Next Game – Leicester City (away)

Paul Dickov

But how on earth did a club who were doing so well find themselves in this mess? Things had never been better at Filbert Street with cups being won and the club in Europe. They were never going to be title contenders in the Premiership but there future at the top level looked secure enough.

Manager Martin O’Neill was doing a magnificent job, hard to believe that in his early days the Leicester fans had been demanding his sacking, but then came the news they didn’t want. O’Neill was offered and accepted the Celtic manager’s job and off to Scotland he went.

Leicester needed a good replacement but sadly for them they appointed The Legend (in his own mind) Peter Taylor. This was to be the crucial decision that cost the club dearly. It is fair to say that in his early days as Leicester boss they topped the table but by then the devastating effect he was going to have on the club was already apparent.

For a club not blessed with massive amounts of money Taylor decided he needed more striker power and brought in Richard Cresswell from Sheffield Wednesday, Cambridge United’s Trevor Benjamin and from Wolves, Ade Akinbiyi. Pretty astute Premiership management. The decline had almost been set in stone and by the time they finally showed Taylor the door early in his second season they were bottom of the league and facing a major relegation battle that was lost.

Dave Bassett and Micky Adams replaced Taylor but they never really had a chance of avoiding the drop and they ended the season in bottom place as Adams took over as manager.

To make matters worse money had been committed to the building of a new stadium (made when they were riding high) and with the club back in the Nationwide League the debts have come close to bringing about the club’s collapse.

Players were sold, wherever possible, during the summer, but there are still players there on Premiership wages who they would dearly liked to have seen move on. Although the likes of Rowett, Savage and Piper are gone the potential moves for Muzzy Izzett and Matt Elliott fell through.

Brian Deane

Despite all this they have made a cracking start to the season and only money bags Portsmouth are keeping them off the top. Their home form couldn’t be much better and they are still the only side to have picked up any points at the Walkers Stadium. All six visiting clubs to date have been beaten. They have also benefited from two players, Nicky Summerbee and Billy McKinlay offering their services

On the road there has been just the one defeat and that came at Ipswich on the second weekend of the season. It wasn’t just a defeat though, it was a hammering, and they went home with a 6-1 scoreline against them. Since then they have remained unbeaten in league and cup.

They didn’t play last week, the game at Preston was called off because of international calls, and their last game was at Norwich a week last Saturday. It was billed as the top game of the day between 2^nd and 3^rd in the division but it proved to be a less than exciting game with very little goalmouth action and ended in a 0-0 draw.

The Leicester side was: Ian Walker, Frank Sinclair, Matt Elliott, Gerry Taggart, Callum Davidson, Jamie Scowcroft, Billy McKinlay, Muzzy Izzet, Alan Rogers, Paul Dickov (Nicky Summerbee 81), Brian Deane (Trevor Benjamin 86). Subs not used: Simon Royce, Andy Impey, Stefan Oakes.

They have scored a total of 19 league goals with Brian Deane and Paul Dickov both having scored five. Three of Dickov’s goals though have come from the penalty spot.

It is definitely the game of the form teams. Burnley have now played ten without defeat in league and cup but Leicester can better that having played eleven since that defeat at Ipswich.

Click HERE for all Leicester’s results this season.

He played for both

Andy Lochhead scores in the 4-4 draw against Chelsea

Andy started his career with Burnley in 1958 when he arrived from his native Scotland at the age of 17. He quickly impressed in the reserves and made his debut in August 1960 as deputy for the injured Ray Pointer.

We were beaten 3-1 at home to Manchester City but his second game was to be more eventful. This was on 11^th March 1961 in a home game against Chelsea. We had beaten Sheffield Wednesday in an FA Cup 6^th Round replay four days earlier and we were to play a European Cup tie in Hamburg the following midweek.

So Harry Potts decided to rest virtually his entire first team. Gordon Harris had just been promoted to the first team following the sale of Brian Pilkington to Bolton and he was the only one to remain. Lochhead played and scored twice, as did Harris, in a sensational game that ended 4-4. Bobby Tambling and Jimmy Greaves both scored twice for Chelsea.

Andy was without doubt a top class centre-forward and it is difficult to believe that he never won a full cap for Scotland. His partnership with Willie Irvine was incredible as goal followed goal. In a period of three seasons they scored an unbelievable 149 league and cup goals between them.

He is the only player to score five in a game for the Clarets on more than one occasion. The first time was the last game of the 1964/65 season in a 6-2 home win against Chelsea and the following season he repeated the feat in a 7-0 FA Cup win against Bournemouth.

and in action for Leicester against Man United

In 1968 on the last day of the 67/68 season he scored one of the goals in a 3-0 win against Leeds on the Turf. This was his 100^th league goal for the Clarets and no one has reached that figure since, he is one of only six to have done it.

Shortly afterwards, and with just one more goal, he lost his place and was sold to Leicester for £70,000. Having scored a goal virtually every other game for the Clarets they did dry up somewhat and there were just 12 in 44 league games in just 15 months. In that 15 months though came a Wembley appearance in the FA Cup Final although Leicester were beaten by Manchester City.

Another Cup Final appearance followed with Villa, his next club, this time in the League Cup. Villa were at the time in the 3^rd Division. He returned to the Turf with Villa in 1972 and scored in a game the Clarets won 4-1 with some stunning goals in front of the television cameras.

A short spell at Oldham saw the end of his career but today he can be seen at all home games looking after the sponsors along with his partner in crime from the sixties Willie Irvine. And I bet they are still scoring goals.

League results in the last 20 years

Click HERE for a complete list of the games played between Burnley and Leicester which dates back to the 1897/98 season when our opponents were known as Leicester Fosse.

Last Time in the League

Leicester City 0 Burnley 0 – Football League Division 2, Saturday 14^th May 1983

The Clarets were still without Brian Laws at full back and again youngster Lee Dixon deputised. Some said he had a bright future in the game although someone to be associated with the club shortly afterwards thought otherwise.

Both sides really needed wins and it was a battle from start to finish. We might well have been underdogs but we were fighting for our lives and turned in a performance to be proud of. Sadly we couldn’t get the goal that mattered and had to settle for a 0-0 draw.

Fourth place Fulham were beaten at Derby in controversial circumstances and that meant that Leicester would have been up even had we beaten them. For us the point was useless, it left us needing a win in our last game just as a defeat would have done whereas a win would have left us needing just a point.

As it happened we lost the last game and went down, Frank Casper lost his job as manager, and we all know what happened after that. The one thing I will always remember of the day. It was the day Manchester City were relegated after losing at home to Luton with David Pleat charging across the Maine Road pitch.

The teams almost twenty years ago were:

Leicester City: Mark Wallington, Paul Ramsey, Bobby Smith, Kevin MacDonald, John O’Neill, Steve Lynex, Bobby Jones, Gerry Daly (Larry May), Ian Wilson, Tom English, Alan Smith.

Burnley: Billy O’Rourke, Lee Dixon, Willie Donachie, Micky Phelan, Martin Dobson, Brian Flynn, Kevin Young, Trevor Steven, Billy Hamilton, Terry Donovan, Derek Scott.

Referee: Don Shaw (Sandbach).