MIKE SUMMERBEE 

Date and Place of Birth 15th December 1942 - Preston   Transfers to and from Burnley from Manchester City - June 1975 (£25,000) to Blackpool - December 1976   First and Last Burnley Games Arsenal (h) - 16th August 1975   Millwall (h) - 18th December 1976   Other Clubs Swindon Town, Manchester City ---------------------------------------- Blackpool, Stockport County

Burnley Career Stats

Profile by Tony Scholes

In the summer of 1975, as Burnley prepared for what was to be our last top flight season for over thirty years, manager Jimmy Adamson had the rare treat of having money to spend.

Since promotion two years earlier only Peter Noble had been brought in for a few whilst high profile departures had seen both Martin Dobson and Geoff Nulty leave with much speculation that Leighton James' future at Turf Moor was not too secure.

With the money he had available to him Adamson moved for two right wingers from Manchester who were being released by their clubs. Willie Morgan returned from United whilst on the same day we brought Mike Summerbee to Turf Moor.

Preston born Summerbee had already enjoyed a superb career which began with Swindon Town, and whilst with the Wiltshire club he appeared in a BBC documentary entitled 'Six days to Saturday'. It aired only in the West Country at the time but recently was shown during a football week on BBC4.

Summerbee played well over 200 games for Swindon during which time they won promotion from the third division but in the summer of 1965 he moved back north when City boss Joe Mercer paid £35,000 for his services. Mercer had played with his dad George in war time football and had kept a keen eye on him.

He was Mercer's first signing and he enjoyed a successful decade at Maine Road that would take him as far as the England team.

He joined them at a time when they were on the brink of success and over the next few years he was a regular in the side that won the Second Division and then the Football League Championship as well as the FA Cup and the European Cup Winners Cup.

During the championship winning season of 1967/68 he was also called up by Alf Ramsey to play for England. He was never a regular for his country, hardly a surprise given Ramsey's sparing use of wingers, and he played just eight times at full international level over a five year period. He scored just the one goal for England, that coming against Switzerland in 1971.

He was something of a joker and would poke fun at himself with his somewhat larger than average nose. On one occasion he was preparing to take a corner against Burnley at Turf Moor but the game was held up for an injury. 'Buzzer' to use his nickname, placed a paper cup on the ball and turned to fans and said when he took the corner he would catch the cup on his nose.

There was a nasty side to him though and he often found himself in trouble with referees because of his suspect temperament. Team mate Francis Lee once claimed he would always retaliate first, before he'd been fouled.

At the age of 32, Adamson persuaded City to sell him to the Clarets for £25,000 but Summerbee's time at Turf Moor was not a happy time for the club. He hardly played on the wing and things didn't go to plan. By January Adamson had left and we were relegated at the end of the season.

He'd played regularly in the relegated side and had certainly not let us down although he was nothing like the player he'd been in his pomp. Back in the Second Division he remained until Christmas when, because of injuries and Burnley's insistence that he could not be treated in Manchester, his contract was cancelled.

A short spell at Blackpool was followed by a move to Stockport. He became player/manager for the 1978/79 season but at the end of the season left the club and ended his career in the professional game to concentrate on his businesses.

There were just two more games for him to play after that one of which passed by almost unnoticed when he guested for Mossley in an FA Cup tie against Crewe.

The other has become a quiz question for Burnley fans asking which ex-Claret had played alongside Pele. The answer to that is Mike Summerbee in the film 'Escape to Victory'.

He was a fantastically entertaining player to watch, and although his time at Burnley was hardly successful he turned in some good performances during his season and a half at Turf Moor when there were definitely some reminders of the player who had played at the very top of the English game.