Billy Hamilton outjumps his marker to score at Ayresome Park. Burnley go on to win 4-1.
Burnley F.C. 1982/83, by Phil Whalley
Unlike the 1993-94 season, it appeared that Burnley did not obviously need new blood in order to survive at the higher level. Most of the senior players had experience in the Second Division and were expected to cope, whilst much confidence was placed in the ability of the new, young Claret stars of the previous promotion season - Brian Laws, Mick Phelan, Trevor Steven, Vince Overson and Andy Wharton.
Thus Burnley began the campaign with no new signings. That this was a complacent and overly optimistic outlook was cruelly rammed home with an immediate blow. Vince Overson had played through the final half of the 81-82 season with a groin strain, and Burnley assumed that the injury would heal over the summer. In reality, the big central defender had sustained a long-term injury, and he found himself out of action until March. Yet despite the knowledge that Overson would not be available, the management team did not sign any cover.
The season began with a home goalless draw against Bolton, a game which the Clarets controlled and which seemed to bode well for the season ahead. Little were we to know that Bolton would end up with the wooden spoon. The absence of Overson saw Brian Miller revert to the David Holt/Mick Phelan centre-back partnership, with Andy Wharton and Brian Laws at left-back and right-back respectively, and Alan Stevenson in goal. The midfield positions were contested by Tommy Cassidy, Martin Dobson, Derek Scott and Trevor Steven, with the latter three dominating selection. Up front was Billy Hamilton, fresh from his World Cup heroics for Northern Ireland, partnered by any two from Paul McGee, Kevin Young or Steve Taylor.
A cracking 4-1 win at Middlesborough was followed by a similar result three days later at home to Carlisle, with Billy Hamilton netting a hat-trick. In the Milk Cup, they put eight goals past Bury over the two legs. Not only were Burnley finding the net with free abandon, but their fluent passing game had the pundits purring. "Managers who talk about the importance of running off the ball could have used this performance as an instructional demonstration," enthused Peter Higgs in the Burnley Express. "When football is played like this, it looks such a simple game, yet is such a delight, too." Keith McNee concurred, praising the Clarets' "magnificent team show." In the light of Burnley's start, Brian Miller declared that "..we need fear no opposition in the Second Division."
After their opening three games, Burnley were healthily placed:
| Played | Points | |
| 1. Sheff Weds | 3 | 9 |
| 2. Wolves | 4 | 8 |
| 3. Grimsby | 3 | 7 |
| 4. Burnley | 3 | 7 |
| 5. QPR | 4 | 7 |
Three games followed against clubs who had only one league win between them. Things seemed to be on course and the Clarets could realistically look to topping the table, but an appalling 2-1 home defeat at the hands of a very poor Rotherham side the following Saturday was the catalyst for a disastrous run of league defeats. Only a narrow home victory against Crystal Palace on October 9th prevented 10 straight defeats and the rewriting of Burnley's history books. The last two games in October saw the Clarets progress to the 3rd Round of the Milk Cup at the expense of Middlesborough, thanks to a gritty 1-1 draw in the second leg at Ayresome Park. But then the Clarets capitulated to Oldham at the Turf, this after holding the lead.
It became clear that the problem area was the defensive third of the field. Burnley were managing to find the opposition's net regularly, but couldn't keep a clean sheet themselves. Of the midfield trio, Steven was the attacker, Dobson the spreader and Scott the tackler. As such, defensive duties fell most heavily on the struggling Scott.
A 3-0 defeat at Newcastle finally forced Miller's hand. The defence was reshuffled, with Andy Wharton making way for the newly-acquired Willie Donachie. In addition, Tommy Cassidy was drafted into Dobson's midfield role, with Dobbo moving alongside Mick Phelan at the centre of defence. Furthermore, an injury to Billy Hamilton saw the triumverate of McGee, Taylor and Young brought together for the first time. This seemed to reap immediate benefits as the Clarets travelled to Highfield Road, Coventry for the 3rd Round of the Milk Cup and come away with an improbable 2-1 victory, McGee scoring both.
Burnley repeated this scoreline the following Saturday at home to Cambridge, this time with a Steve Taylor double strike.
However, by the following Saturday, Hamilton was once more available. Could Miller realistically leave out his leading goalscorer, a marksman of proven international pedigree? Whilst in retrospect it would have been worthwhile to pursue with this lineup for at least a couple of games more, Miller unsurprisingly recalled Hamilton. The man to lose out was Kevin Young. In the midfield department, Brian Flynn had also recovered from injury, and Derek Scott made way for the diminutive Welshman. A encouraging draw at Hillsborough against Sheffield Wednesday was followed by a home point against Derby County. Burnley made it three wins out of an unbeaten five and rounded off an encouraging November with a pulsating 3-2 defeat of Birmingham City in the 4th Round of the Milk Cup. Once again there was reason for cautious optimism among the Claret faithful. Their precarious League position, however, underlined the importance of maintaining their Cup form in the Second Division:
| Played | Points | |
| 19. Burnley | 17 | 15 |
| 20. Cambridge | 18 | 14 |
| 21. Derby | 17 | 14 |
| 22. Bolton | 17 | 14 |
Inexplicably, just as the Burnley bandwagon was seemingly starting to gain momentum, the wheels again fell off with another disastrous sequence of five straight defeats, including a bizarre and incident-packed 4-2 home defeat at the hands of Leicester (with a front line attack of Gary Lineker and Alan Smith), which saw the Clarets surrender a 2-1 lead, miss two penalties and have Alan Stevenson sent off. After starting 1982 with such a flourish in the Third Division, the Clarets finished the year second-bottom of the Second, with only two league victories out of the previous eighteen, and only four in all.
As suddenly as Burnley had nosedived into their run of five defeats, they emerged out of it with a New Year's Day 4-1 hammering of Sheffield Wednesday. This was followed by a home draw against Middlesborough, though once again the Clarets surrendered a lead and two vital points due to sloppy defending. Although Carlisle were dispatched from the F.A.Cup, it became apparent that, in the light of Burnley's league plight, Brian Miller was drinking in the "last-chance saloon".
The beleaguered boss was convinced that the Clarets had not had their fair share of luck, however an utterly toothless 3-0 defeat in a blizzard at Burnden Park was the final straw. The poor attitude of the Burnley players in the face of the wintery conditions was compounded by the third Bolton goal, scored direct by their goalkeeper Jim McDonagh, who, after a few near misses, finally succeeded in bouncing the ball over the head of the hapless Billy O'Rourke, who continued to stand at the edge of his penalty box despite the fact that it was clear what McDonagh was trying to do. The Bolton defeat left Burnley six points from the safety of 19th place:
| Played | Points | |
| 19. Middlesborough | 24 | 28 |
| 20. Cambridge | 24 | 24 |
| 21. Burnley | 24 | 19 |
| 22. Derby | 24 | 19 |
Burnley continued with their tried and trusted method of appointment from within. Frank Casper, Miller's assistant, took hold of the reigns and immediately faced a daunting trip to Tottenham in the quarter-finals of the Milk Cup. He wasted no opportunity in attempting to shore up Burnley's leaky defence, reinstating Stevenson, and replacing the recently recalled Holt with Dobson, who renewed his defensive partnership with Phelan.
But Casper was convinced that it was in the midfield department where the Clarets needed to improve. Noting the deep hole into which the Clarets had dug themselves in the League, Casper declared that, "..the midfield players must take some of the responsibility for this - it can't all be blamed on the defence." He continued with one of Miller's last reshuffles, pairing Kevin Young up front with Taylor and Hamilton, leaving Paul McGee out. Despite his reservations about the midfield, Casper's options were limited. He played about the only card he had, bringing Tommy Cassidy back into the reckoning.
The change of manager seemed to inject the required inspiration, and the following few games provided the highlights of the season. Following the destruction of Spurs, two pulsating 3-1 home wins saw off Barnsley, to earn three precious league points, and Swindon to book the Clarets a place in the last sixteen of the F.A.Cup.
February was mostly taken up by Burnley's Cup commitments. Thousands of Clarets squeezed into Anfield's away terrace for the Milk Cup Semi-Final first-leg against Liverpool. Seemingly oblivious to any pressure, Burnley were confident and fluent. Suddenly Scott found himself with just Grobbelaar to beat, but shot straight at the Liverpool keeper. Given the distinct possibility that a Liverpool side boasting the likes of Hansen, Souness, Rush and Dalglish could have potentially crushed the Clarets, Scott's effort gave the Clarets some hope. But more was to follow. With the massed ranks of the travelling Claret army immediately to his right, Scott ran at the Liverpool defence and somehow dribbled past Lawrenson and rounded Grobbelaar to leave himself an open goal. The Claret hordes drew their breath in anticipation of providing a roar commensurate with Burnley taking the lead in a Cup semi-final at Anfield. Somehow, Scott screwed his shot into the side-netting. Burnley's opportunity had been squandered, and, characteristically Liverpool made them pay, sealing the tie with a 3-0 victory. Undeterred, the Clarets put on a fighting display in the second-leg, defeating Liverpool 1-0, but failing to reach Wembley.
The following Saturday saw the Clarets at Crystal Palace in the F.A. Cup. An uneventful 0-0 draw was followed the next Saturday by the highly-eventful 7-1 annihilation of Charlton, who included Alan Simonsen in their line-up. Three days later, the Clarets booked an F.A.Cup quarter-final place with a tense 1-0 victory in the replay with Palace, Steve Taylor blasting home a penalty.
March began with a 1-0 defeat of Fulham at the Turf, and Casper's Burnley had now picked up 10 league points out of a possible twelve. However, Burnley's interest in the F.A. Cup was ended by Sheffield Wednesday the following week. An open 1-1 draw at the Turf had seen Steve Taylor miss a penalty in the opening five minutes and a golden chance in the last five minutes. The replay saw Burnley's encouraging progress brought abruptly to a halt, going down 5-0 in front of over 41,000 spectators.
Those Clarets fearing an immediate reaction to this setback were soothed by an impressive 1-0 home victory over promotion contenders Newcastle United, the winner being scored by Casper's first signing - striker Terry Donovan. Burnley had now won four out of the five league games they had played under Casper's command, but the two-week gap between League games (5th-19th March) due to Cup fixtures saw the Clarets fall either two or three games behind everyone else in the League. Thus, despite the win at home to Newcastle, Burnley travelled to Cambridge the following Saturday as the Second Division's bottom club.
Nevertheless, with the vital Easter programme looming ahead, Burnley looked to have the momentum to finally haul themselves clear of the relegation zone. Unfortunately, it was not to be. For the third time that season, the inexplicable fragility of Burnley's attempts to redeem themselves was made transparently clear as they once more embarked on a disastrous run of five straight defeats. Their unbeaten run was ended by two goals from a 17 year-old Andy Sinton at the Abbey Stadium, Burnley turning in a desperately poor performance just when the exact opposite was called for. "In a match of such importance," fumed Keith McNee, "this display was just not good enough." That defeat left the Clarets marooned at the foot of the table, albeit with games in hand:
| Played | Points | |
| 19. Crystal Palace | 32 | 35 |
| 20. Rotherham | 33 | 35 |
| 21. Derby | 32 | 33 |
| 22. Burnley | 30 | 32 |
Casper desperately juggled his line-up trying to find the right formula, but this latest string of defeats proved to be one bad run too many. As Burnley slipped to defeat in the Easter derby at Ewood Park, thanks to two highly dubious penalty decisions, the fans vented their anger on the roof of the stand, and further defeats at the hands of Leeds and Oldham condemned Burnley to a desperate dog-fight at the foot of the table. It was April 23rd, and Burnley were six points adrift at the bottom of the table, but still had seven games left, with at least one game in hand on their rivals. Casper set the Clarets a target of five wins - the remaining three home games and two of the final four away. Given that the Clarets had not won on their travels in the League since the Middlesborough game in September, Casper was relying on his players to produce something extra.
A 3-0 defeat of Chelsea at the Turf was followed by a depressingly familiar 2-0 defeat at Derby, where Burnley once again failed to trouble the home defence. After this lacklustre showing, a midweek win at Shrewsbury was paramount. As unpredictable as ever, the Clarets lifted themselves and came away with a 2-1 win. This hard work at the Gay Meadow was undone the following Saturday with the loss of two precious home points in the 1-1 draw with fellow strugglers Grimsby. With three games remaining, the Clarets were hanging on by a thread:
| Played | Points | |
| 19. Bolton | 41 | 44 |
| 20. Middlesborough | 40 | 44 |
| 21. Rotherham | 41 | 44 |
| 22. Burnley | 39 | 40 |
Burnley again went into battling mode, with a hard-fought 2-1 victory at home to runaway leaders QPR, distinguished by the senior debut of a young right-back called Lee Dixon, and this result merely begged further the question as to why Burnley's form was swinging so dramatically. A gritty 0-0 draw in a cauldron atmosphere at Filbert St gave the Clarets one last chance to save themselves. They faced Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park: the victors would stay up, the losers would be relegated.
Although we have to acknowledge the effect that the Cup runs were having, by this time, on the Burnley players (the game at Crystal Palace was their sixth in 17 days), the manner of the 1-0 defeat at Selhurst Park was hard to swallow. Facing a poor side, the Clarets had to wait until the final minutes for their first effort on goal, a speculative thunderbolt from Vince Overson. After a season in which they had snarled and snapped at the heels of more illustrious opponents - chalking up victories against Newcastle, QPR and Sheffield Wednesday in the League, and Coventry, Birmingham, Liverpool and Tottenham in the Milk Cup - Burnley appeared incapable of mixing it with their fellow strugglers:
| Played | Points | |
| 19. Grimsby | 42 | 47 |
| 20. Rotherham | 42 | 45 |
| 21. Burnley | 42 | 44 |
| 22. Bolton | 42 | 44 |
Particularly frustrating was Burnley's inability to defend leads or play games out for a point. Over half of Burnley's defeats (12 out of 22) were by the odd goal, and of only six scoring draws that season, the Clarets had held the lead in four of them. Although a disaster in itself, the relegation was to have profound repercussions beyond the imagination of most football observers. John Jackson, the Burnley chairman, reasoned (perhaps fairly in the light of increasing financial problems) that the club needed a rejuvination that was not available from the personnel who were at that time inside the club. If this piece of reasoning was sound, his decision to employ a free-spending, flambuoyant manager like John Bond was criminal in its recklessness and nearly fatal in its consequence.
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