What do you remember most about 1976?

Yeah, the long hot summer that cracked the flags, three months of unbroken, blazing sunshine. But weren�t summers always hot back then? Now you�re lucky if you can string three days together, let alone three months. Everything seems to have gone downhill since then. John Kettley�s looking none too happy.

Hang on though, 1976? Weren�t Burnley in Division One? Weren�t they always in Division One back then? Now you�re lucky if you see them string three passes together let alone three wins. Everything seems to have gone downhill since. Not a lot to smile about, eh John?

August 1975, and Burnley changed their kit for the first time in six years. The plain claret shirt with blue trim was replaced with the infamous �V for victory�, launched by the same Jimmy Adamson who declared that Burnley were the "team of the seventies" before presiding over a disastrous relegation campaign. No worrying omens there, eh Jimmy?

I don�t know if the players had to put up with the same synthetic replica I bought from the club shop, but you could grate cheese on it. It looked none to spacious either, I can imagine big barrel-chested buggers like Billy Rodaway and Jim Thomson finding it a tad cosy. Optimism wasn�t high for the forthcoming season. The previous campaign had been pretty run-of-the-mill and Southern League Wimbledon had embarrassed the Clarets at Turf Moor in the FA Cup.

Burnley had for some time operated a policy of developing a string of young players and selling them on, the loss of Martin Dobson and Geoff Nulty had contributed significantly to a failure to build on the success of the team that won Division Two in 1972/1973 and finished sixth in their first season back in the top flight whilst also reaching the semi-final of the F.A. Cup.

Obviously the gaps left by the loss of these players had to be filled. Unfortunately it was at this time that the seemingly endless supply of young talent started to dry up. Whilst the likes of Derek Scott and Gerry Peyton broke through the ranks, they did not have the luxury of a smooth introduction into a winning side. In the previous couple of seasons Jimmy Adamson made a couple of inspired purchases in Keith Newton and Peter Noble. Not only were they very good players, but their influence on the youngsters around them was immeasurable.

Adopting a similar policy, Jimmy tried to bolster his squad by bringing in veteran Manchester City midfielder Mike Summerbee and Willie Morgan, returning to Turf Moor after a seven year spell at Old Trafford. The way the season started gave no real cause for concern, two draws from two games with Arsenal and Everton followed soon after by a Peter Noble hat-trick in a 4-1 win over Middlesbrough. In the next home game Noble went one better and scored all four against Norwich; trouble was Burnley let the vistors off the hook in the last minute and only collected a point.

The Clarets failed to win throughout September but seemed to have turned things round by completing an undefeated October which included victory over Liverpool in the League Cup. November, unfortunately, was a completely different kettle of fish. Despite further progress in the League Cup at the expense of Leicester, the Clarets lost five league games on the trot. In the midst of this came a rare visit by the �Match of the Day� cameras when fellow strugglers Wolves visited a rain sodden Turf Moor in the middle of the month. In the previous league game at Leicester, Peter Noble netted his eleventh goal from sixteen starts. Unfortunately in taking the successful penalty kick he pulled a hamstring and was effectively sidelined until the following March.

His absence was painfully apparent as a Wolves strikeforce spearheaded by old boy Steve Kindon and John Richards took Burnley apart. A 5-1 home defeat by our closest relegation rivals didn�t inspire visions of mid-table mediocrity come May. This was also Leighton James� last game before moving to Derby and Willie Morgan�s season was all but over as well. Frank Casper, who had never really recovered from a couple of hammerings he took in 73/74, came on as a sub in that game but only made one more appearance before finally hanging up his boots.

Inevitably, in context with a dismal season, Paul Fletcher, who had hit the best part of 30 goals over the past two seasons, didn�t get a run in the side until January and only scored twice. The Clarets� resources were stretched to the limit and not surprisingly the downward spiral continued. Middlesbrough, thrashed at the Turf in August, ended our interest in the League Cup with a 2-0 win. Granada TV sent their cameras along to this one. It sneaked onto the screens at about 11.00 p.m. on a Wednesday. Appropriately enough it pissed down and we weren�t much troubled by television for the rest of the year.

In mid-December Kevin Kennerley and Ray Hankin scored as West Ham suffered the embarrassment of being the first side for two months to give up both points to the Clarets. Normal service was however quickly and inevitably resumed with a run of six straight defeats. The worst to follow was a hapless 1-0 defeat at Blackpool (at that time doing sod all in Division Two) in the F.A. Cup. Jimmy Adamson realised enough was enough and called it a day.

The poisoned challice was handed to his assistant, Joe Brown, who with no managerial experience, bugger-all money and a threadbare squad did his best to extricate Burnley from deep in the ----. To be honest he soon realised he had a hopeless task and decided to blood a few youngsters. If anything, results improved a bit. An away-win (as rare then as they are now) at Everton was followed by victories over Leicester and Sheffield United, the latter being outclassed at Turf Moor - yes, they were that bad.

Three defeats on the bounce in late March seemed to kill-off any wildly optimistic hopes of survival. However, inspired by a returning Peter Noble, the Clarets, for the first time in over a year, won two in a row. First Birmingham were beaten at Turf Moor and then Noble himself scored the winner at Newcastle on Easter Saturday. An unlikely escape was all of a sudden on again.

On Easter Monday the biggest crowd of the season, 27,418, witnessed Manchester United�s visit to the Turf. Inevitably, in context with a dismal season, a 1-0 defeat sealed the Clarets� relegation from the top flight. The next Saturday, Coventry became the last side to play at Turf Moor in a league match at the highest level. A sombre 11,675 witnessed Derrick Parker score, on his one and only First Division appearance, in a game that finished 3-1 to the visitors.

Over the next twenty years the steady decline continued. John Kettley continued to report deep depressions over East Lancashire with only the occasional bright spell....but wait a minute, what�s this? John�s peeling this permanent black cloud off his weather map to reveal a ray of sunshine. There�s a face on it, can�t really make it out....hang on, it�s Stan Ternent. Does anyone else feel the first decent summer for 22 years coming on?

Jez Wilson, August 1998

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