Andy Todd

Date and Place of Birth 21st September 1974 - DERBY   Transfers to and from Burnley from BLACKBURN ROVERS - 4th September 2003 (loan) returned - 4th October 2003   First and Last Burnley Games STOKE CITY (a) - 6th September 2003   WALSALL (h) - 4th October 2003   Other Clubs MIDDLESBROUGH, SWINDON TOWN (loan), BOLTON WANDERERS, CHARLTON ATHLETIC, GRIMSBY TOWN (loan), BLACKBURN ROVERS ---------------------------------------- DERBY COUNTY, NORTHAMPTON TOWN (loan), PERTH GLORY, OLDHAM ATHLETIC, HEREFORD UNITED

Burnley Career Stats

Profile by Tony Scholes

Stan Ternent didn't care too much for protocol but I think even he was shocked at the negative reaction from some supporters when he made the third of three loan signings in a two day spell early in September 2003.

Burnley were just recovering from a poor start to the season that had seen three defeats in the first three league games. Two wins followed but the squad, which had been depleted during the summer, needed a boost ahead of a tough game at Stoke.

Four days before that Stoke game, Ternent signed both Delroy Facey and Gareth Farrelly in loan deals from Bolton, with Glen Little going the other way, and the following day captured Andy Todd in a similar deal from Blackburn.

He was the first player to transfer directly between East Lancashire's two big rivals since Peter Devine in 1984 and for some it was unacceptable, to the point where chairman Barry Kilby was forced to speak out about the move as Stan stayed strangely silent.

"It's absolutely ridiculous that people should concern themselves with the fact Andy is a Blackburn player," Kilby said. "We have been looking to add to the squad and we are now in a position where we've been able to strengthen again.

"We feel this move shows the careful planning done to ensure we get the best players possible for Burnley Football Club to flesh out the squad. Andy played quite a few games for Blackburn last season and I feel he is quite a coup."

Todd had something of a reputation and had left his two previous clubs, prior to Blackburn, under clouds after alleged bust ups with team mates.

His career was shaped very much in the early years by his dad Colin the former Derby and England central defender. Born in Derby, when Colin was with County, he joined Middlesbrough as a youngster just after dad had replaced Bruce Rioch as manager.

But another change of manager meant it was Lennie Lawrence who gave him his league debut at Ayresome Park in December 1993 as a substitute against Notts County, going on to get his first start in a 5-0 home win against Barnsley in the following April.

Bryan Robson replaced Lawrence that summer as manager and then spelled the end really for Todd. He played only occasionally, was loaned out to Swindon, before eventually rejoining his dad at Bolton in a £250,000 transfer.

Colin had just replaced Bruce Rioch again, initially as joint manager with Roy McFarland. Andy enjoyed four years at Bolton as they went up and down between the then named Premiership and Division One, winning the Division One title in 1997.

He was established at Bolton but it all came to a sorry end in November 1999 following what was supposed to be a team bonding session. It was a session that left Phil Brown with a broken jaw and cheekbone and, with Todd allegedly the player behind it, he was quickly sold to Charlton Athletic for three quarters of a million.

His career at the Valley followed a similar pattern. He won a place in the first team, won a promotion to the top flight and then problems again saw his departure.

This time it was a fracas in a training session with goalkeeper Dean Kiely. It all seemed to have been smoothed over but then he was dramatically loaned out to Grimsby, and he played for the Mariners in their last home game of the 2001/02 season when they beat Burnley 3-1, a result that just about put the tin lid on our play off hopes.

He returned to Charlton at the end of the season but wasn't to play for them again and that summer signed for Blackburn, then managed by Graeme Souness. He struggled to get a game initially but then won a place in the side in the second half of the 2002/03 season but soon blotted his copy book again after getting a red card for an off the ball incident involving Birmingham's Christophe Dugarry.

With Mark Hughes replacing Souness as manager, Todd fell from grace at the beginning of the next season. He was placed on the transfer list, was surplus to requirements and that brought about the loan to Burnley on the same day as reserve team coach Ronnie Jepson launched an amazing attack on Arthur Gnohere.

Todd played eight times for us and I think it is fair to say that, the Norwich away game apart when he had a disappointing game against Peter Crouch, he won over all the critics. Such were his performances that many had forgotten where he'd come from and there were no dissenters when Ternent did all he could to extend the loan beyond the initial month.

We'd won 10 points in the 7 league games he'd played and won a League Cup tie at Scunthorpe. We wanted him for at least another month, if not longer. Hughes, unfortunately, was having none of it.

Impressed with how he'd played at Burnley, he took him back to Ewood where he won his place back in the team. Not only that, he was appointed captain and the next time he played at Burnley was for Blackburn in the FA Cup.

It was all going well until the 2006/07 season when he again fell out of favour. He was again placed on the transfer list by Hughes and this time he moved on to Derby in another £750,000 transfer.

Derby had just been promoted and Billy Davies signed him to boost his squad for a Premier League season that was nothing short of a disaster. Todd did score on his debut but didn't feature in Derby's only win that season.

Paul Jewell replaced Davies and he immediately said he wasn't part of his plans once relegation had been confirmed. That saw Todd move to Northampton on loan, playing outside the top two divisions for the first time.

Things improved once Jewell went and Nigel Clough restored him but at the end of the 2008/09 season he was released after initially being offered a new one year deal. He decided to make the move to Australia and signed for Perth Glory.

He impressed the Aussies and was even awarded Glory's 'Most Glorious Player' award for 2009/10, but a desire to return to England saw him released and in January 2011 he signed for Oldham.

That didn't last. He played six games and was released in May, just four months after signing. He was without a club until October 2011 when he signed for Hereford as a non-contract player. He played four times before his contract was surprisingly cancelled.

He'd impressed the Hereford fans but manager Gary Peters explained the decision, claiming Todd's legs had gone. They'd won the first three games with him in the side but his last professional game in England was Hereford's 2-0 defeat at Torquay on 29th October 2011.

He hasn't played since and, despite him winning over the Burnley fans with his performances, no player has since, as yet, made the move directly between Blackburn and Burnley, one way or the other.

Links

Todd back in the North West (27/01/11)