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He took over as manager from Gary Megson who appeared to be sacked for no other reason than the fact he was English. They were taken over by an Icelandic consortium in 1999 and after just a short time in charge Megson had to go to allow them to bring in their own man, Thordarson.
Things changed quickly and within no time at all most players on the team sheet had names ending with the letters SSON as a trickle became a flood of Scandinavian players. Our only previous encounter with them since then was in that 1999/2000 season at the Britannia Stadium when Andy Payton earned us a 2-2 draw with two late goals in a game where according to Thordarson Stoke should have been awarded fourteen penalties.
It was success the Icelandics demanded and in three successive seasons they reached the play offs. In the first two of these they lost semi-finals to Gillingham and Walsall respectively but last season they beat Cardiff in the semi-finals before winning against Brentford at the Millennium Stadium.
But after three seasons and a lowest finish of sixth Thordarson went and despite protests from the fans he was finally replaced by Steve Cotterill who we know so much about from Cheltenham and a certain FA Cup tie last season.
Like most First Division managers Cotterill is not exactly awash with funds for new players an has been able to bring in just one new signing in Mansfield striker Chris Greenacre on a Bosman. However Greenacre picked up an injury in pre-season and is still considered to be about a month away from fitness.
During the same period a number of players left on free transfers or were released although none of them were first team regulars. Cotterill has said they need new players although admitted that they will not be able to bring any in just now.
Their season has not got off to a great start and right now they are just one point and three places above the Clarets from the same number of games. Their only win came at home against Bradford City and they have picked up points from draws against Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough and Norwich at home.
With no game last Saturday it will be two weeks since their last league game, a 2-0 defeat at one of our favourite grounds Pride Park and in midweek they went out of the Worthington Cup in a surprise defeat at Gigg Lane against Bury.
Click HERE to check out Stoke’s league and cup results to date.
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The Stoke team for this game was: Neil Cutler, Wayne Thomas, Peter Handyside, Sergei Shtaniuk, Clive Clarke, Kris Commons (Bjarni Gudjonsson 84), Brynjar Gunnarson, James O’Connor, Karl Henry, Marc Goodfellow, Andy Cooke. Subs not used: Jani Viander, Chris Iwelumo, Petur Marteinsson, Jurgen Vanduerzen.
A couple of players to watch are wide man Kris Commons and one of their strikers who goes under the name of Cooke.
Commons has been attracting plenty of Premiership interest with certainly Liverpool having had him watched on a number of occasions. He celebrated his nineteenth birthday just a fortnight ago and made his debut on the opening day of this season.
Cooke – or should I say Andy, Andy Cooke, needs absolutely no introduction and won’t when he comes out on Saturday. He is guaranteed a superb ovation from a home crowd who thought the world of him during his six year plus stay at Turf Moor. Not always the best but Andy never gave less than 100% and he will certainly get to know how highly he was thought of just before kick off.
He played for both
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The former player chosen just has to be Jimmy McIlroy who joined Stoke from the Clarets in those controversial circumstances almost 40 years ago. He signed for Tony Waddington’s veteran team alongside the likes of Stanley Matthews and helped them win their place back in the First Division and then establish themselves there.
Of course any mention of the name McIlroy sends Burnley fans, old and young, into raptures. He was a player who was to a large extent introduced to the younger Burnley fans with the naming of the stand followed by the release of the club video ‘Rhapsody in Claret and Blue’ when they could finally marvel at the wonderful skills this greatest of Clarets possessed.
None of us particularly like to get older but my age at least allows me to say that I saw him play in a Claret and Blue shirt alongside his great teammates. It is a privilege I will always be grateful for.
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All you ever need to know about him can be told to you by those who saw him play. He was the best in the best side in England, he was without doubt a world star.
He played a total of 98 league games for Stoke and scored another 16 goals before ending his playing career at Oldham where he was player/manager.
We always claim him to be ours, he played for us for many years and he still lives in the town. We never even wondered what they thought of him at Stoke. A few years ago he came out to make the half time draw at a home game against Stoke. He received a standing ovation from all four sides of the ground, I think that just about says everything.
No there really was no choice at all - a Rhapsody in Claret and Blue.
League results in the last 20 years
Season | Div | Ven | Result | Att | Scorers |
a | |||||
1992/93 | 2 | h | 0-2 | 16,667 | |
a | 1-1 | 21,840 | Randall | ||
1994/95 | 1 | h | 1-1 | 15,331 | Davis |
a | 0-2 | 13,040 | |||
1998/99 | 2 | h | 0-2 | 10,575 | |
a | 4-1 | 10,965 | Pickering Payton Little(2) | ||
1999/2000 | 2 | h | 1-0 | 11,328 | Payton |
a | 2-2 | 15,354 | Payton(2 1pen) |
Click HERE for a complete list of past games against Stoke from our first meeting in 1888/89 season.
Last Time in the League
Burnley 1 (Payton 75) Stoke City 0 – Nationwide League Division 2, Saturday 28th August 2000
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No team had maximum points and we were one of six teams with seven points although Notts County were the early leaders with the best goal difference. Stoke were one of the fancied teams under new manager Gary Megson and were fresh from a home win against Millwall although the first two games against Oxford and Preston had ended in 2-1 defeats.
It did not prove to be a classic by any means and it was a game of few chances with most of the play in midfield. Stoke never though showed the adventure that would have been needed for them to win the game. They were, how can I put it, a typical Megson side looking perhaps to steal it 1-0.
Despite having Thorne (in our side) they didn’t create a single chance of note and Crichton had one of his easier games in goal, not as though former loan keeper Gavin Ward had it too much more difficult at the other end.
In games like this it needs something special to split the teams and so it proved with just a quarter of an hour left when Andy Payton got clear on the right hand side in the Stoke penalty area. Unfortunately he was at a tight angle and the chance to score didn’t look likely at all.
It might not have looked likely but Payts then could score from just about anywhere and somehow he managed to squeeze it in for the only goal of the game.
The win took us to 3rd with just Wigan and Luton above us, our promotion push had started. Interesting that it would be a fight with Gillingham at the end, they were then next to bottom with just two points and without a win.
The teams were:
Burnley: Paul Crichton, Dean West, Tom Cowan, Mitchell Thomas, Gordon Armstrong, Paul Smith, Micky Mellon (Glen Little 54), Paul Cook (Ronnie Jepson 83), Lenny Johnrose, Alan Lee (Graham Branch 45), Andy Payton. Subs not used: Chris Brass, Mark Robertson.
Stoke City: Gavin Ward, Anders Jacobson, Chris Short (David Oldfield 77), Philip Robinson, Clive Clarke, Larus Sigurdsson, Kevin Keen (Sam Aiston 76), James O’Connor, Graham Kavanagh, Paul Connor, Peter Thorne (Dean Crowe 60). Subs not used: Carl Muggleton, Ben Petty.
Referee: Terry Heilbron (Newton Aycliffe).