Not too many of these at the moment, of course, if any, but just wondering which games stand out
in the collective memory for all the wrong reasons.

Although i didn't go, I remember listening on the radio to our game at Rotherham
in the 2003/2004 season when we were rolled over 3-0. I think Stan apologised
to the fans for that particular display. Horror show. In fact, in his book, Dave Thomas
calls it "one of the worst ever performances from a Burnley team."
And there must be some stiff competition for that dubious honour.

So looking back, which make you shudder?

Any of our Premier League trips to WBA

Cup tie at Watford around 10 15 years ago

I can remember an away game at Notts County sat in a packed Burnley end. Either 1-1 or we lost 1-0. Our players came out for the warm up stood on
the pitch for a few minutes and walked off again. Adrian Heath stood chatting with his hands on his hips like he had 2 rolls of carpet to carry. Awful performance.

Hull game under Cotterill as one particular Cotterill lowlight.

Getting rolled over 4-1 at Preston. I think that was the game the rumour went round that Stan had quit. Plenty from Stan's last couple of seasons actually.

Any of the spineless, gutless performances under Laws against our relegation rivals: Portsmouth, Rovers, Wolves.

Hull home game under Dyche. He could have gone for me right that minute.

These were some dreadful games all round, plenty more when the performances were dreadful.

Watford (a) - 2002/03
Stoke (h) - 2006/07
Luton (h) - 2006/07
Hull (h) - 2007/08
Huddersfield (a) - 2012/13
Swindon (a) - 2012/13
Huddersfield (h) - 2012/13
Leeds (a) - 2012/13

7decades wrote:Cup tie at Watford around 10 15 years ago

I'd agree with that. Stan's team selection was inexplicable that day. Got what we deserved. The other one that springs to mind is the hammering at Bloomfield Road with Kendall in goal.

Never forget the Boxing day game at Brighton in the 90s sometime. Got beat 3-0, performance was awful, and the players just sodded off at the end and didn't even acknowledge the effort we'd made to get there on Boxing Day

I still want blood

welsbyswife wrote:The other one that springs to mind is the hammering at Broomfield Road with Kendall in goal.

Thought we were decent that day and probably the better side for long spells. Just a nightmare for Kendall. What on earth was going on there? He'd retired and had been brought in as goalkeeper coach.

Croydon Claret wrote:Never forget the Boxing day game at Brighton in the 90s sometime. Got beat 3-0, performance was awful, and the players just sodded off at the end and didn't even acknowledge the effort we'd made to get there on Boxing Day

I still want blood

Nogan got two of them I think

Coventry (a) under Stan when we lost 4-0.

We were dreadful, in a season where we got dry humped on a fairly regular basis and still stayed up.

At TM vs Man City, that game we got smashed 5-1 and Kev Mc left the ground at half time.

Sheffield Weds - 2002/2003 - An already relegated Sheff Weds battering us 7-2 at the Turf. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 950723.stm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Highlights - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmelWzBK6m8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Conceded 89 goals that season Typical Stan team.

The two consecutive home games against Gillingham and Man City that we lost 5-0 and 6-0.

Watford in the cup 2002/3 think we beat them
Convincingly the week before in the league. And Gillingham?at home 0..5 west brom 67/8 lost 8..1

Good shouts there, Huddersfield away 2012 and that home game v Hull under Dyche.

Too easy to pick from the 80s but they don't really count, you didn't expect any better. One that vexed me back then was away at Rochdale in 91, when we needed a win to have a great chance of going up. We'd just won two cracking games against Blackpool and Peterboro, had a huge following at Spotland.. then drew 0-0 in a complete non-event, subsequently losing the play-offs.

Stan's first season in charge...

0-5 at home to Gillingham followed just a few days later with a 0-6 at home to Man. City.

They were tough games to watch!

Edit: Tall Paul beat me to it, but I think the Gillingham game had a guy called Taylor who scored all five?!

I may be wrong, but did Shaun Goater get a hat trick in the thrashing by Man. City?

Been thinking about this and it's quite surprising how few spring to mind given how much dross we've had to watch over the last 30 odd years. Must be the brain's natural reaction to trauma, lock it away somewhere, especially the hammering at deadwood.

I think there was a 0-0 draw at home to Luton. It was towards to the end of the famous 19 game winless run under Cotterill. I've seen some dreadful one-off performances watching Burnley, even recently under Dyche but that match in particular was culmination of poor performances, poor results, poor atmosphere, poor tactics, no ambition, no future, no clue.

Losing 5-0 away at Wycombe where the best entertainment came from Rocky and Selwyn belly bumping each other.

Another horrendous 0-0 draw at Reading in 1999/2000 - we didn't look within a million miles of a promotion team then.

If that was bad - the 3-0 defeat at Reading in 2002/03 was even worse. That's when Stan first brought his blind horse in. He said after the game: "Tonight I was embarrassed to be their gaffer because that performance is a reflection on me. What I have said in the dressing room will remain in the dressing room but that performance was from about five years ago.

"When we lost against Fulham I said that was not my team but this one is so I will have to look at things very closely. The players are just not putting out what they are capable of doing for whatever reason. Maybe it is because they have heard the same voice for too long."

He added: "Everyone knows the players are not performing, a blind man on a galloping horse can see that. All I know is that I am responsible for the football club. I am the custodian of the club for a period of time like people before me and like people will be in the future. I have got to have a hard look between my ears because the most important thing is Burnley Football Club, not Stan Ternent. A lot of people have spent a lot of money to come down here and watch that and I am embarrassed."

Blackpool away when we lost 5-2. The 5-0 and 6-0 as mentioned above. 6-0 defeat at home to Hereford was painful as well.

Depends how far back we go. A run of night games around this time of the season in Dyche's first season.
A 6_2 home defeat to Rotherham, 5-1 against that team down the road, 3-0 defeat at Leyton Orient when David Jones debuted. For the older fans there were 2 dreadful away performances in close succession,6_1 and 7-0 v Leeds and Man City just after we lost to Swindon in the League Cup semi. So many others,of course and yes,tim noone I was there too at West Bromwich for the 8-1. Beat Newcastle the following week though.

Lancasterclaret wrote:Coventry (a) under Stan when we lost 4-0.

We were dreadful, in a season where we got dry humped on a fairly regular basis and still stayed up.

That was one that came to mind. Think they'd spent a week on the ale in Spain beforehand and it showed. It was reasonably warm when we left but by the time we got to Cov and it was cold and I didn't have enough layers. We left early to avoid the rush but took a wrong turning and stuck amongst all the Coventry fans leaving the ground.

Coventry away under Laws, watching big Chris lumbering around with gaffer tape on his matchstick length hamstrings.

Notts County away under Mullen, they were bottom and they thrashed us 3-0, fell asleep on the train back to Leicester and woke up in Nuneaton.

WBA away last season.

Leicester away under Howe when I'm sure Chris Eagles spent the 2nd half asking to be subbed.

Bolton away under Mullen, 4-0, our best attempt rebounded off the supermarket.

If I put more thought into it I could come up with plenty more. Makes me laugh when some helmet had a go at me for leaving the Spurs game early. I've seen some poor performances in my time and the Spurs one doesn't come close.

Oh hang on, Wolves away under Stan, 3-0 down after about 30 minutes. Forest away same season, Lester and Blake destroyed us. 5-0.

NL Claret wrote:Notts County away under Mullen, they were bottom and they thrashed us 3-0

I think that might have been the day when he was so drunk he named a starting team with 12 players.

ClaretTony wrote:I think that might have been the day when he was so drunk he named a starting team with 12 players.

Wow, I didn't know that!! We were that bad we'd have lost with 15. Chris Brass was in foundation talking about making his debut at Portsmouth and Mullen said to him at half time to man mark Preki and then 2 minutes told him to play full back having totally forgot he'd given a different instruction. John Deary just told Brass where to play as Mullen was drunk.

I bet the 2 managers in the Notts County game that day could have the drunk the bar dry.

7decades wrote:Cup tie at Watford around 10 15 years ago

That was a long drive home

NL Claret wrote:Wow, I didn't know that!! We were that bad we'd have lost with 15. Chris Brass was in foundation talking about making his debut at Portsmouth and Mullen said to him at half time to man mark Preki and then 2 minutes told him to play full back having totally forgot he'd given a different instruction. John Deary just told Brass where to play as Mullen was drunk.

I bet the 2 managers in the Notts County game that day could have the drunk the bar dry.

He gave Brass the job of marking Ronnie Whelan at Southend later that season - that didn't work either.

Had Kendall just taken over at Notts County?

Sidney1st wrote:At TM vs Man City, that game we got smashed 5-1 and Kev Mc left the ground at half time.

Didn't they also play an Oasis number at half time and there was nearly a riot ?

I also remember a game at Cardiff on a Friday night. I think we were 4-0 before halftime.

NL Claret wrote: Forest away same season, Lester and Blake destroyed us. 5-0.

Was that the game when Nick the Greek had a shocker?

Or was that another Hammer production?

Burnley 0 - 2 Wigan December 97'. Waddle season. We were 2-0 down at half time and I just got up and left, never done anything like that before or since. I think at that match the penny had dropped with me concerning Waddle and how much we were in the proverbial, going backwards and potentially facing a relegation battle...which all happened.

Any game at Wycombe

Though to be accurate, it wasn't the horse that was blind.

QPR away when Danny Coyne injured himself falling over his own leg.

The 5-0 away defeat to Bstards.

April 4th. 1987, Attendance 1,874, Clarets 0, Cambridge 2 - Sat in the BL Stand, thought it was the end of the world for the Clarets. This match above all others stood out as seeing my beloved Clarets playing football at the lowest level to the lowest standard. Wondered after the match if I would continue to watch any more games as I felt so downhearted.
Glad I continued watching every season since then!

Coventry away. November2010. Just about the worst game of football I can imagine save for a great hit for the winning goal. By Cov of course. Devoid of entertainment.

Accrington Stanley away in the league cup is worthy of note too.

Funkydrummer wrote:Didn't they also play an Oasis number at half time and there was nearly a riot ?

I don't think we had enough enthusiasm for a riot
People were walking out at various stages of the game.

I'm surprised this thread has got so far without mention of the 0-6 at home to Hereford - Stuart Phillips hattrick.

Of course it was our worst ever season - but when Wolves beat us 5-2 (possibly the home game before or after Hereford)...the rampancy of the away team was staggering - I recall a palpable feeling of being absolutely torn to shreds - I could swear Wolves scored about 3 disallowed goals too!

For some reason though, it was a number of performances after the Orient season that felt almost worse - as there were so many false dawns and we were still a lower half Division 4 side. Losing at Doncaster on a freezing day with a late Mark Rankine goal was a notably pitiful affair. And it has to be the 0-5 at Rovers as the pits - as Souness said afterwards - 'we got off lightly'.

And losing to 9-man Rochdale is perhaps symbolically our lowest ebb. I'm pretty sure they only scored after the men were sent off too, it wasn't as though they were hanging on (I stand to be corrected on that).

What a delight it is to think those days are so far behind us....

In the context of what was a stake:

Watford away in the cup. 90 minutes from a cup semi final. Felt more like 90 hours away.

Blackburn at home in 2010. Local derby, fighting (in the loosest possible terms) for Premier League survival and played with the intensity of an end of season testimonial.

Bury away Boxing Day 99 lost 4 - 2 but we were 4 - 0 down at half time after having Steve Davies sent off early on.

Only Burnley game I have ever come off at half time. Scored twice late on. To cap it all Colin had taken over from Stan at Bury and Preece scored 2.

Cubanclaret wrote:I'm surprised this thread has got so far without mention of the 0-6 at home to Hereford - Stuart Phillips hattrick.

Of course it was our worst ever season - but when Wolves beat us 5-2 (possibly the home game before or after Hereford)...the rampancy of the away team was staggering - I recall a palpable feeling of being absolutely torn to shreds - I could swear Wolves scored about 3 disallowed goals too!

For some reason though, it was a number of performances after the Orient season that felt almost worse - as there were so many false dawns and we were still a lower half Division 4 side. Losing at Doncaster on a freezing day with a late Mark Rankine goal was a notably pitiful affair. And it has to be the 0-5 at Rovers as the pits - as Souness said afterwards - 'we got off lightly'.

And losing to 9-man Rochdale is perhaps symbolically our lowest ebb. I'm pretty sure they only scored after the men were sent off too, it wasn't as though they were hanging on (I stand to be corrected on that).

What a delight it is to think those days are so far behind us....

I did. Post 22. It was a shocker. The more I think about the more I think of. Easter Monday at Springfield Parkwhere we lost 5-1 to Wigan.

Although the 0-5 at Ewood was a terrible day to be a Burnley fan, I thought we played ok for about half an hour; after they'd gone 2-0 up, one through a deflection I think, they just went through the gears. Not really a dreadful performance but just a case of being soundly beaten by a good team who played well.

We were beaten 4-0 away at Leicester with Howe in charge. Team selection was strange, with lots of players out of position. I left 10 minutes early, and it was the one and only time I have ever left a match early. Tide turned for me with regards to Howe that day.

6-1 away at Ipswich around 2003. The company I worked for had a box at Portman Rd and I got half a dozen tickets, including for a couple of people from this site. We played with no centre halves as they were all sick, so had Lee Roche there. It was 0-0 until 25 mins, once they scored then every time they went forward they scored. 5-0 at half time. And to make it worse, every time Ipswich scored all the fans in front looked in through the window to watch the replays on the TV.

1-6 v Man-city,under Laws,and it pizzed down all the game.

Sidney1st wrote:At TM vs Man City, that game we got smashed 5-1 and Kev Mc left the ground at half time.

I'm sure it was 6-1, I gave up like KM did after 4

23 Mar 1996 - Oxford United v Burnley. Took the nipper. Lost 5 - 0. Ex-Fareham Town striker, Paul Moody, came off the bench and scored a hattrick. Bl00dy sh1te we were.