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If it has been a difficult year for the Clarets then it has definitely been a difficult year for Leeds with two managers sacked, a whole host of top names being sold to cut debts and the Chairman having to go to be replaced by someone I wouldn’t want to see anywhere near my football club.
It all started last summer with rumours that Manchester United were interested in signing Rio Ferdinand. Chairman Ridsdale was adamant that he wasn’t for sale but soon after he sacked manager David O’Leary he pocketed £30 million for Ferdinand.
He then stunned the football world by appointing Terry Venables as manager, he had never appeared to be in the running. But in a crisis why not go for a manager who has won nothing in English football.
Venables position never looked secure and during his time there more players left. Robbie Keane was next to go, to Spurs for £7 million. We were to be thankful for that, with someone else up front we might not have beaten Spurs in the Worthington Cup.
Liverpool had looked all set to pay around £7 million for Lee Bowyer last summer but it didn’t happen and with his contract running out they got him off the wage bill with West Ham paying an incredible £100,000 for him.
Then there was Robbie Fowler (£6 million to KKMC) and Jonathan Woodgate (£9 million to Newcastle) although again Ridsdale said there was no way they would be sold.
Venables and Ridsdale are both gone now. Venables has been replaced but Peter Reid who had left the disaster called Sunderland and Ridsdale is currently running around the country looking for another club to buy after finally being forced out.
His replacement in the chair is Professor John McKenzie who is proving to be something of an embarrassment and there has certainly been no improvement. More players have gone, Oliver Dacourt has completed his permanent move to Roma whilst Harry Kewell has signed for Leeds in a deal where Leeds ended up with just £3 million of what was supposedly a £7 million deal.
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They survived but the prospects for the new season are not good and they are expected to have another struggle. Having said that they still have a very strong squad and Peter Reid has named 19 players for the game at Turf Moor, many of them very much household names. It also includes Reid’s two summer signings, Zoumana Camara who has arrived on a free transfer from Lens and Jody Morris, released by Chelsea, who they snatched just as he was about to sign for Cardiff.
The will be without Dominic Matteo, Lucas Radebe and Michael Bridges who are all out with injury.
That squad is: Paul Robinson, Nigel Martyn, Nicky Barmby, Danny Mills, Ian Harte, Gary Kelly, Michael Duberry, Jody Morris, Mark Viduka, Zoumana Camara, Matthew Kilgallon, Eirik Bakke, Seth Johnson, Simon Johnson, Stephen McPhail, Jason Wilcox, Alan Smith, James Milner, David Batty.
That squad includes two players in Jason Wilcox and David Batty who may well find themselves getting more of a reception from the home crowd than any of their team mates.
The game kicks off at 12:00 noon on Sunday and is the first of three games this week as Stan Ternent continues to build his squad for next season.
A game from the past
Burnley 5 (Coates, Casper 2, Murray 2) Leeds United 1 (Bremner) - Football League Division One, Saturday 19th October 1968.
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Leeds came into the game unbeaten and top of the league whilst the Clarets were 11th place although we had won the previous three games after Harry Potts made wholesale changes following some heavy defeats. West Ham (home) and Stoke (away) had both been beaten 3-1 in the league and just three days before the Leeds game we had given Leicester a pasting in the League Cup 4-0 on the Turf.
But this was the big test for the youngsters, would they come through it? They certainly did and hammered Leeds in a way that no one thought possible. We won the game 5-1 and stunned the football world.
And this Leeds side were no ordinary side. In the 1968/69 season they lost only two league games all season and on only four occasions did they concede more than one goal.
The Daily Telegraph said of it: "Burnley’s capacity for producing the goods just when they seem about to join the other Lancashire clubs in the Second Division is enough to send rich clubs flocking to see what the Turf Moor boffins do in their mysterious laboratories."
And the Daily Mirror added: "The best defence in England was thrown into confusion by players who have not yet achieved the status of household names in Burnley, never mind the country. Who ever heard of David Thomas, Steve Kindon and John Murray for instance."
Careless hands Gary Sprake, the Leeds keeper, did give us a helping hand and was at fault with the first two goals. Ralph Coates got the first sliding the ball under the suspect Sprake’s body after receiving a pass from Frank Casper in the 18th minute and just three minutes later the roles were reversed when Frank headed in a Ralph cross that Sprake had missed completely.
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We went on to murder Leeds in the second half with Dave Thomas in particular impossible to handle but it was a superb solo goal from Murray with 13 minutes to go that really secured the victory. Murray saw off two defenders on a long run before giving Sprake no chance with a powerful shot.
The finale was left to Casper though who produced a piece of sheer class on 81 minutes with a brilliant chip into the top corner to complete the scoring.
It was just one of those wonderful Turf Moor days that will never be forgotten, even the Leeds boss Don Revie had to grudgingly offer us some praise. We had simply murdered his Leeds team and the bad loser Revie didn’t like it.
He did though speak highly of the young David Thomas who was just approaching his 18th birthday, suggesting that he was the hottest property in Europe.
An attendance of 26,434 were privileged to be there to see it, it was the fourth of eight consecutive victories but the most significant and the one that made the who football world sit up and take notice.
The teams were:
Burnley: Harry Thomson, Fred Smith, Les Latcham, Martin Dobson, Colin Waldron, Colin Blant, Dave Thomas, John Murray, Frank Casper, Ralph Coates, Steve Kindon. Sub not used: Sammy Todd.
Leeds United: Gary Sprake, Paul Reaney, Terry Cooper (Peter Lorimer), Billy Bremner, Jack Charlton, Norman Hunter, Mike O’Grady, Johnny Giles, Mick Jones, Paul Madeley, Eddie Gray.
Referee: Kevin Howley (Billingham).