TERRY COCHRANE 

Date and Place of Birth 23rd January 1953 - Killyleagh   Transfers to and from Burnley from Coleraine - October 1976 (£38,000) to Middlesbrough - October 1978 (£238,000)   First and Last Burnley Games Orient (h) - 9th October 1976   Sheffield United (a) - 16th September 1978   Other Clubs Derry, Linfield, Coleraine ---------------------------------------- Middlesbrough, Gillingham, Dallas, Millwall, Hartlepool United

Burnley Career Stats

Profile by Tony Scholes

Having been relegated from the first division at the end of the 1975/76 season things weren't going too well for Burnley as we looked to bounce straight back under manager Joe Brown. We'd won just twice in the opening eight games, were 17th of 22 in the second division, and perhaps the only consolation was that we were at least above rivals Blackburn Rovers who were in the same division as us for the first time in over a decade.

Brown had promised changes and the position the fans wanted filling more than any other was the right wing. Burnley fans had been brought up on wingers but the days of John Connelly and Willie Morgan were long gone. Tony Morley was playing on the left but there was a lack of balance.

The manager obliged, but it was a shock signing. I don't think anyone had heard of Terry Cochrane, a 23-year-old winger from Northern Ireland although he had been capped by his country. More surprisingly we had paid £38,000 for him.

Cochrane had tried to make his way in English football before but without success. He'd had trials with both Everton and Nottingham Forest with then Everton manager Billy Bingham believing he wasn't big enough to make it in the English game.

And so Cochrane remained in Northern Ireland, playing for Derry, Linfield and then Coleraine, as well as making a debut for Northern Ireland, until Burnley paid £38,000 to bring him to Turf Moor.

He made a dramatic start with the Clarets, scoring in each of his first two games against Orient and Charlton and he quickly had the fans on side with some excellent wing play. But he couldn't get Burnley close to the top of the league and just a few months after he'd arrived we had a change of manager with Harry Potts taking over from Brown.

The 1977/78 season proved to be a very difficult one for Burnley, certainly for much of it. By early March we were in the relegation places and showing no sign of a recovery. Then, it all turned round and Cochrane was one of the main architects of a spell that saw us win five successive games and a total of seven wins and a draw in eight games.

Cochrane scored six goals in that run of games and that included a winner against Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park. It was a stunning strike from him despite the suggestions from Lancashire Evening Telegraph reporter Alf Thornton that it had been caught by the wind.

We were now seeing the best of Cochrane and it was no surprise when he was called up again by his country at the end of that season, adding to his one cap with three more appearances in the space of six days in the Home Internationals.

Hopes were high for the 1978/79 season with Cochrane and Morley on the wings but unfortunately he wasn't going to be around much longer. The sixth game of the season, at Sheffield United, saw us lose for the first time. In truth it was a 4-0 hammering against an Alex Sabella inspired Blades with the first three goals coming in a four minute spell early in the first half.

That week we received an offer for Cochrane that the club just couldn't turn down. Middlesbrough stuck a 2 on the front of what we'd paid for him and he was on his way to Ayresome Park in a £238,000 deal.

He'd made a big impact at Burnley and he certainly did that in five year s at 'Boro. He remained in the Northern Ireland side for whom he won 26 caps, and was a sensation at club level but could do nothing to prevent them being relegated in 1982.

He lost his regular place in the side and had a fall out with new manager Malcolm Allison which led to him moving south and signing for Gillingham in October 1983. Gillingham were in the third division and had three decent seasons with him in the side as they flirted with promotion but time was catching up with him and in 1986 he decided to try his luck in America with Dallas who played indoor football.

Eventually, on returning to England, he played briefly for Millwall and Hartlepool before enjoying a spell in non-league football with Billingham Synthonia and was in their side when they won the Northern League title in 1989.

As his playing days came to an end he also played for three other teams in the North East, namely Marske United, South Bank (where he was player/manager) and Ferryhill Athletic. He also coached the Saudi Arabian Military team.

He continued to live on Teesside and coached at junior level before returning to Northern Ireland in January 2008 to become Glenavon manager. That lasted just five months before he left by mutual consent and he eventually returned back to the North East and became manager of the Hartlepool Ladies team.

More recently he joined South Park Rangers Junior Football Club and heads their development centre. Based in Middlesbrough they run teams, both boys and girls, from ages 8 to 14.

So he's still involved in football and I'm sure the Burnley fans of the time would have wished him to have been at Turf Moor longer than the two years he was a Claret.