The final day of the 1959/60 season

See link
https://www.uptheclarets.com/fulham-let ... maine-road

A frustrating afternoon but all comes to he who waits!

I think it would be fair to say we stuttered and stumbled in the latter part of the season. Despite having an exciting forward line it was the defence that enabled us to ' stay in the race' right up until the end. I can only imagine the conversations on the bus back to Rawtenstall and then on to Haslingden after the game. At least there wasn't long to wait for the final outcome and it would have been interesting to find out who were the most nervous between the respective supporters of Burnley and Wolves.
As I've replied so many times the opposition had some good players, notable names like Tony Macedo and Johnny Haynes with an 18 years old Alan Mullery in their team and just a.little older George Cohen at full back. Anyway, still one game to go, then a royal wedding and the Cup Final in the same week.

Can't wait for the next instalment to find out how we went on in that final game.

So frustrating! Even then Burnley seemed to do things the hard way and keeping everyone on tenterhooks at the same time. My dad, always the optimist, wasn't unduly concerned and was convinced we would win at Maine Rd. I wonder if he was right!!

Bloody hell chaps. We may have dropped a few over the season but from April 2nd to May 2nd we played NINE games and used 15 players, 5 games away 4 at home, lost 1 won 5 and drew 3 a season average of almost 61 points which would have made us champions in most seasons after the war until 3 points for a win started. Had we replicated that run in in 61-62 we would have walked the division

beddie wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 30, 2020 12:37 pm

Can't wait for the next instalment to find out how we went on in that final game.

Me neither - and I have to write it

I remember the Fulham game at home quite well. There was a certain, unreal feeling about the performance: we were Burnley going to win the league possibly and they were just Fulham, a team who stood in our way to the Championship. I expected us to brush them aside easily but we never seemed to get going at all, our normal slick forward passing game wasn't working and all our passes seemed to go astray. I still felt we would suddenly switch into gear and beat them easily, but alas it was not to be.
After the game the big question in our household was 'how do we get to Maine Rd' for the last, incredibly important game. My dad was working nights so he would have to a time off work, would we need tickets(?), how would we get there? Decisions had to be made.

My dad definitely got to Maine Road - I think my granddad might have been there too

One of my brother's went. Hard to believe that he had to get home to Haslingden from school in Blackburn, get changed, have something to eat and then get on the coach from Haslingden to the game. 65,000 on the game but he was there in plenty time for a.7.30 kick off. I think his mate,Frenchclaret, had a more difficult journey.

I might have missed this in the article but if we had beaten Fulham what result would we have needed at Maine Road to clinch the title?

Looking at the league table a draw at Maine road would have done it if we had beaten Fulham.
Wolves 54 pts, Burnley 53 with a game in hand but would have had 54 with a Fulham victory, Wolves better goal average.

CleggHall wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 30, 2020 7:23 pm

Looking at the league table a draw at Maine road would have done it if we had beaten Fulham.
Wolves 54 pts, Burnley 53 with a game in hand but would have had 54 with a Fulham victory, Wolves better goal average.

Thanks CleggHall wasn't sure what the situation was back then when teams had the same points

Tony, Thank you for the great article and the mention of the Keirby Hotel. Hard to believe that 60 years I transferred from Holden's Cafe in the old market hall to the Keirby Hotel where the the French chef, Jacques MOLINARI gave the apprentices an excellent grounding in fine cuisine and the strength and confidence to compete and succeed on a global basis. I never would have thought that that journey which commenced from the market hall would continue on to places like Abidjan , Jakarta, Hong Kong, Santiago, Caracas , Sydney, San Bernardino and many more , certainly a long way from Stoops Estate !

burnleyboy wrote: ↑

Fri May 01, 2020 12:23 am

Tony, Thank you for the great article and the mention of the Keirby Hotel. Hard to believe that 60 years I transferred from Holden's Cafe in the old market hall to the Keirby Hotel where the the French chef, Jacques MOLINARI gave the apprentices an excellent grounding in fine cuisine and the strength and confidence to compete and succeed on a global basis. I never would have thought that that journey which commenced from the market hall would continue on to places like Abidjan , Jakarta, Hong Kong, Santiago, Caracas , Sydney, San Bernardino and many more , certainly a long way from Stoops Estate !

Holden's Cafe though was a mainstay of the market hall at Burnley - but what a fantastic story you can tell from moving to the Keirby

JohnDearyMe wrote: ↑

Thu Apr 30, 2020 7:10 pm

I might have missed this in the article but if we had beaten Fulham what result would we have needed at Maine Road to clinch the title?

Goal average was all well and good but I've had to get the calculator out each week to ensure I had it correct for each team.

ClaretTony wrote: ↑

Fri May 01, 2020 2:18 pm

Goal average was all well and good but I've had to get the calculator out each week to ensure I had it correct for each team.

I missed that column in the table! Never appreciated how much better Wolves' goal average was

JohnDearyMe wrote: ↑

Fri May 01, 2020 3:36 pm

I missed that column in the table! Never appreciated how much better Wolves' goal average was

Last season with goal average was 1975/76. Apart from one short period when goals scored was used, we've had goal difference since 1976.