Despite my relative remoteness from Burnley these days, I still look for the Burnley result before any other because it is in the blood. I can no more imagining supporting another football team than trust Michael Fish to forecast an impending hurricane, or Ian McCaskill to dress me for style challenge!

I fondly remember those early days on the Bee Hole End, when it seemed a large part of Todmorden Grammar School was in attendance for our fortnightly escapism to Division One football. (What is this Premiership - the rich getting richer and the rest sink or swim!) Clarets fans may have reservations, but the Directors have a tough job.

The halcyon days for me were the Sixties. Perhaps I didn't have much money, but friendship and winning matches were everything. We trudged to the ground in rain, snow, hail or gales and if Burnley won it was sunny and warm anyway. What better way to finish than a few pints at the Ram on the way home, particularly after a night match.

Particular memories range from the invincible championship team of 1960, when even Kenneth Wolstenholme had to admit there was a good team outside White Hart Lane, to the infamous comment from Jimmy Adamson that Burnley would be the team of the Seventies!

I always remember the great season of 1965-66, when we finished the season in third spot but should have been second were it not for a moment of madness from Alex Elder with a late own goal against Leeds. Ralph Coates was the star of the side in that season with his dazzling runs down the left-wing. The 5-2 victory against Leicester City was the highlight, with the engine ticking over sweetly from full-backs Angus and Elder, through that terrier Brian O'Neill in midfield, culminating in the lethal finishing of Irvine and Lochhead up front.

The arrival of Frank Casper in 1967 was memorable, as he marked his debut with a stunning goal against Coventry City - their first game in Division One, and incredibly they have not been relegated since. HOW DO THEY DO THAT!!! The superb 5-1 victory against a rampant Leeds United the following year was perhaps the most rewarding, as everyone thought Don Revie walked on water at that time. Well, he walked on thin ice that day!

The side that won the F.A. Youth Cup, 1968

The Youth Cup winning team of 1968 was the first team of the future and largely influenced Jimmy Adamson's view of the Seventies. There was no doubting the potential of Dave Thomas, Steve Kindon and the rest, but the right blend of youth and experience was needed, and importantly the bank manager had to be kept sweet. So it was, with the exception of a good season in 1973, Burnley FC became a shadow of their former selves, and the Lancashire mill towns saw the decline of their once great ambassador.

Those days will never return under the present structure unless money suddenly appears out of the blue (and claret!). The commitment of so many loyal Clarets after so many years of mediocrity amazes but delights me, and I will continue to follow the fortunes of the Clarets as long as I have Ceefax, with occasional visits to the Turf with my wife and young sons as they get older.

Best wishes to you all, and...UP THE CLARETS!!!!

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