Jimmy McIlroy

The Hall of Fame Number 6 – Jimmy McIlroy

Date of Birth: 25th October 1931 Place of Birth: Lambeg Burnley debut: Sunderland (a) 21st October 1950 Other Clubs Glentoran Stoke City Oldham Athletic

"Today I went to Turf Moor to see a Rhapsody in Claret and Blue." so says the opening line of Burnley Football Club’s history video. It then features a clip from the 1962 FA Cup Final or to be more precise the player we today induct into the Hall of Fame, Jimmy McIlroy.

It is difficult to know where to start with Jimmy Mac, he was quite simply the best player any of us could have ever seen play for Burnley, he was the diamond in Harry Potts’ crown jewels of the early sixties.

It wasn’t just the fans though, his team mates have said it was a privilege to be in the same side as him and Brian Miller has said on more than one occasion that he was the best player he has ever seen in a Claret & Blue shirt.

In the Burnley side that were crowned as Champions of England in 1960, a Burnley side that played in the European Cup he stood out. Jimmy McIlroy was not just our best player of his or probably any other era but at his peak he was without any doubt whatsoever one of the greatest players in the world and he was above all other things a Claret.

Burnley’s second post-war manager Frank Hill was responsible for him wearing the Claret & Blue, following reports on the Irish inside forward at Glentoran he went over to take a look for himself. Mac turned in an inspired performance and it was enough for Hill. We got our man for £8,000.

That was in March 1950 and within no time at all supporters were flocking to reserve team games to see the new 18 year-old Irishman. They weren’t to be disappointed and just a few months later he stepped up into the first team.

That was on 21^st October 1950 just four days before his 19^th birthday. He replaced Harry Potts in the team, Potts had that week been sold to Everton. We drew the game 1-1 with a goal from Bill Holden.

Many said that once in the first team he would stay there. That was the case, he didn’t miss a game for the rest of the season and for the next twelve years was never once left out of the side, missing only through injury or international calls.

He played for four Burnley managers but with the last of them, Harry Potts, the player he had replaced back in 1950, came the big success. It is difficult to say just how good the Burnley side would have been without him, it really was a good side, but there is no doubt that it was even better, considerably better when he played.

Nobody has played more games for the Clarets in post war football, his total of 439 league appearances is matched only by John Angus whilst his 116 league goals is bettered only by Ray Pointer. That return from a player who would be today classed as a midfielder is remarkable even though he did take penalties.

He’s the most capped Burnley player ever and 51 of his 55 full caps for Northern Ireland were won whilst he was a Claret and in the days when the number of internationals played was considerably less. He also scored on ten occasions for his country.

Along with Colin McDonald, England, he flew the Burnley flag with great distinction in the 1958 World Cup in Sweden as Northern Ireland qualified for the knock out part of the competition.

Then came the golden years, the Football League Championship, European Cup football, an FA Cup Final when Jimmy Mac starred game after game. It brought to Burnley success way beyond anyone’s dreams, they were days we all wanted to go on for ever but they came to the most abrupt of ends.

Many of that era will remember where they were when they heard that American President John F Kennedy had been assassinated, those of us who supported the Clarets will always remember where we were and who told us that Jimmy McIlroy had been transfer listed by Burnley. I can still see my dad’s ashen face as he sat me down and said, "We are selling Jimmy Mac."

The fans were outraged, there were attacks on Chairman Bob Lord whilst distraught manager Harry Potts shed tears when he had to tell his best player that he would be leaving. Within no time the player who Bob Lord said he would not sell for £100,000 (a fortune then) was sold for less than a quarter of that to Stoke.

Post McIlroy Burnley was never quite the same but life went on and we had our good and bad days. Jimmy moved from Stoke to become player/manager and then manager at Oldham before a short few weeks as Bolton manager brought his career in football to an end.

He has remained in Burnley, still living in the Manchester Road area, and still adored by those fans who recall him. Only recently I spotted a granddad pointing him out to his grandson in a Burnley store, there was emotion in the face of the granddad as he saw his hero.

He has never been forgotten and that will always be the case with the club renaming the stand at the Bee Hole End of the ground The Jimmy McIlroy Stand at the end of the last Millennium.

A few weeks before the opening of the stand Gary Hickson and Richard Dinnis were talking about him on a Radio Lancashire programme. Hickson asked Dinnis how good McIlroy was. "Think of the best midfielder in the Premiership now," said Dinnis. "McIlroy was better."

If you were privileged to have seen him play for the Clarets back in the 1950s and 1960s then just be very thankful, if not then find some footage of him when Burnley had in their side one of the greatest players in the world.

No Burnley FC Hall of Fame could ever be complete without Jimmy McIlroy.