The week hadn't started well in town with the Burnley Express headlining with 'Black September' after a weekend of violent death and a spate of fires.
It had been the most tragic weekend for many years as a 23-year-old man and a three-year-old girl died in separate incidents, and a youth was stabbed near Turf Moor after the Saturday First Division game against Coventry.
And things got worse. A local club was destroyed in a blaze, firemen brought a woman back from the dead in a flat fire and then battled for hours to save a mill in another of many blazes to break out in the town.
The young girl who died was Theresa Marie Hetherington and a man appeared in court on the Monday morning on a charge of unlawful killing. The man who died was Harry Carlton Sykes. He died in hospital from neck wounds after an incident at the Concord Bar in Croft Street and Allan Whittle, a 27-year-old bricklayer appeared in court on the Monday morning in connection with this incident.
To add to that, a man was arrested in Coventry in connection with the stabbing incident after the football match. On a busy day in court Denis Brian Yardley Fletcher (20) also appeared and was remanded in custody on a charge of the unlawful wounding of 19-year-old Derek Pearson from Whitworth. He was still in Burnley Victoria Hospital where his condition was described as satisfactory.
Meanwhile local firemen were driven to the brink of exhaustion fighting a wave of fires which lit the town up like a torch, with fire engines racing from the Belvedere Road headquarters almost in a continuous stream.
At the height of the avalanche of fire calls they brought a woman back from the dead by using resuscitation equipment during a chip pan blaze in her flat. They saved 100 chickens and six calves from being destroyed in a fire which engulfed a farm barn and hut, and, in the biggest fire of the lot, they worked desperately to save Rosegrove Unity Working Men's Club.
The club fire decimated the building, valued at £100,000 but left officials determined that what was described as the richest club in Burnley, and one which had only recently had a £12,000 face lift, would rise again.
It could have been worse but for 14-year-old Ivy Bank schoolboy Geoffrey Wilkinson. He saw the smoke coming from the club and made the 999 call. His dad was a former steward but the steward at the time, Mr Thomas Manghan, said: "Thank goodness nobody was trapped in the building.
"The club itself, the bar area and the main concert room, along with the roof, is absolutely gutted. We shall have to rebuild."
So the court and fire brigade were busy, but the court were having to manage without full time Borough Prosecutor Mr Gilbert Hacking. He'd left to take up a similar position in Bolton and it was reported that there were no plans to replace him in Burnley.
He explained that Lancashire County Council policy was now to dispense with full time prosecutors and give the work out to private solicitors with police prosecuting minor cases.
I think Mr Hacking, who lived in Bolton, was hacked off at the new policy but said: "I am sorry to be leaving, and strangely enough I think I will even miss the journey to Burnley."
A man who lived in Lowerhouse Lane decided to spruce up his house with a new front window but it landed him in a bit of bother because he'd not received the necessary planning permission and was facing having to change it back again.
Burnley Town Council agreed to place an enforcement order on the resident Mr Green, a local plumber who lived there with his wife and two children. His wife said: "I wish we had never moved into the house now."
Somewhat bewildered she added: "We sent plans in and they were passed. The front window which is causing all the trouble is an eight foot long, bow type, set into the front wall so that it does not project beyond the building line.
"I cannot understand why the council won't let us carry out the alterations. A lot of people have said how nice it looks. It is a shame. The work has involved us in a lot of money, and now they want us to put it all back."
Despite the pleas for leniency from Alderman Dick Newlove, the council said the window presented an incongruous appearance unrelated to the basic design of the terrace, and detrimental to the general appearance of the street scene.
Maybe Mrs Green should have taken a more militant action as per the housewives who lived in Chichester Close, close to Turf Moor. These angry housewives used a clothes line on the previous Saturday in an attempt to prevent motorists parking on the road outside their homes.
After confrontations with motorists, police were called which resulted in them controlling the parking.
The residents, which included the wife of a Burnley Town Council member, brought out the clothes line to stretch across the entrance to their road at its junction with Holcombe Drive. They were on guard from 1 p.m. until twenty minutes after kick off.
One of the organisers, Mrs Ann Yeeloy, who had lived there for seven years, told the Burnley Express: "I am absolutely fed up with the situation which is allowed to occur every time there is a first team home match.
"Our residents are just as proud of the Clarets as any others, but we don't think we should have to put up with this every time Burnley play at home."
The Chichester Close residents didn't have any problems for this midweek fixture with Burnley away and we travelled to White Hart Lane to try and improve on a recent record there which was, frankly, shocking.
We had won our league game at Spurs in the 1965/66 season 1-0 with Andy Lochhead scoring the goal, but in the five further fixtures there before relegation we were beaten in all five, didn't score a solitary goal and conceded no less than 22 goals, losing the games 2-0, 5-0, 7-0, 4-0 and 4-0 again.
To make matters worse we had injury problems. Paul Fletcher was rated as doubtful by manager Jimmy Adamson before the team left for London, and Adamson was still fuming at the tackle that had seen his centre forward stretchered off in the home draw against Coventry.
"Disgraceful," is how he described the foul by Coventry defender John Craven. "Fletcher had been a constant danger to the Coventry defence and Craven saw this as an opportunity to get him. In my opinion he should have been sent off," the Burnley manager said.
Adamson said of Fletcher's chances of playing against Tottenham Hotspur: "It's impossible to tell but if it is at all possible to get him fit in time then our medical staff will make sure he's there."
Doug Collins and Martin Dobson were also slight doubts for the game against a Spurs team that was expected to include Ralph Coates who, if selected, would play against Burnley for the first time.
When the teams were announced ahead of kick off it revealed that Coates indeed would play, as would both Collins and Dobson, but there was no place for Fletcher who failed a late test. Adamson opted to give 17-year-old Ray Hankin his first ever start in league football.
What a night it was. Burnley gave London, and the watching England manager Sir Alf Ramsey, something to remember. Spurs might have had the big names and big signings, such as Martin Chivers and Coates, but Burnley had the better team. It was as simple as that.
Burnley also had the brilliant Frank Casper who outshone everyone on the pitch. His skill on the ball and quick darting runs regularly had the Spurs defence in a tangle and he surely had never played better for Burnley. This was Casper at his absolute best.
Ramsey must surely have made a note of his name because this was a performance that just had to mean his first England cap was not too far away.
He wasn't the only Burnley player on song, and there was special praise for Collins who probed and tormented Tottenham all night and even got himself the winning goal.
The match itself was a stirring battle to rank alongside the many other memorable clashes between the two sides. It had fine football, plenty of goal mouth incident and a dramatic fight back steeped in controversy as Burnley scored twice in the last ten minutes to snatch victory.
Burnley were clearly the better team on the night, playing some superb flowing football and should not have needed three penalty decisions to go in our favour in the second half to win the match. It was only through missing several clear cut chances in a first half which the Clarets dominated that put us in such a difficult position.
Burnley went in front after only 11 minutes. Casper took a pass from Keith Newton on the left wing and forced his way to the goal line. His attempted centre was blocked but he picked up the rebound, cut in and shot. Pat Jennings parried the ball but it bounced clear to Leighton JAMES who shot through a crowd of defenders into the net.
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| Leighton James gives Burnley the lead |
We should have gone on and increased the lead but by half time we found ourselves with a mountain to climb as Spurs went in 2-1 in front.
It took them only five minutes to equalise with a top class effort from full back Cyril KNOWLES who let fly with a terrific shot from 30-yards after the ball was played to him by Martin Peters.
Then, and with the half time interval imminent, and against all the run of play, they scored again. Newton dallied too long on the edge of the penalty area allowing Coates to tackle him. The ex-Claret rolled the ball across to CHIVERS who raced onto it to score past Stevenson from around twelve yards from goal.
We came out in the second half and continued to take the game to Spurs. It was incredible that we were behind but the longer the game went the more likely it was that we might get nothing from it.
Then, with twenty minutes remaining, we got a massive piece of good fortune. A Coates shot was heading for the net when Newton stuck out an arm to keep it out. It was a clear penalty but referee Jack Taylor, who would referee the World Cup Final in 1974, waved away their claims.
He hadn't seen it but as the play moved upfield he asked Colin Waldron if it was handball. Waldron, always honest, admitted it was and feared Taylor might just try to even things up.
He certainly didn't do that. Eight minutes from time he did point to the spot, but at the other end. He adjudged Michael Dillon to have climbed over young Hankin as the two went up to try and win a long throw from James, but this decision looked every bit as bad as the turning down of the Spurs penalty for handball.
Peters led the protest and had to be physically restrained by his team mates as he went too far with his complaints to the referee.
Once it all calmed down, CASPER scored from the spot and Burnley were finally level but the Burnley man had one more big contribution still to make. Three minutes later he went on another great run down the right wing. He tricked Phil Beal, got to the line and pulled the ball back for COLLINS who had the simplest of tasks to score the winning goal from a few yards out.
There might have been another penalty when Alan Gilzean went down in a challenge with Peter Noble but again Taylor ignored the shouts from the home players.
It was the last piece of the action. Spurs, as Spurs always did when things weren't going their way, lost their cool, but they could really have no complaints. They'd been beaten and totally outplayed by the First Division newcomers and we came home having gone into second place in the league.
The teams were;
Tottenham Hotspur: Pat Jennings, Ray Evans, Cyril Knowles, John Pratt, Michael Dillon, Phil Beal, Alan Gilzean, Steve Perryman, Martin Chivers, Martin Peters, Ralph Coates. Sub not used: Jimmy Neighbour.
Burnley: Alan Stevenson, Peter Noble, Keith Newton, Martin Dobson, Colin Waldron, Jim Thomson, Geoff Nulty, Frank Casper, Ray Hankin, Doug Collins, Leighton James. Sub not used: Billy Ingham.
Referee: Mr J. Taylor (Wolverhampton).
Attendance: 25,543.
Despite only having dropped one point in four games, we were still a point behind league leaders Leeds who recorded a fourth successive win, beating Wolves, our next opponents, 4-1.
Peter Lorimer scored twice in that game and Tony Currie just down the road at Bramall Lane also netted a couple as Sheffield United hammered Arsenal 5-0.
We'd dumped Spurs into the bottom three of the table, in this the first ever season when three teams, rather than two, would be relegated from the First Division. They were one of four teams on two points with Birmingham at the foot of the table with just one point.
First Division Results
Tuesday 4th September 1973
IPSWICH TOWN 1 NEWCASTLE UNITED 3
LIVERPOOL 2 DERBY COUNTY 0
QUEENS PARK RANGERS 0 WEST HAM UNITED 0
SHEFFIELD UNITED 5 ARSENAL 0
SOUTHAMPTON 2 NORWICH CITY 2
Wednesday 5th September 1973
CHELSEA 3 BIRMINGHAM CITY 1
LEEDS UNITED 4 WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS 1
LEICESTER CITY 1 MANCHESTER UNITED 0
MANCHESTER CITY 1 COVENTRY CITY 0
STOKE CITY 0 EVERTON 0
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 2 BURNLEY 3
Burnley's Goalscorers (League Only)
2: FRANK CASPER, DOUG COLLINS, MARTIN DOBSON
1: PAUL FLETCHER, LEIGHTON JAMES
First Division Leading Goalscorers
5: DEREK DOUGAN (WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS)
4: BILLY BREMNER (LEEDS UNITED)
3: MICK CHANNON (SOUTHAMPTON), TONY CURRIE SHEFFIELD UNITED),
DENIS LAW (MANCHESTER CITY), PETER LORIMER (LEEDS UNITED)
2: CLYDE BEST (WEST HAM UNITED), FRANK CASPER (BURNLEY), DOUG COLLINS (BURNLEY),
MARTIN DOBSON (BURNLEY), PAUL GILCHRIST (SOUTHAMPTON), ALAN GREEN (COVENTRY CITY),
JOE HARPER (EVERTON), BOB HATTON (BIRMINGHAM CITY), JOHN HOLLINS (CHELSEA),
DAVID JOHNSON (IPSWICH TOWN), MICK JONES (LEEDS UNITED),
JOHN McCALLIOG (WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS), MALCOLM MacDONALD (NEWCASTLE UNITED),
MARTIN PETERS (TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR), BRYAN ROBSON (WEST HAM UNITED),
TREVOR WHYMARK (IPSWICH TOWN), ALAN WOODWARD (SHEFFIELD UNITED)
The League Table
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| LEEDS UNITED | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 3 | 8 |
| BURNLEY | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 7 |
| SOUTHAMPTON | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 6 |
| LIVERPOOL | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 5 |
| MANCHESTER CITY | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 5 |
| NEWCASTLE UNITED | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 5 |
| COVENTRY CITY | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 5 |
| LEICESTER CITY | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 5 |
| DERBY COUNTY | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| SHEFFIELD UNITED | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 4 |
| EVERTON | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 4 |
| WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 4 |
| MANCHESTER UNITED | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 4 |
| WEST HAM UNITED | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 3 |
| NORWICH CITY | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 3 |
| QUEENS PARK RANGERS | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| ARSENAL | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 3 |
| CHELSEA | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 2 |
| IPSWICH TOWN | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 2 |
| TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 2 |
| STOKE CITY | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| BIRMINGHAM CITY | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 1 |