout the town. “This is the first time for five years that the accident figures for Burnley have been higher than the national average per head of population,” Mr Mackie added.

Thomas Hughes, former steward at Keighley Green Social Club, landed himself in court having stolen £589 worth of property belonging to the club and asked for four further offences to be taken into consideration. He admitted to using the club money for gambling and when he was found out asked for the chance to pay it back. Unfortunately, for him, the club committee instead reporting him and it led to him receiving a nine-month prison sentence.

Another to steal from an employer was Margaret Rose Hatton. She worked as a cashier for Skipper’s who had no idea what she was up to until she went to own up. She asked if she could pay back what she owed at £6 per week but, after discussions, the police were called. In court she pleaded guilty to the offence and four charges of falsifying accounts. She asked for 96 other offences to be taken into consideration with all the offences totalling a theft of £3,500. She was sentenced to two years imprisonment, suspended for two years, and ordered to pay £1,500 in compensation at £8 per week.

Two Burnley based gentlemen were launching a new business venture called CMT to specialise in the latest methods of industrial and domestic cleaning and painting. “Whatever it is we can clean it,” was the firm’s motto. The M in CMT was for a third partner by the name of David McCallion while the C and T were for Casper and Thomson, who had other jobs in town. Casper said of the new venture: “Many people’s idea of a footballer going into business is that he should run a discotheque or newsagents. We thought carefully about it and decided there was a market for this type of work and that we could provide a service that is needed.”

Mr Casper (Frank) was not available for the Saturday game at Everton given that he was still recovering from a cartilage operation. Mr Thomson (Jim) definitely was, and with Colin Waldron ruled out with a suspension, he was moving into the centre-half role with Billy Rodaway coming in on the left for his first game since the end of the 1971/72 season and his first top flight game.

Thomson himself had been a doubt with a foot injury and manager Jimmy Adamson warned on the day before the game: “Don’t be surprised if I call more players into the squad before Saturday.”

We went into the game having lost just once all season, a 3-2 defeat at Ipswich, but we left Goodison with a second loss but one that came from a downright shocking decision by controversial referee Clive Thomas.

It wasn’t Burnley at their best, certainly in the first half, when virtually nothing came off. There was no real explanation other than the fact that we’d had to play two hours of football during the week against Cardiff. A week earlier, the midfield players had been outstanding against QPR but this game it was a real weakness with Doug Collins in particular not offering much.

It was during the first half that the game saw its only goal and it took some believing. Mr Thomas awarded Everton a penalty when Keith Newton was adjudged to have blocked a centre from Mike Bernard with his arm. In truth, the ball had been blasted at former Evertonian Newton from less than two yards. “It was diabolical,” Newton said after the game, adding: “If they are going to give penalties for that, they will give them for anything.” Dave CLEMENTS strode up to take the penalty kick and he gave Alan Stevenson little chance.

After the interval, Burnley were much better. They penned Everton back in their own half for long periods and came very close to snatching an equaliser in a determined late rally. That was once Martin Dobson had been pushed forward but we just couldn’t find that goal and were beaten 1-0.

Rodaway, coming in for Waldron, almost gifted Everton a goal after just five minutes but he overcame his error and settled down to become an important member of the defence. Generally, we defended well with Newton outstanding on his return to Goodison but it was further up the pitch where we disappointed although Paul Fletcher came so, so close with a header that hit the post and Leighton James forced David Lawson into a brilliant save.

You always know you’ve been done with a poor decision when the opposition manager claims he didn’t see it. That’s what Everton boss Billy Bingham said and then added: “We’ve had several penalty decisions turned down recently and I am pleased that the referee was kind enough to give us this one.”

Adamson was being diplomatic. He said: “There is lots I could say about the penalty, but I won’t. The goal changed the tactics of the match and was a severe blow to us. I thought we played a lot better in the second half. Martin Dobson was pushed forward in a bid to put us more on the attack, but it was difficult for us to break through when they were packing their defence so thoroughly.”

The teams were;

Everton: David Lawson, Terry Darracott, John McLaughlan, Dave Clements, Roger Kenyon, John Hurst, Mike Bernard, Mick Buckley, Mick Lyons (David Irving 73), Joe Harper, John Connolly.

Burnley: Alan Stevenson, Peter Noble, Keith Newton, Martin Dobson, Jim Thomson, Billy Rodaway, Geoff Nulty, Ray Hankin, Paul Fletcher, Doug Collins, Leighton James. Sub not used: Billy Ingham.

Referee: Clive Thomas (Treorchy).

Attendance: 41,018.

A 1-0 win at Coventry, courtesy of a goal scored by defender John McDowell, gave West Ham their first win of the season and that was enough to take them off the bottom of the league and one point ahead of Birmingham. Norwich, who drew against Tottenham, remained the other club in the drop zone. Wolves were beaten 4-2 at home by QPR; their second goal was scored by Steve Daley who would go on to play for Burnley just over ten years later.

We remained in second place but now only above Derby, who had played a game more, on goal average. Everton were now just a point behind us in fourth place.

First Division Results

Saturday 20^th October 1973
Arsenal 1 Ipswich 1
Coventry 0 West Ham 1
Derby 2 Leicester 1
Everton 1 Burnley 0
Leeds 1 Liverpool 0
Manchester United 1 Birmingham 0
Newcastle 2 Chelsea 0
Norwich 1 Tottenham 1
Sheffield United 1 Manchester City 2
Southampton 3 Stoke 0
Wolves 2 QPR 4

Burnley Goalscorers (League)

3: Frank Casper, Doug Collins, Martin Dobson, Paul Fletcher, Geoff Nulty
2: Ray Hankin, Leighton James, Colin Waldron

Burnley Goalscorers (Cups)

5: Leighton James
4: Paul Fletcher
2: Ray Hankin, Peter Noble, Geoff Nulty
1: Colin Waldron

First Division Leading Goalscorers

8: Malcolm MacDonald (Newcastle)
7: Derek Dougan (Wolves)
6: Mick Channon (Southampton), Roger Davies (Derby), Kevin Hector (Derby), David Johnson (Ipswich), Mick Jones (Leeds), Peter Lorimer (Leeds)
5: Tommy Baldwin (Chelsea), Billy Bremner (Leeds), Martin Chivers (Tottenham), Jim McCalliog (Wolves), Alan Woodward (Sheffield United)

League Table

Pos	Team	pld	w	d	l	f	a	ga	pts
1	Leeds	12	9	3	0	24	7	3.43	21
2	Burnley	12	7	3	2	21	12	1.75	17
3	Derby	13	7	3	3	18	11	1.64	17
4	Everton	12	6	4	2	14	9	1.56	16
5	Newcastle	12	6	3	3	20	13	1.54	15
6	Coventry	13	6	3	4	14	10	1.40	15
7	Liverpool	12	5	3	4	12	11	1.09	13
8	Leicester	12	3	7	2	14	13	1.08	13
9	Southampton	12	5	3	4	17	17	1.00	13
10	Manchester City	12	5	3	4	15	15	1.00	13
11	Ipswich	12	4	5	3	19	20	0.95	13
12	QPR	12	3	6	3	19	18	1.06	12
13	Sheffield United	12	5	2	5	15	15	1.00	12
14	Arsenal	12	5	2	5	14	15	0.93	12
15	Tottenham	12	4	3	5	14	16	0.88	11
16	Manchester United	12	4	2	6	10	13	0.77	10
17	Chelsea	12	3	2	7	16	19	0.84	8
18	Stoke	12	1	6	5	11	16	0.69	8
19	Wolves	12	3	2	7	15	23	0.65	8
20	Norwich	12	1	6	5	10	17	0.59	8
21	West Ham	12	1	4	7	11	19	0.58	6
22	Birmingham	12	1	3	8	10	24	0.42	5

Follow UpTheClarets:

Share this page :