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Date and Place of Birth 16th March 1950 - LIVERPOOL
Transfers to and from Burnley from PRESTON NORTH END - September 1980 (£20,000) released - May 1982
First and Last Burnley Games CHESTER CITY (a) - 20th September 1980
WALSALL (h) - 8th May 1982 sub: replaced Derek Scott
Other Clubs SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY, BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION, PRESTON NORTH END ---------------------------------------- BURY |
Burnley Career Stats
| Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Others | Total | |||||
| apps | gls | apps | gls | apps | gls | apps | gls | apps | gls | |
| 1980/81 | 34(1) | 4 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 37(1) | 5 |
| 1981/82 | 14(7) | 1 | 1(1) | - | 2 | 1 | 4 | - | 21(8) | 2 |
| Total | 48(8) | 5 | 4(1) | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | - | 58(9) | 7 |
Profile by Tony Scholes
Burnley had dropped into the Third Division for the first time in 1980 and Brian Miller, who had taken over from Harry Potts during that relegation season, set about restructuring his squad ahead of the 1980/81 season.
In came full backs Ian Wood and David Holt (both from Oldham), midfielder Tommy Cassidy (Newcastle) and prolific goalscorer Steve Taylor who arrived from Mansfield. Miller was constantly linked, also, with winger Eric Potts at Preston but when the season started, Potts was still very much a Preston player.
Miller continued to pursue him as negotiations seemed to constantly hit a brick wall, but, finally, he landed his man in September 1980 just in time for him to make a debut at Chester.
Liverpool born Potts had started his career as an amateur with Blackpool but nothing came of it and he dropped into non-league football with New Brighton and then Oswestry Town. His form at Oswestry attracted Sheffield Wednesday who took a chance on him, paying Oswestry £5,000 for him.
He made his debut for Wednesday in October 1970 but it wasn't until towards the end of the 1972/73 season that he started to establish himself as a first team player. Once he did, he was a regular and one of the most popular players with the Hillsborough crowd.
Twice, in 1974/75 and again in the following season, he was voted the club's player of the year and he went on to play almost 160 games before moving on to Brighton in 1977 when the Owls swooped to sign Paul Bradshaw from Burnley as his replacement.
He had just a year on the Sussex coast. He was often used as a substitute and on one such occasion, coming on late in a game against Sunderland, he scored two goals in the last two minutes to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 win.
Never likely to be as popular as he was at Sheffield Wednesday he moved to Preston in 1978 in a £37,000 transfer. He certainly recovered his form there and that's what attracted Miller who finally got his man to Turf Moor in a £20,000 transfer.
By now, at the age of 30, he wasn't quite as quick and was playing more as a midfielder than a direct winger. He went straight into the Burnley team and stayed there for the remainder of the season, missing just three games in February due to an injury.
He also pitched in with four goals in the league. His first was our second in a 2-0 win at Fulham in an outstanding performance both from him and the team, and he scored our last goal of the 1980/81 season as we drew 1-1 with Oxford at Turf Moor.
The 1981/82 season started with Potts and Phil Cavener in the first team but things were to change very quickly after a very poor start to the season. We won only four points in the first eight games but then lost only twice more in the remaining 38 games as we went on to lift the Third Division title.
By the time the poor start had come to an end, both Potts and Cavener had lost their place. Kevin Young took one of the places, finally establishing himself after making a debut in 1979. The other place was taken by a youngster whose progress just couldn't be halted - his name was Trevor Steven.
Potts played his part during the promotion season but having started seven of those first eight games, he started only seven more. One of those seven, when he turned in an excellent performance, was in a vital game at Lincoln in April. Steven scored a late equaliser that night.
As Burnley celebrated promotion as champions it was no surprise when Potts was released after just short of two years at Turf Moor. He signed for Bury but made one more appearance for the Clarets, returning to Turf Moor to collect his championship medal with the rest of the squad as the trophy was presented ahead of a pre-season Lancashire Cup game.
He had two years at Gigg Lane before finally hanging up his boots as a professional footballer. His career, with five clubs, had seen him play over 350 league games, scoring 42 goals, the last of which came in his very last game.
He later played non-league football for both Witton Albion and Clitheroe before finally calling it a day.
Both of his sons have played football. Eldest son Colin was initially with Preston but played all his first team football in non-league.
His youngest son Michael started his career as a schoolboy with Manchester United before moving on to Blackburn Rovers where he was a member of the team that reached the semi-final of the FA Youth Cup in the 2008/09 season.
Released in 2011, he signed for York City in the summer of that year at the age of 19. He played just occasionally for York in their promotion season of 2011/12 but did come on as a substitute in the play off final against Mansfield as the return to the Football League was confirmed.
On the opening day of the 2012/13 season, again as a substitute, he made his Football League debut for York in a 3-1 home defeat against Wycombe.
As for dad Eric; he had a very good first season at Burnley and might well have continued as a first teamer in his second season but for the emergence of some exciting young talent. Even so, he did play his part in that promotion season.