"Part of Burnley to go to America", read the billboards that week for the Burnley Express. Had Bob Lord sold out to some Americans? I think hell would have frozen over before he'd have contemplated that.
Thankfully it was not involving the Football Club. What had happened is the council chamber at the Town Hall was being modernised, redecorated and refurnished to house the new Burnley District Council in 1974.
All the old oak wall panels had been removed and the company removing them had sold them to an unidentified group of Americans. "It is to be used in a bar restaurant which is being developed on the lines of the old English pub in Los Angeles," said Mr Ralph Sutcliffe, spokesman for the firm of Herbert Sutcliffe who had removed the panels.
Mr Sutcliffe confirmed that all the carvings and engravings would be retained in the new location. They hadn't sold the Mayor's chair thought, that was to be installed at Towneley Hall as a permanent link with the old chamber.
We might have been letting part of the council chamber go but people were hanging on to their petrol with accusations that motorists were stockpiling it in their homes, putting their families in danger.
The threat of petrol rationing was growing and that was a concern for Mr Leslie Thomas, Burnley's chief fire officer. He said: "It has come to my notice that people are hoarding petrol. Fuel left in a garage is potentially a great hazard."
He added: "The storage of petroleum spirits for use as a fuel for motor vehicles, motor boats, aircraft and certain classes of engine is covered by statute and a licence is required. There are certain exemptions but the conditions imposed before these apply are very stringent."
He did advise: "Apart from this, an unlicensed individual can store up to 60 gallons in a properly constructed and authorised store. A garage or workshop does not qualify as such.
"I cannot stress too highly the dangers brought about by the indiscriminate storage of petrol to occupiers, families, neighbours, and to my staff. I speak from personal knowledge of whole families being wiped out bringing petrol into their homes."
I can't imagine too many people in Burnley would require petrol for either motor boats or aircraft but there were concerns over its storage for cars. I'm not so sure how far we got with the rationing threat at the time. I can recall the local press giving us dates, dependent on surname, when we could collect our ration books but I'm not sure we ever got as far as collecting them.
Now, in 2015, we have been informed that the work being carried out on Centenary Way will take longer than expected. A delay of a month or two is likely we are led to believe. In 1973 came the news of a delay with the new M65 motorway of two years with the earliest start date now April 1975. That was told to the House of Commons by Mr Cranley Onslow, Junior Trade and Industry Minister.
The news didn't best please Burnley MP Dan Jones. He said: "I am at a loss as to why this information, which is vital to North-East Lancashire, should be revealed by Mr Onslow who, to the best of my knowledge, has no responsibility for roads. If the report is accurate, then I and other Members of Parliament for the area, under the auspices of the North-East Lancashire Development Committee, will see the appropriate Minister or Ministers concerned."
Things weren't getting any better regards our twinning arrangement with Vitry who, the Burnley Express reported, were very emotional and very angry at reports that twinning between the two towns may be coming to an end.
They didn't bother to tell anyone with any responsibility within our town, instead wrote to Mr John Mason who was chairman of Burnley Swimming Club and a fierce ally of the French town, and the letter, hardly surprisingly, came from the chairman of the Vitry Swimming Club.
It read: "We were very sad and disappointed on receiving the Burnley Express with the report about Vitry. Here in Vitry we are reading this with great emotion and great anger. We are very sorry at the reaction of councillors who speak with a misconception of the situation and of twinning."
Maybe if the officials of Vitry, and not those who enjoy swimming, had bothered to communicate with Burnley, things might not have been so bad. Still a Burnley v Vitry swimming competition looked a likely event of the future.
A 17-year-old youth enjoyed his dad's wedding although it has to be said he did have rather too much to drink. The police arrived and tried to quieten him and in response the apprentice butcher assaulted both PC Graham Charles Smith and PC Neil Pollard.
The police had done no more than tell him to keep quiet but when the first officer turned his back he ran towards him and hit him in the face. That was with his hand, the second police offer took a blow with a head butt.
Despite a plea by his defence, he was fined £20 for each assault plus a £15 advocate's fee.
Whilst all this was going on, I should have been on my way to the Scottish capital, but as was the case in 1970 there were other commitments that prevented me going to a ground I am still to visit.
Burnley supporters had concerns ahead of this game. in the 1970/71 season we took a 3-1 lead there and came home out of the Texaco Cup with a 4-1 second leg defeat. This time, after an easy win against East Fife, it was the first leg.
This was no easy tie. Hearts were already leading the way in the Scottish First Division and they'd already knocked Everton out of this particular competition. It was, undoubtedly, the toughest draw we could have had.
Manager Jimmy Adamson said: "It's obviously going to be a lot different from the East Fife match. Hearts are not top of the Scottish First Division without good reason.
"We're expecting a hard match and I've no doubt that we'll get one. It would be doubly pleasant to beat them after what they did to us last time."
The Clarets were cheered on by a group of Burnley fans who had flown up to Edinburgh on a charter flight arranged by the club. What those fans saw, and what I missed was a superb performance from the Clarets who returned with a 3-0 win.
Adamson made two changes. Billy Ingham came in for Doug Collins who was on the bench along with Jeff Parton with a goalkeeper sub permitted in this competition. The other change was a positional one with Geoff Nulty going to right-back and Peter Noble, who had been playing there, taking a midfield role.
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| Peter Noble gets in the header which leads to the first goal |
The fine flowing cohesive football that had made Burnley one of the country's leading teams returned in style to demonstrate the vast gulf between the best of Scottish and English football.
Apart from the first ten minutes Hearts were rarely in this game. They huffed and puffed and ran themselves into the ground but it got them nowhere against Burnley's cool controlled play.
Burnley were unrecognisable from the team that had lost at Everton on the previous Saturday. This performance was up there alongside those at Tottenham and Wolves earlier in the season.
One Scottish reporter said: "You can keep Leeds, Liverpool and the rest, Burnley are the best team we've seen up here for a long time."
The switching of Nulty and Noble was a key. Noble used his influence all over the pitch but was at his most effective in the penalty box. Three times during the first half he was close to giving Burnley the lead with shots and headers, and it was he who finally opened Burnley's account in the 51st minute.
It was a shock that the score remained at 0-0 as the players went off at half time and only a superb save from Alan Stevenson kept it level just after the restart, but then Burnley finally took total command with the goals.
Leighton James got down the left but Noble's header was blocked before it rebounded back to his feet. This time NOBLE stroked it into the empty net.
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| Martin Dobson scores the second |
Ten minutes later and the lead was doubled. Keith Newton began the move with a run down the left. He switched the ball inside to Martin DOBSON who took a couple of paces forward before banging a 25-yard shot inside the near post.
It was all Burnley now. Ray Hankin hit the bar with a clever chop and Noble was denied a second when his close range header was superbly saved.
Right on time, we got the third. Paul Fletcher pushed the ball through and gave JAMES the chance to demonstrate his electrifying speed in a run from inside his own half. Where other players might have been forced out to the wing, the Welsh international was so quick he cut inside before the defence could cover, run through and slotted the ball neatly past the goalkeeper.
Burnley had surely booked themselves a place in the semi-finals. There didn't seem any likelihood of Hearts repeating their achievements of 1970 with the second leg at Turf Moor.
The team were;
HEARTS: Garland, Sneddon, Clunie, Cant, Anderson, Brown, Aird, Ford, Busby, Stevenson, Prentice (Murray 68).
BURNLEY: Alan Stevenson, Geoff Nulty, Keith Newton, Martin Dobson, Jim Thomson, Billy Rodaway, Peter Noble, Ray Hankin, Paul Fletcher, Billy Ingham, Leighton James. Subs not used: Jeff Parton, Doug Collins.
REFEREE: Mr J. Gordon (Newport-on-Tay).
ATTENDANCE: 22,000.
With the first legs played, Burnley and Norwich were very much favourites to go through with the other two games drawn.
Texaco Cup Second Round First Leg Results
BIRMINGHAM CITY 1 NEWCASTLE 1
HEARTS 0 BURNLEY 3
NORWICH 2 MOTHERWELL 0
LEICESTER 1 DUNDEE UNITED 1