Happy Birthday to an outstanding Claret and an outstanding man

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I remember him scoring against Leeds in the last match of the season. I think we won 3-0. Makes me feel very old
Great player was our Dobbo.

One of those players who fits into the special category

Great article, Tony. An Everton friend of mine rates Dobson as one of the best ever Everton players, along with Dave Thomas.

Agree, what a great player was Dobbo, my dad didn't warm to him at first and called him Dozy Dobson! It wasn't long before he came round to my way of thinking though, Dobbo one of the all time claret greats.

For a Lancashire lad he was certainly very cultured. Happy Birthday Dobbo and thanks for the memories.

And Kevin Keegans 67 today wtf!

Many Happy Returns to Martin

I was always very proud when he represented England in a cultered midfield

and disappointed Revie only rated him for half a game!

Great Burnley player!

HB DOBBO

D O DOB DOBO DOBBO!

Never lost a tackle!

Happy birthday,King Dobo. Forever a legend.

A wonderful tribute to a wonderful player,CT. So many memories conjured up. His debut at Wolves,I recall was where 2 penalties by 'Bomber' Harris down at the other end of the ground weren't enough to secure us any points. His winner v Man Utd came with us down to 10 men after Frank Casper had laid out Francis Burns early in the second half. Of course no one present at Gigg Lane that night could forget the response he received from the away fans nor the way he led and directed essentially a very young side a few seasons earlier to promotion,after a pretty disastrous start to the season. Interesting to see the picture of him prior to kick off v Sheff Utd in 1973, a season I still hold to be very special watching a team captained by a great player and true gentleman.
I remember coming home from a home game one afternoon a season or two after he left for Everton. It had been the Merseyside derby and the reporter didn't sound too impressed with Dobbo's contribution referring to him as 'too phlegmatic' for the intensity of a local derby. Well, I guess he knew what he was talking about,don't you??

Good article CT.
I lived in Nottingham 1978-83 and wasnt averse to watching Forest or County (or Rice & Hadlee down Trent Bridge for that matter).
I went on a 1979/80 game (around Christmas I think) between County and Clarets with a couple of County supporting mates. One of them stated after the game that he'd never properly understood when journalists talk about "one player controlling a game" until he saw Dobbo for us in that game.
We won that game but after Dobbo's injury a couple of months later we went completely to pot and got relegated.
County, under Jimmy Sirrel, were on the rise at the time & went up to the top league a couple of seasons later. (Forest were pretty useful around that time too).

wow three score years and ten

Quicknick wrote:Great article, Tony. An Everton friend of mine rates Dobson as one of the best ever Everton players, along with Dave Thomas.

At a CM dinner a few years ago (2010 to be exact) Michael King was one of the young new professionals there. He told us he was an Evertonian and I asked what it was like working for one of their ex players. He told me that Dobbo had been one of his dad’s favourite players.

tim_noone wrote:And Kevin Keegans 67 today wtf!

That IS scary!

I hope he loves it, LOVES IT!

Too young to see him play. But one of my favourite managers ever. The football Newcastle played was unbelievable and he was just a proper likeable manager. Like Jimmy Mullen.

Anyway slightly off topic! Never saw Dobbo play but heard good things.

Many Congratulations on reaching this landmark Dobbo. One of the greatest players to ever put on the Claret shirt and a true legend.
Just as an aside, on Saturday Jeff Stelling said Dobbo was his favourite player when he was growing up with Frank Casper second and Paul Fletcher third. He has exquisite tastes.

Phenomenal player. Cultured is exactly the word I was thinking of. Met him once, what a lovely fella.

Happy Birthday Martin!

Rolls Royce

Happy Birthday Dobbo.

My first ever Burnley hero... When he came back and eventually managed us I was well chuffed...remember when he was we went on that consecutive run without conceding a goal( think it was 9..not sure now) and he and Burnley were featured on the back page of the sun as a headline....this was back in the day we were never in the news.
Great man ..special Claret...Happy birthday Dobbo

One thing I remember is that, when most teams would run out of the tunnel before the game, Dobbo would walk them out - very 'cool'. In fact I seem to remember someone complained about this in a programme and there was a sarcastic response asking if he thought the players should leapfrog or somersault out to make it more interesting.

A brilliant article about a brilliant man, thank you CT.

I was lucky enough to play football and cricket against Dobbo for BGS when he was at Clitheroe RGS although we did not always feel lucky at the time as we usually came off second best. When I started teaching in the area I played cricket against him again as he often guested for Clitheroe staff, on one occasion we turned up to play them at football and were surprised to see Martin in his kit! It turned out he had offered his services as referee, quite a gesture from an England international! After the games he always had time to chat to me in the pub about the Clarets, what a privilege that was. He was an excellent cricketer, an even better footballer and a genuinely nice guy.

I remember driving my sister to watch the fateful friendly at Middlesbrough, we took longer to get there than we expected and by the time we arrived he had been carried off with a broken leg!

A better memory is of a game at Turf Moor in the early seventies against Derby who were becoming a force. The pitch was frozen and virtually all the players really struggled but one player on each side just glided over the ground. Martin Dobson and Kevin Hector were outstanding that day, they should both have won far more caps for England. Perhaps Dobbo was just not ruthless enough for Don Revie!

I remember being in the 5th form at BGS and he came along with David Lloyd (Bumble) for a Q&A session. He certainly fielded more questions from us awe struck kids than Bumble.

Top bloke

Now that has brought a smile to my face. A classy player. Not bad if you can play centre forward, run the show from midfield, play in the back 4 or sod it, educate the kids while playing sweeper. Who needs pace when you have that brain and ability.
You always worry when a legend returns to a club but that final spell, before Bond changed things, was magical. For a few months we had a group of really talented youngsters and the supreme old pro. It was a joy watching him go about his work.

I've waited until Defour to see anyone who could touch him in midfield. Happy days all around

A bit before my time would he get in the present team sounds a good un utc

JimmyMac'sMate wrote:A bit before my time would he get in the present team sounds a good un utc

Gerraway.....

Gerry who utc

Gerriattric....before your time my ar$e! utc

Old farts - those who saw Jimmy Mc
Middle farts - those who saw Dobbo
Young farts - Robbie Blake?

JimmyMac'sMate wrote:A bit before my time would he get in the present team sounds a good un utc

He would get in a lot of teams in the modern game. He played at a time when football was far less sanitised than it is now and was far better to watch because you had class like Martin but also wingers with pace and defenders who coul defend properly ... and there was not quite as much diving ...they were only just starting to learn the art.

Ashingtonclaret46 wrote:He would get in a lot of teams in the modern game. He played at a time when football was far less sanitised than it is now and was far better to watch because you had class like Martin but also wingers with pace and defenders who coul defend properly ... and there was not quite as much diving ...they were only just starting to learn the art.

When they sold James and dobbo I vowed never to go on again..the first 6 months were easy,but on release I just carried on as normal.cos I'm a burnley diehard.

Martin Dobson was an absolute joy to watch. Rolls Royce of a footballer,.

I’ve posted this before, but it will give you a measure of the man. Surprise guest of honour at my 50th a couple of years ago. Turned up in South Cheshire and chatted to everyone for 2-3 hours. Gave me a signed bath photo from the Deepdale promotion game. Talked Burnley all night. Did it for free - can you imagine a current day footballer doing that? But most of all, a complete class act on the pitch. Silky smooth. DOBBO.

Great article, CT
My all-time favourite Claret.
Real Rolls Royce of a player.

The sale of Dobbo for me was what the sale of Jimmy Mac had been to my dad--a footy crime!
Burnley sent an 'A' or 'B' side here to play Buxton in 67, and not 100% sure, but think the goal he scored up a Silverlands was his first in a Burnley shirt.

Very goody good tribute to Doddo. Boy what a player he was, probably the most cultured player I have ever seen at Burnley.
I used to stand by the wall at the bottom of the Longside and this was sometimes close enough to hear players talking. At one game I remember Dobson slide tackled a player close by the touch line and the referee Jack Taylor shouted “good tackle Martin!”. Just imagine that happening today

Cracking Article Tony!
Dobson was and still is my favourite ever Burnley player.

He was simply majestic, great tackler, great header, brilliant leader. how brooking got more England caps is criminal

Bop wrote:I’ve posted this before, but it will give you a measure of the man. Surprise guest of honour at my 50th a couple of years ago. Turned up in South Cheshire and chatted to everyone for 2-3 hours. Gave me a signed bath photo from the Deepdale promotion game. Talked Burnley all night. Did it for free - can you imagine a current day footballer doing that? But most of all, a complete class act on the pitch. Silky smooth. DOBBO.

Crewe will do Bop....

ashtonlongsider wrote:Many Congratulations on reaching this landmark Dobbo. One of the greatest players to ever put on the Claret shirt and a true legend.
Just as an aside, on Saturday Jeff Stelling said Dobbo was his favourite player when he was growing up with Frank Casper second and Paul Fletcher third. He has exquisite tastes.

Sounds like a closet Claret!

IanMcL wrote:Sounds like a closet Claret!

Always been very open about his support of Burnley as his second club.

Burnley's Beckenbauer

Great thread.

Dobbo is my all time favourite at the Turf and I have in forty years never seen anybody fit to lick his boots.

Deserved much more England recognition but played up North so he never got it.

Great guy.

Dobo really was a Rolls Royce player but one player just beats him for me. Trevor Steven

tybfc wrote:Great thread.

Dobbo is my all time favourite at the Turf and I have in forty years never seen anybody fit to lick his boots.

Deserved much more England recognition but played up North so he never got it.

Great guy.

Not anything to do with playing in the north, just the decision of a manager who didn't want footballers of Dobbo's quality. He'd got into the England side under Sir Alf and then played when Joe Mercer took over temporarily. It was Revie who banished him.

A gentleman.

On and off the pitch.

Joe Buck wrote:Dobo really was a Rolls Royce player but one player just beats him for me. Trevor Steven

We just didn't see enough of Trevor Steven, did we? I remember that brilliant 4-1 away game at Southend with him spraying the ball around as if he was seasoned pro. He was different class, but that was in pretty modest company.

Dobbo - he did it all with us. Entirely endorse everything said about him in this thread