Oooh George Oghani

Last updated : 17 September 2002 By Tony Scholes

George scores the Goal of the Season at Deepdale
It was the first match of the season, the first league match after the Orient game, and Brian Miller had carried out some sterling work to improve the squad with very little money.

One of those signings was 26 year-old striker George Oghani who arrived from Bolton on a free transfer and George is the special Foundation guest tonight.

His time at Burnley can be considered mixed and it was under a big cloud when he left after two years but he was probably the most popular player in the side that started the recovery after the near disaster of 1986/87.

"Oooh George Oghani", was a frequently heard chant as his goals saw the Clarets even hit top spot at one point during 1987/88 and overall he hit 20 goals that season with 14 of them coming in the league.

Three of those goals came in the Sherpa Van Trophy run that saw us reach Wembley, and none more important than the opening goal at Deepdale in the Northern Final Second Leg. That goal won George the Supporters’ Club’s Keith McNee Trophy for the Goal of the Season and he was the first ever winner of the award.

The big day in the Final was George’s second appearance at Wembley, he had played in the same competition two years earlier for Bolton but for the second time he ended on the losing side.

His time at Burnley was not without controversy and he will forever be linked with ironing boards after been involved in an incident in a store with a security guard. The club backed him on that one but when he was involved in a training ground incident in April of his second season he never played for the club again.

and heads wide at Wembley
He was though without doubt the most popular of Clarets during that two years as far as the supporters were concerned and he certainly received a warm reception on his return.

He moved on to Stockport from Burnley but couldn’t win a regular place in the side. After a similar time at Hereford he joined Scarborough and scored 18 goals in one season there before moving on to Greece and Evagoras. Then it was back to England and his last league club Carlisle and he was a member of their side that knocked us out of the League Cup in 1992. George got the goal in the 1-1 second leg draw on the Turf.

Tonight he returns and will make the half time draw – Oooh George Oghani.