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Who are the Clarets?
Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2023 9:15 pm
by Herts Clarets
Just seen this on a FB post about Gerry Francis. Who are the 2 Burnley players? I am thinking Geoff Nulty and Jim Thomson?

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Re: Who are the Clarets?
Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2023 9:16 pm
by ClaretTony
Very definitely Geoff Nulty & Jim Thomson
Re: Who are the Clarets?
Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2023 9:17 pm
by Royboyclaret
Correct.
Re: Who are the Clarets?
Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2023 9:18 pm
by ClaretTony
One of them looks a lot different now

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Re: Who are the Clarets?
Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2023 9:32 pm
by Royboyclaret
Geoff and Jim rarely played together until the ''73/'74 Division One season.
I think Geoff may have scored that day.
Re: Who are the Clarets?
Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2023 9:42 pm
by Royboyclaret
Royboyclaret wrote: ↑Mon Dec 04, 2023 9:32 pm
Geoff and Jim rarely played together until the ''73/'74 Division One season.
I think Geoff may have scored that day.dddd
Make that '72/'73 at Loftus Road.
Re: Who are the Clarets?
Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2023 9:43 pm
by ClaretTony
Royboyclaret wrote: ↑Mon Dec 04, 2023 9:32 pm
Geoff and Jim rarely played together until the ''73/'74 Division One season.
Played in the same team in 32 of the second division games in the previous season. First time they played in the same league team was at Coventry in 1969/70
Re: Who are the Clarets?
Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2023 10:18 pm
by Royboyclaret
Yeah, but where did John Angus score in '65/'66 ?
Re: Who are the Clarets?
Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2023 10:19 pm
by ClaretTony
Royboyclaret wrote: ↑Mon Dec 04, 2023 10:18 pm
Yeah, but where did John Angus score in '65/'66 ?
That info is on this website and the link has been posted on the appropriate thread
Re: Who are the Clarets?
Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2023 10:23 pm
by Royboyclaret
ClaretTony wrote: ↑Mon Dec 04, 2023 10:19 pm
That info is on this website and the link has been posted on the appropriate thread
So, John did score on the Turf against Fulham.
Re: Who are the Clarets?
Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2023 1:37 am
by beeholeclaret
Royboyclaret wrote: ↑Mon Dec 04, 2023 9:32 pm
Geoff and Jim rarely played together until the ''73/'74 Division One season.
I think Geoff may have scored that day.
From memory I thought we got beat 2-0 at Loftus Road. It was on MOTD in 1972-73 season. Did Mick Leach get a couple of goals. Think we got beat there in previous season (also Div 2) and Casper scored in a 3-1 defeat?? I’ll have to check my Clarets book in the morning.

Re: Who are the Clarets?
Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2023 3:19 am
by Vegas Claret
ClaretTony wrote: ↑Mon Dec 04, 2023 9:16 pm
Very definitely Geoff Nulty & Jim Thomson
All these guys are before my time but I have a question. When you take the Championship team of the 60's and look at the state of the pitches they played on, if you were able to put that team in today's Premier League how do you reckon they would get on ? I know it's hard to compare era's, just wondered if you or anyone has an opinion
Re: Who are the Clarets?
Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2023 4:28 am
by Taffy on the wing
Vegas Claret wrote: ↑Tue Dec 05, 2023 3:19 am
All these guys are before my time but I have a question. When you take the Championship team of the 60's and look at the state of the pitches they played on, if you were able to put that team in today's Premier League how do you reckon they would get on ? I know it's hard to compare era's, just wondered if you or anyone has an opinion
I reckon the '72-'73 team would do alright in any era.........very exciting to watch.
Re: Who are the Clarets?
Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2023 9:57 am
by ClaretTony
Vegas Claret wrote: ↑Tue Dec 05, 2023 3:19 am
All these guys are before my time but I have a question. When you take the Championship team of the 60's and look at the state of the pitches they played on, if you were able to put that team in today's Premier League how do you reckon they would get on ? I know it's hard to compare era's, just wondered if you or anyone has an opinion
The game was so different then than it is now but if the 60s team were able to be dropped into a current team then so many of them would have to totally adapt the way they played. The two who for me who would drop in seamlessly for me are John Connelly & Ray Pointer.
But how would the team get on? Good teams and players, I believe, are good teams and players in any era and they would still be very talented players today.
Re: Who are the Clarets?
Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2023 10:15 am
by ElectroClaret
ClaretTony wrote: ↑Tue Dec 05, 2023 9:57 am
The game was so different then than it is now....
Yes, the main difference being the actual speed of the game.
Not disagreeing about Connelly and Pointer, maybe they would be the best equipped, but I reckon most players of that era would struggle to cope with the speed of the game now. Can't be shown one way or the other, obviously, but in my view, that would be the main difference.
Re: Who are the Clarets?
Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2023 10:17 am
by ClaretTony
ElectroClaret wrote: ↑Tue Dec 05, 2023 10:15 am
Yes, the main difference being the actual speed of the game.
Not disagreeing about Connelly and Pointer, maybe they would be the best equipped, but I reckon most players of that era would struggle to cope with the speed of the game now. Can't be shown one way or the other, obviously, but in my view, that would be the main difference.
I'm sure they would struggle but if they arrived now to play, they would be fitter and quicker than they were then. I looked at the two full backs. Alex Elder would have been the better equipped; John Angus never came over the half way line. Adam Blacklaw playing out from the back? That would have been different. Jimmy Mac would be a different kind of player but he'd still be a class act.
Re: Who are the Clarets?
Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2023 10:35 am
by Westleigh
ClaretTony wrote: ↑Tue Dec 05, 2023 10:17 am
I'm sure they would struggle but if they arrived now to play, they would be fitter and quicker than they were then. I looked at the two full backs. Alex Elder would have been the better equipped; John Angus never came over the half way line. Adam Blacklaw playing out from the back? That would have been different. Jimmy Mac would be a different kind of player but he'd still be a class act.
Imagine being a striker and trying to press Adam Blacklaw ,would have been interesting him against Haarland.
Re: Who are the Clarets?
Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2023 10:48 am
by martin_p
It’s always a bit of a moot point trying to compare players and teams from different eras. If the team of the 60s had been playing today then they’d have the diet and fitness regimes of today and be trained to play in a modern style on modern pitches. As such the good players of the past would likely be good players today.
Re: Who are the Clarets?
Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2023 10:50 am
by ClaretTony
Westleigh wrote: ↑Tue Dec 05, 2023 10:35 am
Imagine being a striker and trying to press Adam Blacklaw ,would have been interesting him against Haarland.
Very interesting
Re: Who are the Clarets?
Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2023 1:48 pm
by Herts Clarets
ClaretTony wrote: ↑Tue Dec 05, 2023 9:57 am
Good teams and players, I believe, are good teams and players in any era and they would still be very talented players today.
This.
The best players of any era would adapt and be similar in any era in my opinion. How would the players of today cope in the 1960s when we were kings?
Re: Who are the Clarets?
Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2023 3:04 pm
by Vegas Claret
cheers for the responses lads ! If you could play football on those pitches back then then today would be an absolute breeze for them I'm sure, similarly I reckon you could drop someone like Phil Foden on any pitch in any era and he'd still have an incredible touch.
Re: Who are the Clarets?
Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2023 4:37 pm
by Funkydrummer
Westleigh wrote: ↑Tue Dec 05, 2023 10:35 am
Imagine being a striker and trying to press Adam Blacklaw ,would have been interesting him against Haarland.
I remember Dennis Law once shoulder charging Blacklaw at full speed in front of
the cricket field stand, and the splat as he hit the mud was audible throughout the ground.
Blacklaw just carried on regardless.
Re: Who are the Clarets?
Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2023 4:40 pm
by Tricky Trevor
Imagine what the old timers could do in todays boots with todays ball?
It is an impossible question to answer regarding different generations.
Re: Who are the Clarets?
Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2023 4:56 pm
by Gnulty
Fond memories indeed

. UTC!
Re: Who are the Clarets?
Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2023 5:31 pm
by Hipper
I'm not sure all would adapt. The Bobby Smith type centre forward is no longer used and therefore the centre halves to counter them won't be needed either.
Re: Who are the Clarets?
Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2023 6:52 pm
by Royboyclaret
The secret of any succesful team or line-up, no matter what the era, is balance.
Whether that's '08/'09, '72/'73 or back to the 1960's, the same principle applies.
When we were Champions in 1960 the balance of the side was simply perfect......Angus and Adamson offered finesse and culture on the right whilst Elder and Miller provided power on the left.......Connelly and Pointer speed up front with Pilky a special skill on the left......then of course the incomparable JImmy Mac.
Re: Who are the Clarets?
Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2023 7:10 pm
by clansman
I was there that day we lost 2.0 it was the day of the first League Liner train. I went on coach which was attacked soon after leaving at end of match!
Remember the song being sung that day to the Strawbs song. “You can’t get me I’m part of the longside( union)”
Re: Who are the Clarets?
Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2023 7:37 pm
by timshorts
I get slightly more pleasure in trying to imagine how some of today's primadonnas would get on if you put them back in the '60's.
Re: Who are the Clarets?
Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2023 8:34 pm
by ClaretTony
timshorts wrote: ↑Tue Dec 05, 2023 7:37 pm
I get slightly more pleasure in trying to imagine how some of today's primadonnas would get on if you put them back in the '60's.
On those pitches, with those balls, wearing those boots.
Re: Who are the Clarets?
Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2023 8:05 am
by Hipper
ClaretTony wrote: ↑Tue Dec 05, 2023 8:34 pm
On those pitches, with those balls, wearing those boots.
I always knew it. I could have been a brilliant footballer if it wasn't for those things holding me back.
Re: Who are the Clarets?
Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2023 11:02 am
by ClaretTony
Hipper wrote: ↑Wed Dec 06, 2023 8:05 am
I always knew it. I could have been a brilliant footballer if it wasn't for those things holding me back.
Back in 2009, I told Jimmy Mac that the kits for the new season would be replicas of the 1959/60 season for the 50th anniversary. The first thing he said was: "Will they be wearing the old boots?"
Re: Who are the Clarets?
Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2023 8:35 pm
by JohnMac
Most of todays players would switch sports after being tackled by the likes of Brian O'Neil
