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The result was the cake we needed for the icing that came before the match with first the unveiling of the Wall of Legends outside the Jimmy McIlroy Stand and then the Parade of those Legends shortly before kick off.
Some of our younger supporters may find it gets somewhat boring when we continue to talk about the players from the 1960s but they shouldn’t. I miss my dad telling me about the likes of Alan Brown and Reg Attwell and my granddad’s claims of the greatness of Bob Kelly.
These were the names of the past talked about when I was a newcomer at Turf Moor, names from our past who had help shaped this great club of ours. I was learning about them as I watched many of those players who were on parade yesterday.
We like to think that Burnley Football Club is special, well of course it is, it is our club. It is the one we care so much about. But it is also special and recognised the world over because of its achievements, some of which came long before any of us can remember.
And yesterday was an opportunity for some of you to see some of our greats, possibly for the first time, whilst for those of us who were fortunate enough to have seen them play it was an opportunity to wander back in time and recall some of those wonderful days.
I never tire of seeing these players no matter how often they visit and each and everyone of those seventeen players there yesterday can say they made significant contributions to some of our successes.
It all started with the unveiling of the wall which looked all set to be done by Chief Executive Dave Edmundson before he passed it over to Chairman Barry Kilby. Some of the players still looked fit enough to play, others declined the invitation to kneel for a photograph worrying whether they would be able to get up again.
Eight of the 1959/60 Championship side were there alongside Margaret Potts, Harry’s wife, but this was a different occasion when players from different eras were together. There were players from the mid 60s team that came so close to emulating the Champions and from the team that won promotion in the 70s and reached a cup semi-final.
Billy Hamilton was back from Northern Ireland to represent the early 1980s and Steve Davis made a quick return, given special permission by Steve McMahon to be there on behalf of the more recent Burnley successes.
After the unveiling came the parade inside the ground as these players, ten of them full internationals, made their way round the Turf Moor pitch. One by one they received the warm applause they so richly deserved from three sides of the ground.
The Gillingham fans looked on bemused, and no surprise for a club that is currently doing as well as it has ever done.
This was the day for the Burnley fans to recall days gone by and allowed us to once again pay homage to some of our greats. That was returned last night when Jimmy McIlroy asked the legends to raise their glasses to the fantastic Burnley supporters that make this club great.
The picture shown is of Jimmy Mac himself – we have more pictures at the unveiling in the Clarets Gallery – they are pics 109-120.