European Cup winner at the Turf
Last updated : 26 October 2004 By Tony Scholes
Tony Morley joined the Clarets in early 1976, he was considered to be the replacement for Leighton James who had moved on to Derby. Joe Brown had just taken over as manager and Morley was to be his first signing although many judges believe it was a deal done by Bob Lord.
Morley had just turned down Arsenal but was happy to make his way to the Turf for what was a reported £100,000 fee, the first time the Clarets had paid six figures for a player.
He was still just 21 years of age and it is probably fair to say that he never really reached his potential at the Turf. There were without doubt some superb performances from the left winger but he was never able to find any level of consistency.
Despite this, he was always a popular player with the fans and his last goal for the club is still one that is treasured – coming at Ewood in our last ever win against Blackburn.
That was Easter 1979 and in the summer of that year Burnley accepted an offer of £200,000 from Aston Villa and Morley was about to step into the best spell of his career.
In his second season at Villa Park he was a member of the side that won the Football League Championship and then a year later he created the winning goal as Villa lifted the European Cup.
He won six England caps and during that league championship season also won the Match of the Day Goal of the Season for a goal at Goodison Park – the goal won a prize from the BBC for an avid reader of this web site.
He moved on from Villa and played for both of their local rivals West Brom (twice) and Birmingham and also played in Hong Kong, Holland, America and Malta.
It was during his second spell at West Brom that he found himself back at the Turf, brought in on loan during the early part of the 1988/89 season by Brian Miller. He was here just a month and played six games, one of which was a stormer at York.
Finally back to his time at Burnley in the 1970s. At the end of the 1975/76 he was advised by Chairman Bob Lord that it would be a good idea to return for the following season with his hair shorter. Bob Lord probably thought anyone with hair he considered long was a lout.
He returned for pre-season training with no hair at all, he had shaved off the lot, and now his ear ring was visible. I’m sure that is not what the Chairman had in mind and I’m sure there must have been further words.
Tony Morley is no longer the promising youngster that started at Preston but he still plays the game at 50 and is seen every year playing for Villa in the Masters competition on Sky television. Maybe he will offer to play for the real Clarets in this competition when someone bothers to invite us.
Welcome back to the Turf Tony – I’m certain you will receive a warm welcome from all four sides of the ground tonight.
