Mullen’s 200th was also his last, a 1-0 home defeat against Crewe, and so when the Clarets take on Preston on Saturday at Deepdale Stan will become our longest serving manager since Jimmy Adamson who was in charge for 244 league games between 1970 and 1976.
I’m sure not many thought Stan would reach this point in his career as Burnley manager and on the day he was appointed I’m not so sure he did himself. When asked after the press conference what his ambition was for Burnley he said in true Stan style, "To win the first game". "And then?", he was asked, "To win the second game", said Stan.
He managed the first of the two in a 2-1 home win against Bristol Rovers but failed at the second when we were beaten 1-0 to a dodgy penalty at Chesterfield. There have been times when we thought he might be on his way, sometimes we hear rumours that he is going to resign and on one occasion when a couple of really bad home results put him under some pressure. It hasn’t happened though, he has cracked on and just look where it has taken us.
Cracked on. That’s one of Stan’s favourite phrases that have become part and parcel of his after match interviews. I’m not so sure whether the press actually look forward to these occasions or not but he is certainly different and always has something to say.
No manager lasts this long at a club though unless his record justifies it and the simple truth of the matter is that he took over a club that had just escaped relegation to the 3rd Division and in three years had taken it to 7th in Division One. He maintained that last season and who is to say he won’t this season despite the problems at the club.
He has let players go, sold others and brought in a host of new players. Some have been good signings and some not so good. We all have our own favourites and we all have our own opinions and so to suggest one signing is any better than another is impossible. But there is no doubt that there are a number of players who have arrived at Turf Moor in recent times who have proved to be remarkable signings.
Going back to that first game against Bristol Rovers back in 1998 and his first ever team selection. He signed a goalkeeper on loan on the morning of the match and his outfield included just one of his signings, Steve Morgan. The rest of the starting eleven was made up of two players who had come through from the youth team, one Jimmy Mullen signing, one Adrian Heath signing and five Chris Waddle signings. The three subs included another of his signings Ronnie Jepson.
The team that day was: Paul Crichton, Chris Brass, Steve Morgan, Mark Ford (Carl Smith), Steve Blatherwick, Lee Howey (Neil Moore), Glen Little, Michael Williams, Andy Cooke, Andy Payton (Ronnie Jepson), Paul Smith.
When we lost 4-0 at Fulham in December Stan the starting line up also included Gordon Armstrong, Brian Reid and loan players John O’Kane and Matty Hewlett but he declared, embarrassed by the performance and result, that it was not his team.
Around that time Barry Kilby arrived and within no time at all he was able to bring in new players and although the home form was not too impressive for a while we were to lose only one more away game. The club was turning round and things were going to get better.
Stan hasn’t always been happy since and there have been occasions when the players have had a blasting after a poor performance. They are not the only ones to feel the sharp edge of his tongue either, we the fans have suffered and so have referees and pitches when they haven’t been suitable for good football.
Somehow there can be something quite amusing about him going off on one, having a Stantrum, and it usually leads to much improved performances once he has got it out of his system. Two seasons ago we turned Fulham over on the Turf after an away defeat at Grimsby that had upset him beyond belief.
Of course the players have no time for him, we hear that often enough don’t we? That’s why nobody would ever choose to play for him a second time. Incredibly the list of those that have done so is almost endless and just a look at the current staff sees Dean West, Marlon Beresford and Gordon Armstrong who have done just that. Then there have also been Lenny Johnrose, David Johnson, Peter Swan, Ronnie Jepson and a good number more.
Why? I think Bally had the answer last week. He’s up front with you, if he has anything to say he says it and to your face. You know where you stand with him. Having said that Bally did admit that he had more arguments with him than any other manager he had played for but his respect for Stan came through clearly.
He has been described as the best Burnley manager since Jimmy Adamson by many. He has been compared with both Jimmy and with Harry Potts. Stan himself will know that he can receive no higher praise. He worked with them both and will know just how good they were and what they achieved for our club. I think he will, in fact he should, feel pretty proud to see his name alongside the two of them.
Looking at his record over those 200 game and 86 of them have been won with 54 drawn and 60 lost. The goals for and against columns make interesting reading though with 266 goals scored and 265 conceded, a goal difference of just 1. We have developed the ability to win games by one goal with Stan but there have been some heavy defeats.
Since the points system was changed to 3 points for a win in 1981 he has been the most successful of our managers and is averaging 1.56 points per game with Mullen second with an average of 1.47 points per game.
Many of those games stand out and of course the win at Scunthorpe has to be the number one choice just because of what it achieved. In an after match interview he said pointing to the fans, "It means so much to them and it means a lot to me too". It is the most emotional I have ever seen him. You were right Stan it did mean so much to us but I reckon it meant just as much to you.
There have been some poor spells since promotion but there have been some excellent spells. The start of last season was incredible, as was the run in November. Going to places such as Bradford, Birmingham, Palace and Coventry had been nothing but dreams just a couple of years earlier, now we were winning at those grounds.
The good spells and these incredible results do make the bad runs that little bit harder to accept but I do think Stan is the only manager who has ever exceeded the expectations of the fans. We were looking for a play off place in 1999/2000 and he took us straight up. The following year we desperately wanted to stay up and he took us within a place of the play offs and then last year repeated it. Exceeding the expectations of Burnley fans has to be considered a remarkable achievement.
There is no doubt that Burnley FC has changed dramatically since he walked in as Frank Teasdale’s last managerial appointment in 1998 and without doubt the changes have been for the better.
We’ve had our moans about him; of course we have, and will again. But Stan knows what we are like; he knows that Burnley fans love to have a good moan. I think he knows that we don’t mean it half the time either. Really we are happy to crack on.
The Players:
Stan has used 62 players in those 200 league games and 5 other players in cup competitions. Three of those five have been goalkeepers in Tony Parks, Frank Petta Kval and Luigi Cennamo with outfield players Michael Devenney and Stephen Grant the outfield players. Parks played twice and the others just once each.
Glen Little has played in more of the 200 games than anyone, he has started 140 and made a further 22 appearances as a sub. As for goals Andy Payton has 60 and the nearest to him is Gareth Taylor with 24.
Those that have played in the league are as follows:
Player | Appearances | Goals | |
Starts | Sub | ||
a | |||
Gordon Armstrong | 87 | 13 | 4 |
Kevin Ball | 77 | 5 | 3 |
Marlon Beresford | 24 | ||
Robbie Blake | 11 | 12 | 5 |
Steve Blatherwick | 3 | ||
Graham Branch | 86 | 31 | 9 |
Chris Brass | 37 | 4 | |
Lee Briscoe | 82 | 6 | 6 |
Colin Carr-Lawton | 2 | 2 | |
Paul Cook | 125 | 6 | 12 |
Andy Cooke | 79 | 4 | 18 |
Tom Cowan | 17 | 3 | 1 |
Ian Cox | 97 | 7 | 4 |
Paul Crichton | 82 | 1 | |
Steve Davis | 136 | 2 | 17 |
Phil Eastwood | 6 | 7 | 1 |
Tony Ellis | 11 | 1 | |
Mark Ford | 11 | 1 | |
Paul Gascoigne | 3 | 3 | |
Arthur Gnohere | 44 | 3 | 5 |
Tony Grant | 34 | 4 | |
Phil Gray | 5 | 1 | |
Kevin Henderson | 7 | 1 | |
Matty Hewlett | 2 | ||
Matty Heywood | 11 | 2 | |
Lee Howey | 3 | ||
Ronnie Jepson | 4 | 55 | 3 |
Lenny Johnrose | 51 | 27 | 4 |
David Johnson | 8 | 5 | |
Alan Lee | 2 | 13 | |
Glen Little | 140 | 22 | 22 |
Brad Maylett | 2 | 39 | |
Mark McGregor | 9 | 2 | |
Micky Mellon | 72 | 12 | 5 |
Nik Michopoulos | 77 | ||
Alan Moore | 28 | 10 | 3 |
Ian Moore | 77 | 11 | 20 |
Neil Moore | 10 | 2 | |
Steve Morgan | 17 | ||
John Mullin | 38 | 39 | 8 |
John O’Kane | 8 | ||
Dimitri Papadopoulos | 3 | 15 | 2 |
Andy Payton | 96 | 40 | 60 |
Ally Pickering | 21 | 1 | |
Brian Reid | 30 | 1 | 3 |
Mark Robertson | 19 | 6 | 1 |
Paul Robinson | 4 | ||
Chris Scott | 9 | 5 | |
Anthony Shandran | 1 | ||
Carl Smith | 5 | 5 | |
Paul Smith | 38 | 12 | 1 |
Peter Swan | 11 | 8 | |
Gareth Taylor | 63 | 6 | 24 |
Mitchell Thomas | 95 | 4 | |
Rune Vindheim | 8 | 2 | |
Gavin Ward | 17 | ||
Paul Weller | 76 | 25 | 6 |
Dean West | 95 | 6 | 1 |
Michael Williams | 2 | ||
John Williamson | 1 | ||
Mark Winstanley | 1 | ||
Ian Wright | 4 | 11 | 4 |