Having ended the 1965/66 season in 3rd place in the First Division Burnley were hopeful that it would bring a return to European football for the first time since the European Cup exploits of 1960/61.
Having been invited to play in the Fairs Cup, and having been drawn against Hanover SV 1896, Burnley's first round tie was thrown into chaos when Vfb Stuttgart complained about the selection process.
We'd been one of the top teams in the country but, other than our one European Cup campaign, had been blocked from European competition because our club was based in a town and not a city.
An excellent 3-1 win against SV Hamburg in the 1960/61 European Cup Quarter-Final home leg looked to have set Burnley up for a tie against Barcelona, but it proved to be a long wait for European football to return.
Having beaten Vfb Stuttgart in the first round of the Fairs Cup, Burnley were on their travels again, this time to Switzerland to take on Lausanne Sport who only a year earlier had been Swiss Champions.
As we prepared for the visit of Lausanne Sport there was big news in the town with the opening of the first shop in the new town centre shopping centre.
Forty years ago today Burnley were at Roker Park taking on Sunderland in a First Division game, but manager Harry Potts was missing, he'd gone to Zurich to take in the third round draw for the Fairs Cup.
Following the win over Lausanne the whole town had been looking forward to the next round of the Fairs Cup and a tie against one of the top clubs in Italy, SSC Napoli, possibly the toughest draw we could have had.
Even though Burnley travelled to Italy with a 3-0 first leg lead over SSC Napoli, they didn't expect an easy passage through to the quarter-final. What they got was tougher than any of them could have expected.
Star names from the football and fashion worlds were flocking to Burnley but one absentee was Clarets' boss Harry Potts who had made his way to Leipzig for the Fairs Cup quarter final draw.
After the fantastic result and the great escape from Napoli, the Clarets were heading for West Germany again for the first leg of their Fairs Cup tie against Eintracht Frankfurt.
Burnley were on the verge of a place in the semi-finals of the Fairs Cup. The job was half done with a superb 1-1 draw in West Germany against Eintracht Frankfurt.
