No Burnley players at 66 World Cup

[edlass]

I started supporting Burnley in the mid 90's so I don't have a lot of knowledge about our team back then but it seems that England won the world cup during our own "golden era" and yet no Burnley players featured.

I had a quick look, all on Wikipedia and we finished 3rd that season 65/66. When I checked the England squad for the world cup it showed players from 14 different clubs if I counted right, but no Burnley.

So I guess my question to people in the know is why?

Did we have more Irish players at that time? Did we have some usual England regulars that were injured or was it simply that we had English players that Alf Ramsay didn't prefer? Or maybe its all of them!

[StuffyClaret]

John Connelly?

Apologies....he was at United then :-/

[minnieclaret]

Gordon Harris was capped, in the January, but didn't make the final squad. Brian O'Neil was inexplicably uncapped. All the other main men were Irish or Scottish.
Ralph Coates was a winger and as we all know Sir Alf didn't use them, although he was later capped as a MFer.

[StuffyClaret]

Harris was capped due to an injured Bobby Charlton (according to Wiki) so I guess he had no chance.

I seem to remember that he (GH) was my school caretaker at Reedley in the 80's too. I once remember him and a couple of his old playing mates watching us play a match on the school field. I wish I could recall who they were.

[ClaretTony]

Gordon Harris signed for Sunderland in 1967 and on retirement from the game he returned to his home in Nottinghamshire where he worked for the coal board as a driver.

No Burnley players in that squad although we had Angus, O'Neil, Miller, Harris and Coates playing regularly at the time.

To suggest Ramsey didn't play with wingers was very much not the case at the time, it was only during the tournament that he switched. Connelly, then with Man U, played in the first game and Terry Paine, Southampton, in the second game. Ian Callaghan, the Liverpool winger, was also in the squad. Connelly was always intended to be in the team, he was given squad number 11. Maybe had we won that first game rather than drawing 0-0 he would have remained in the side all the way through, then at least there would have been an ex-Claret.

It's hard to question Ramsey's selections given we won it, but I remain baffled at O'Neil not making it ahead of Nobby Stiles.

[South West Claret.]

Sadly It was generally excepted that "the Fleet Street press" influenced the selection process in those days and that little old Burnley didn't figure in thier minds to much.

I seem too remember Jimmy Adamson once saying after a game (Sheffield Wed) I think "can you honestly tell me there's a better mid-field player in the country then Brian O'Neil" and he was right O'Neil and Harris especially away from home were superb when playing together.

Some great football played then by our club.

[Diesel]

He's got mixed up with Gordon Haigh.

[StuffyClaret]

Thanks for that Diesel......schoolboy error!

[timshorts]

I don't remember it although have suffered almost 50 years of hearing about it. I imagine that there were no Burnley players in the squad because they didn't play for West Ham. Aren't they supposed to have won the world cup single handed?