A star returns to the Turf

There’s so little that can be said about him that hasn’t already been said, and to this day I still find it difficult to believe that he didn’t end his career with a string of England caps. Amazingly this brilliant wing-half didn’t win one but there is no doubt he should have been on the Wembley pitch that day in July 1966 when the World Cup was won.

He broke into the Burnley side in the early sixties as the players from the Championship side were moving on. The Burnley crowd took to him from day one as his all action style usually saw him cover every blade of grass on the pitch.

Not as though he bothered about grass and there was nothing he seemed to enjoy more than running a game on a mud bath of a pitch that wouldn’t even be considered fit today.

When O’Neil was inducted into the Clarets Mad Hall of Fame I wrote, “The Burnley crowd have always loved a committed hard working player, the one that always gives 100% and a bit more. That was O’Neil.

“The Burnley crowd have always loved an exceptionally talented player, one that can win a game for you. That was O'Neil.”

It must have been a pleasure playing up the pitch knowing that he was behind you winning the ball and getting it back forward, it must have been a dream for such as Willie Morgan on the right wing with O’Neil feeding him constantly with the ball during a game.

It is so often said that we have never replaced Brian O’Neil, I wonder just how on earth you can replace a player of such quality.

Southampton had to smash their transfer record to get him as he became the latest player sold to balance the books. A year later we were relegated, draw your own conclusions.

He was a star, of that there is no doubt. What a week it has been for me, I’ve already had the pleasure of speaking with Willie Irvine and Ralph Coates, but now Brian O’Neil and in the same week when those three inspired the Clarets to a 4-0 win at Sunderland in 1965.

Give him the reception he deserves when he comes out onto the Turf Moor pitch tomorrow afternoon.