Tin Man

Ted McMinn

I'll never forget his antics v Stockport at Wembley.

Priceless

Remember his cross-shot from the Bob Lord stand, which went all the way in at the back post?

How about his corner routine... placing the ball as far as he could get away with outside the 'D'?

Remember him in the CFS / Long side corner against Barnet in a 5-0 win. Think it was Easter Monday and it started snowing, Phylis scored a hat trick and was booed off.

I digress, Super John Francis had taken the p!ss out of their full back who lost the plot, pulled up the corner flag and threw it to the ground. Tin Man was on hand to pick it up, raised it aloft to the CFS and let out a massive Scottish roar much to the appreciation of the locals!!

He terrorised us on the turf in the cup game v Derby and was a right nuisance. He was one of them players you hated if he was playing against you, winding players and fans up but a fantastic talent.

It was the days of relying on teletext for news and living in Leicester at the time there was no Burnley news on p390. Went down to Leyton Orient or Fulham and realised after 20 minutes we had signed the Tin Man.

The goal mentioned above was actually against Stockport.

His book is an excellent read.

Absolutely my favourite player when I first started watching Burnley. Thought he was frickin' marvellous, and if it wasn't for Super Glen, he would certainly be my pick for the right wing in my 'all time' Clarets XI.

He was cultured; could beat a man whilst walking, just through a simple drop of the soldier. We were so lucky that Eyres could do the same, within the same side, then Little followed shortly after.

It was years before I found out he’s actually called Kevin

When you consider we had him on one wing, Eyres on the other and then Inchy up front, it does seem a bit frightening that we were only in what is now league 1. If I remember rightly we gave most teams a good hiding at home that season but were absolutely bobbins away (until the match that counted at Plymouth).

When we played Derby in the FA Cup in 1992 he gave Ian Measham the runaround in the first match at the Turf that ended 2-2. On the club's season highlights video they interviewed Steve Davis about his performance and he wasn't positive, he just called him a cheat. Two years later and they were team mates when we went up at Wembley.

I know he left under a big dark cloud but for the short time he was here Tin Man was magical. Fantastic to have in your team, a real crowd pleaser and his ability to go past a man with the drop of the shoulder and then cross it was brilliant.

CT, what was the 'big dark cloud' you refer to? The Tin Man's autobiography is nothing but complimentary about his time with Burnley and he states that he left because his marriage had gone tits up and he was skint. The club couldn't afford to give him a pay rise so he very reluctantly left for Australia.

Didn’t he leave with a swag bag. Allegedly.

Isn't it true that he had to have a leg amputated? What was that due to? Diabetes?

As far as I remember, it was nothing to do with diabetes. It was a 'mystery illness' that led to him having part of his leg amputated. He then opted to have more of the leg amputated so that he could wear a prosthetic limb.

ClaretTony wrote:When we played Derby in the FA Cup in 1992 he gave Ian Measham the runaround in the first match at the Turf that ended 2-2.

Hardly difficult, it was quite a mismatch.

We love Ian Measham though.

He picked up some strange infection in his foot from walking on a beach somewhere (?aus) and it wasn't possible to get rid of the infection so he needed his foot amputating hence a below knee amputation to get a good prosthetic fit

Was it a bit of a coup when we signed him? I don't remember the signing but it must have caused some excitement?

Think it came from leftfield, yes.

Here is one of his classic strikes....the clincher in a big 3-1 win at home to Brizzle Rovers.

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

Became Kitman at Derbyshire CCC according to Wikipedia. Strange if true.

Fretters wrote:Was it a bit of a coup when we signed him? I don't remember the signing but it must have caused some excitement?

Not particularly. He’d moved on to Birmingham and wasn’t offering much there and they wanted rid. We took him on loan for a month at first and he did well enough for us to sign him.

Mesmerized us in those cup matches for Derby!

Bordeauxclaret wrote:Became Kitman at Derbyshire CCC according to Wikipedia. Strange if true.

Don't know whether he still is but was definitely at DCCC as kit man three years ago.

In many ways he was a bit like Ashley Barnes. Other teams and fans hated him because of some of his wind up antics and the way he could "buy" free kicks from nothing, but if he played for you, you just loved him. In the first Derby cup game he took a blatant dive to win a free kick which directly led to their second goal I think, which is what upset Davis and got him roundly booed thereafter.

https://youtu.be/Bo62y2uOesQ" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

At about 9 mins 50 secs in Steve Davis is asked of his thoughts on Ted McMinn.

jdrobbo wrote:Think it came from leftfield, yes.

Here is one of his classic strikes....the clincher in a big 3-1 win at home to Brizzle Rovers.

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

Excellent footage. I went to the away 'leg' of that game and we got tubbed 3-0.

A nice goal from Philliskirk. Quite a collectors item! Randall great play building up to McMinns goal. Loved that team.