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He'd been elected to the board during Bob Lord's time as chairman and eventually succeeded him in October 1981 when a three man consortium involving himself, Doctor Iven and Jack Eglin bought Lord's shares.
His first game in the chair was a 3-3 home draw against Exeter when the Burnley goal scorers were Steve Taylor, Vince Overson and Brian Laws. It would be another 18 games before he would suffer his first league defeat as chairman.
In just under four years in the chair we won a promotion, suffered two relegations, and appointed John Bond as manager, so it wasn't all good. But he'd taken over the club at a difficult time and set about changing things, mainly for the good.
A supporters' club was set up, the same supporters' club that run the coach trip to Dublin this weekend. Lord had refused to acknowledge supporters' clubs but John immediately helped launch this particular group, one which is now almost 27 years old.
As the club suffered relegation to the basement division he stood down from the chair to be replaced by Frank Teasdale. He remained on the board for another year before standing down altogether.
John remained a Claret and was a regular attender of home games and a good number of away games. He remained as passionate about the club as any of us and even continued to get to games despite his illness.
He was the first chairman I ever knew, although his predecessor had once grunted at me. He really was a very good man and it was always a pleasure to see him at games and get the chance to speak to him. The last time I had such an opportunity was back in January of last year inside the Madejski Stadium prior to the postponement of our cup tie against Reading.
His passing is a sad loss to Burnley Football Club but very much more so to his family and friends. Our thoughts and prayers are with them right now and in particular his daughter Rebekah and son Jonathan and their families.