KEITH NEWTON 

Date and Place of Birth 23rd June 1941 - Manchester died 15th June 1998   Transfers to and from Burnley from Everton - June 1972 retired - May 1978   First and Last Burnley Games Lincoln City (a) - 29th July 1972   Brighton & Hove Albion (a) - 11th February 1978   Other Clubs Blackburn Rovers, Everton

Burnley Career Stats

Profile by Tony Scholes

There are not many footballers who have become favourites of both Burnley and Blackburn Rovers fans in their careers but that certainly was the case with former England full back Keith Newton.

Manchester born Keith ended his career with the Clarets in 1978 but it was just down the road at Ewood Park where his career had got underway as a teenager. He was a member of Blackburn's FA Youth Cup winning team of 1959 and at that time was playing at centre half. In that final he played alongside Mike England and Fred Pickering, who both went on to become internationals, whilst in the West Ham side facing Blackburn were Bobby Moore and Geoff Hurst.

Such was his versatility that when he made his first team debut in 1960 it was at left half, but he soon settled into the left back position before switching to right back. Newton was equally comfortable on both sides of the pitch.

He dropped into the second division in 1966 with Blackburn but that didn't halt his progress. He'd already won a couple of England caps before relegation and ahead of the 1966 World Cup. He didn't make that squad but was soon back in and he partnered both our World Cup winning full backs George Cohen and Ray Wilson.

A big transfer was always on the cards and it finally came in 1969 when he moved to Everton for a £80,000 transfer, and it was just the right time to move to Goodison with Newton winning a Championship medal in his first season before representing England in he Mexico World Cup that summer. Disappointingly that infamous quarter-final defeat against the West Germans proved to be his last of his 27 caps.

The next two years were his most difficult. He had disagreements with Everton boss Harry Catterick who wasn't always over impressed with his calm way of dealing with difficult defensive situations. Newton would always try to play his way out of difficulties rather than just hitting the ball away.

The disagreements worsened and incredibly he was made available in the summer of 1972 and Jimmy Adamson didn't hesitate, bringing him to Burnley on a free transfer. People questioned Adamson but he claimed he had added a class player to his squad. "He's a great passer of the ball because he knows when to pass the ball, where to pass the ball, how to pass the ball and why to pass the ball," said the Burnley manager.

He proved to be an inspired signing and for the next three years we saw the best football at Turf Moor since the halcyon days of the seasons around the League Championship. Newton was an ever present as we lifted the Second Division Championship.

In the first season following promotion he was again in top form as we came so close to honours, missing a European place by one point in the league and losing an FA Cup Semi-Final.

He'd played those two seasons at left back, firstly alongside Mick Docherty and then Peter Noble, but in the 1974/75 he switched to right back following the introduction of Ian Brennan. It made no difference, he continued to play at the top of his game and despite his age there were even calls for a return to the England side.

That didn't happen, and neither did Burnley's form continue and we were relegated in 1976. Following relegation he replaced Colin Waldron as captain, but as the Clarets continued to struggle Newton finally announced his retirement in 1978.

His last appearance came in February 1978 at Brighton and his place at right back was taken by Derek Scott. He'd played over 250 games for the Clarets and his quality and experience was certainly going to take some replacing.

He was involved in non-league football for a while with such as Morecambe and Clitheroe before leaving the game for good and for some years he run a newsagents shop in Blackburn.

Keith was taken ill and the doctors found a tumour attached to his ribs which had to be replaced with steel ones. For a while he seemed on the road to recovery but some months later the cancer returned. It was a massive shock to Burnley fans when news came on 16^th June 1998 that Keith had died with lung cancer, just a week before his 57^th birthday.

Not many can unite the two clubs in East Lancashire but Keith did and representatives, staff, and former players of both Blackburn Rovers and Burnley stood side by side on the day of his funeral.

I had the pleasure of being in Keith Newton's company several times whilst he was a Burnley player and to have had that opportunity was a real privilege. He was also a top, top player who it was a joy to watch.

He was 31-years-old when he first pulled on a claret and blue shirt but for the next five and a half years showed us just how good he was. If only we'd had him at Burnley longer, his name would have been right up there with the very best.