On this date in 1973, Burnley was back on form at Turf Moor and easily defeated Manchester City by a score of 3-0 after suffering our first loss of the season the week before at Ipswich.
A new center for the aged and handicapped was scheduled to open in the town, and it was promised to be the jewel of the North. A special “think-in” with Burnley’s voluntary workers, businesspeople, and professional bodies had been organized, and everyone had been invited to share their opinions on the best way to use the brand-new, £171,000 Temple Street Recreation Center.
The meeting would be presided over by the mayor, Councillor Mr. F. Booth, who had authorized the use of some of his own funds to pay for a special minibus for people with disabilities.The center’s director, Mr. L. Meadwell, said: “This special meeting will give all interested parties in the town the chance to have a say in the center’s running.” He continued, “We want to consult both the obvious organizations and those not directly involved with volunteer work.”
in the north. Now it’s our turn to roll up our sleeves and make it gold-plated.”
A showpiece centre but the big and necessary road improvements were beginning to look less likely with cuts in public expenditure hitting the new Calder Valley fast route. The North West Industrial Development Association vowed to approach the Government immediately but the news was far from positive.
On the subject of showpiece centres, as mentioned with Temple Street, there was disappointing news regarding the opening of the new £1.5 million William Thompson recreation centre. Long delays were reported by the Recreational Facilities Committee who were now worried they would be out of office by the time the centre opened.
A tour of the site was organised after which Borough surveyor Mr E. C. Ashby had no good news to report. He was frank to the point of being blunt when he told the committee: “There are so many imponderables. You saw it yourselves today, and there is an awful lot of work to be done. We were told in March that the contractor was pleased and expected the job to be finished earlier than the contract period.
It didn’t work out. The contract is due to end on November 18th. That is the official contract period ending date, but the contractor has made a claim for additional time, which we have yet to consider. I would be very surprised to see it finished on November 18th.”
He then shocked the committee when he added: “I would think it is likely to be January or February to be safe. If it finishes earlier, that will be great.” Mr Ashby did say he believed the work would be completed by then and that the centre would be open to the public by the end of March, the date when the committee would cease to exist.
Have you ever considered using pigeons to generate money for cancer research? At Lowerhouse Canteen, the neighborhood Cancer Research Campaign Committee auctioned off pigeons. Mr. K. W. Kippax of Reedley provided the birds, and Colin Cooke, a former Football League official from Sabden, conducted the auction. The bids really sent the birds flying out, and the auction brought in an astounding £1,318.
What a shock it was for the crowd watching the Wingates Brass Band perform at the Cat’s Whiskers to learn that the conductor was none other than Stephen Hancock, the actor who portrayed Ernest Bishop in Coronation Street. Mr. Sid Ratcliffe, band president, expressed his excitement and remarked of Mr. Hancock, “He was exceptionally good. He is a well-known musician. We absolutely hope he’ll return to lead the band in the future. He was incredibly talented, and following his performance, he went to each band member and congratulated them personally.
In honor of Burnley Football Club’s promotion back to the First Division, a concert had been planned, and just a few miles away at Turf Moor, manager Jimmy Adamson was providing an update on his two injured players, Mick Docherty and Frank Casper.
With Adamson rearranging training to fit in a full-scale practice game so the completely fit full back could get some match practice, it seemed like good news for Docherty at first. Sadly, the Doc collapsed after 30 minutes of the game, and he went to a physician who prescribed complete rest before a detailed checkup one week later.
Casper had a cartilage operation at Burnley Victoria Hospital, as was stated the previous week. The procedure was successful, and a hospital spokeswoman said: “He’s progressing very well and may be allowed home on Tuesday or Wednesday.” The operation took place as Burnley was losing to Ipswich. The in-form forward was anticipated to be out for an additional eight weeks.
Peter Noble and Ray Hankin would continue to fill in for Docherty and Casper in an unchanged lineup as they were still unavailable for Manchester City’s visit. Denis Law had been absent from City due to illness, but he was eager to return even if he would have to take on a replacement position.
Burnley entered the contest with four victories out of its previous eight league contests, with three of those victories coming away from Turf Moor. Some people thought we could only play on the road, but according to Peter Higgs of the Burnley Express, “If Burnley put in many more performances like this, you can forget the popular theory that they play better away from Turf Moor.”
For Burnley, it was a day when everything went well. The squad capitalized on the positive momentum of an early goal and played outstanding football. Big Joe Corrigan, who scored the second and third goals that ended the game, also showed some unexpected kindness.
We couldn’t have asked for a better pick-me-up after the loss to Ipswich than an early goal, and it came from another of our inspired free kicks. They resembled a whodunit in that you weren’t sure how it would turn out or who the murderer would be until the very last moment. The City players had emotions on their faces as they realized they had been defeated once more by this free kick, which displayed amazing ingenuity and impeccable timing.
Colin Waldron, who had scored from a free kick in our Charity Shield victory at Maine Road, was someone City knew they had to keep an eye on. Nothing changed; Martin Dobson fumbled the ball and handed it to Doug Collins. This time, Waldron ran, but it was only a practice run. They followed him, leaving Paul FLETCHER open to rush in and beat Corrigan with a downward header.
The players were ecstatic to make this work once more, according to Adamson. “To score from the same free kick twice against the same team is quite something.” The participants will still confirm to this day that Adamson counseled against employing the ruse because he thought City wouldn’t fall for it again. They experimented on their own early in the game and were rewarded for it.
ents with Dobson, Collins and Geoff Nulty running the show with Dobson, in particular, back to his very best.
Some eight minutes before half time, Corrigan dropped the first of two clangers which led to us doubling our lead. Fletcher deserved so much credit for chasing a long pass down the right, bringing it under control and steering it back into the path of Dobson.
Our players had been instructed to shoot on sight because of the skiddy surface following a lot of rain. DOBSON did just that, from fully 30-yards. It pitched in the goalmouth and shot through Corrigan’s hands and into the net.
Corrigan scored early in the second half. He easily outran Fletcher to a Mike Doyle back pass, but he then foolishly allowed the ball to escape his clutches. Again, kudos to FLETCHER who persevered and, despite being taken aback, blasted the ball past the helpless goalkeeper for goal number three.
The visitors would not be able to recover despite having one chance to do better when Francis Lee headed a cross from Mike Summerbee over the bar.
Burnley may have had it made for them by Corrigan, but we were by much the superior team and would have won even without his kindness
The groups were:
Burnley: Leighton James, Alan Stevenson, Peter Noble, Keith Newton, Martin Dobson, Colin Waldron, Jim Thomson, Geoff Nulty, Ray Hankin, and Paul Fletcher. Billy Ingham was a substitute who wasn’t used.
Tony Book, Willie Donachie, Mike Doyle, Tommy Booth, Alan Oakes, Mike Summerbee, Colin Bell, Rodney Marsh, Francis Lee, and Tony Towers are all members of Manchester City. Denis Law was not a substitute.
Referee: Leicester’s Mr. R. B. Fitzpatrick
24,492 people attended.
The season-opening goals were scored by two ex-Burnley players. Ralph Coates scored the lone goal as Spurs defeated Derby 1-0 at White Hart Lane, and Dave Thomas scored the opening goal in QPR’s 3-2 victory against Newcastle.
Stoke recorded their first victory of the year on that day when they defeated West Ham 2-0 at the Victoria Ground, but Leicester suffered their first loss of the campaign when they lost to Coventry 2-0 at home.
Coventry had risen to second in the standings after Leeds, which had defeated Norwich 1-0. We were once again in third place.
Results for the First Division on Saturday, September 29, 1973: Birmingham 0, Ipswich 3.
Arsenal 0 Leicester 0 Coventry 2 Burnley 3 Manchester City 0 Chelsea 2 Wolves 2 Everton 1
Newcastle defeats Manchester United 0–1– Liverpool. 0 Leeds, 2 QPR, 3 Norwich, and 1 Southampton West Ham 0 Sheffield United 2 Stoke
Burnley’s Scorers (Only in the League)
3: Martin Dobson, Doug Collins, Frank Casper, and Paul Fletcher
2: Geoff Nulty and Leighton James
1: Colin Waldron and Ray Hankin
Premier Division’s Top Scorers
6: Peter Lorimer (Leeds) and Derek Dougan (Wolves)
5: Newcastle’s Malcolm MacDonald and Derby’s Roger Davies
4: Bryan Robson (West Ham), Jim McCalliog (Wolves), Martin Peters (Tottenham), Martin Chivers (Tottenham), Allan Clarke (Leeds), Kevin Hector (Derby), Geoff Hurst (Stoke), Tommy Baldwin (Chelsea), Billy Bremner (Leeds), Mick Channon (Southampton), and Martin Chivers (Tottenham).
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