Although a number of the so-called "Team of the Seventies" went on to win International caps, there were others such as Frank Casper, Alan Stevenson and Paul Fletcher, who, if they had played for a large city club, may well have won England caps.

Born in Bolton on January 13th, 1951, Paul Fletcher joined his home town club as an apprentice in July 1967 and in four years at Burnden Park made 33 appearances, scoring five goals. In March 1971, manager Jimmy Adamson spent a club record fee of �60,000 on bringing Fletcher to Turf Moor. Though joining a First Division club, it was to be a club that was only a few months away from relegation to Division Two.

Fletcher's Burnley debut was at Turf Moor, as Southampton, including ex-Claret Brian O'Neill won 1-0. With relegation looking more and more certain, a little hope was brought about at Easter when Fletcher scored his first goal for the club as Burnley beat fellow strugglers Blackpool 1-0. In the end, Burnley went down, with Fletcher making nine appearances, scoring just that one goal.

Burnley's first season in Division Two since 1946-47 saw Fletcher reach double figures in his only ever-present season at Turf Moor. During the 1972-73 season, Fletcher netted 15 goals as Burnley became Second Division Champions. Cardiff City were beaten 3-0 at Turf Moor thanks to a Fletcher hat-trick and followed it up a week later with a goal against Millwall in a 1-1 draw at The Den. He netted again as Burnley fought back from 3-1 down to draw 3-3 at Middlesborough when goals from 'Fletch' and Dobson earned a point. This was soon followed by two 1-0 wins over Nottingham Forest and Sunderland with Fletcher scoring each time. He then went three months without scoring and during the run-in to the Championship he scored both goals in the 2-0 win at Turf Moor over Sunderland watched by a 22,896 crowd. The victory against Cup finalists Sunderland clinched promotion back to Division One.

Burnley's first season back in Division One saw Fletcher score 14 goals and help the club reach the F.A.Cup semi-final. In March 1974 at Elland Road, Fletcher scored one of the most memorable goals in his Burnley career as Burnley beat the mighty Leeds in a match of contrasting fortunes. Fletcher's goal was a brilliant overhead kick which was the goal of the decade for many people. Fletcher was to lose his striking partner Frank Casper with a terrible injury. A week later, Burnley lost to Newcastle United in the F.A.Cup semi-final, Fletcher himself believes that the injury to Casper began the start of Burnley's decline.

At this time, Fletcher won four caps for England at Under-23 level, and during the following season, 1974-75, was to suffer a knee injury which would halt his career temporarily. His injury came during a 2-1 defeat at West Ham United and would keep him out of the first team for some ten months, and by the time he returned Burnley were well on their way back to Division Two. Fletcher's form never really returned after this injury. Although still capable of being a commanding header of the ball, despite being only 5'9" tall, his last full season was in 1978-79 when he helped the club to win the Anglo-Scottish Cup.

He left Turf Moor in February 1980 for �30,000, teaming up again with Peter Noble at Blackpool, scoring 8 goals in 19 matches until in 1981 he suffered a dreadful injury in a match against Walsall which ended his career. In a collision with the Walsall keeper, Fletcher broke his leg and damaged knee ligaments.

Fletcher had worked for Granada TV on football shows and on retiring worked for Preston-based company Miniprints, until October of ths year when he returned to the game as commercial manager of Colne Dynamoes.

Total appearances - 292 + 2 sub; Total goals - 71

BURNLEY FC AND ME

The following is an excerpt from a little-known book written by Paul Fletcher, brought to my attention by Kelvin Stuttard. Kelvin has kindly let me reproduce the following.

I was rummaging through my Burnley F.C momentos the other day when I came across a book authored by former Claret Paul Fletcher , entitled B.F.C & Me. I thought, "I haven't seen this book for a while," and sat down to browse through it. I had forgotten how good a book it was, as it contained articles written by former players, managers, backroom staff etc., recalling their memories of time spent with the Clarets. Paul's brief in asking these people for their thoughts was quite simple; he wanted articles about "a goal, a giggle, a game or a serious piece." He seemed to me to have received a good cross section of all the above. To quote Paul's text in the book, he writes, "This book is about 'Love Affairs'. It's about players collected from all over the country, from different backgrounds, religions and creeds, arriving in this smokey little Lancashire town, playing for the team...then Falling In Love With The Place!!"

Paul received articles from many former players, including Mike Summerbee, who wrote, "I signed for The Clarets for a King's ransom...fifteen thousand pounds. Bob Lord had offered ten head of cattle and three pigs, but Peter Swales, the Manchester City chairman, thought they would bounce!"

Martin Dobson wrote, "To skipper the side to the Second Division Championship in the 1972/73 season with Jimmy Adamson in charge was an obvious highlight in my career."

Ray Pointer wrote, "Out of the blue, 27 years later at the ripe old age of 51, I found myself back at Wembley in a 'Vintage Clarets' side against 'Wanderers Returned' in the preliminary game to the Sherpa Van Final. The record shows we won the game 2-0, and I can now settle with the memory of being on a winning side at Wembley...in a Claret shirt."

I had a good laugh at Paul Fletcher's own article about his preparations for playing against Leeds United after a bout of flu: "I had been in bed all the week leading up to the game with flu and only a Dr Iven special anti flu jab (two gallons of penicillin, injected with a red-hot poker up the bum) had got me to the game." But I have chosen to reproduce the article by Ralph Coates in full, as I thought it quite funny.

Hello everyone, Ralph Coates here.

At the moment I am under the hairdryer sat next to Andy Lochhead. We use the same hairdressers, have done for years. Here we both are, remembering the crosses I used to send over after battling my way down the wing...and all those missed chances, squandered by Andy and his partner in crime Willie Irvine. As I put pen to paper to write this article the many happy memories start to flood back, many more than I can say on paper. But one or two are particularly clear. Like the occasion we played down at Chelsea. I was outside left, Willie Morgan was at outside right (if any youngsters are reading this, you will have to ask your dad about these strange positions!) Willie was being marked all over by Chelsea full back 'Chopper' Harris. This chap would kick anything that moved. After being chopped and kicked by Harris a few times, Willie decided he would change wings and asked me to swap over. Needless to say, I wasn't over the moon about this and no matter how hard manager Harry Potts shouted and went blue in the face, I stayed put. I think it was the only occasion in the club's history that they played with TWO left wingers.

Memory number two is very clear. On Saturday 27th November 1966, Gordon Harris finally gave me a pass straight to my feet. And just as clear, is the occasion in 1968 when I witnessed Brian Miller buy a round of drinks. All jokes apart, I spent 10 very happy years at Turf Moor. It was a wrench to leave at the time but I understood how the club needed the money so I packed my bags for Tottenham Hotspur. I was sad to leave not only my friends at the club, but also the wonderful supporters at Burnley, the like I have never met since.

I joined the club straight from school and was made most welcome as all the young players were. A big factor was the fact that I spoke the same language as everyone else, as everyone seemed to be from the North East. The only foreigners were the Lancashire lads. I still live here in London after spells with a few clubs since leaving Spurs, and if you are wondering what I am doing now, I'm pleased to tell you I run a hair salon and gymnasium. My staff are:-

Salon Manager - Andy Lochhead.
Dietician - Adam Blacklaw.
Accountant - Brian'O'Neill.
Body Building - Arthur Bellamy.

Between us we've invested the profits in a racehorce. It's called KINDON and true to form he keeps running through the fences instead of over them! So that's about it. Can I wish everybody connected with the club my best wishes. Thank you for many happy memories.

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