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A few years ago I had the opportunity to talk to Elder and he described himself to me as an above average player in an exception side. Nothing could have been further from the truth and Elder, make no mistake, was one of the exceptional players that made us as good as we were.
He won 34 of 40 INTERNATIONAL CAPS for Northern Ireland whilst a Claret and was selected to play for the Rest of the World against England to celebrate the Football Association’s centenary in 1963.
He even cost the Clarets a transfer fee, a rare event then, and Harry Potts splashed out £5,000 to bring him from Glentoran in January 1959. It was the summer of 1967 before Potts next paid a fee, to Rotherham for Frank Casper.
There were no first team appearances during that 1958/59 season and he wasn’t in the side at the beginning of the following season. But by September, and at the age of just 18, he made his debut at Preston where he had to mark the local plumber Tom Finney.
Elder had arrived and for the next seven seasons, injury apart, he was the first choice at left-back. He made his international debut during that first season in the first team against Wales in Wrexham and more importantly won a Football League Championship medal as the Clarets became the country’s top team.
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He was the youngest member of that great Burnley side that went on to play in the European Cup and play in an FA Cup Final and Elder was still around, now as captain, for our Fairs Cup campaign.
Elder was a Burnley great, of that there is no doubt, but he will always somehow be remembered for an own goal he scored at the Bee Hole End in 1966 against Leeds. It proved to be the only goal of the game as Elder spectacularly curled the ball over the oncoming Adam Blacklaw from a position close to the corner flag.
We really should be remembering the great performances though and the superb goals he scored with his thunderous shot.
He played a total of 271 league games for the Clarets before moving on to Stoke, when still only 26. He never established himself at Stoke though after suffering an early injury and played just 83 games for them before ending his career with Leek Town in non-league football.
Tomorrow though Alex will be a Claret again as we welcome him onto the pitch at half time, and that welcome will be richly deserved.