John Angus

ONE WORD HOLDS THE SECRET OF OUR SUCCESS

by John Angus

I've been a Burnley player for 12 years. In that time we've been League Champions once and also runners-up for the title. Most other years have seen us breathing down the necks of the eventual winners. The FA Cup has seen us as finalists and semi-finalistsand we're always rated highly to lift the trophy. Such domestic success has also brought us into the big european competitions. All of which seems to have surprised everybody. Everybody, that is, except the players, management and directors of the club. You see the pundits have it all worked out. They reckon money and only money can make success for a soccer club. They can't understand how Burnley has managed to stay at the top with the limited support we get through the turnstiles. Now it's true that, when you start comparing our gate averages with Manchester United, Chelsea and the like, well, we're way down the list. And when it comes to all these big money signings, you never hear Burnley hitting the headlines with a new ú90,000 'wonder boy' for Turf Moor. Now don't run away with the idea I'm knocking clubs who splash large sums for players. I don't think we're superior because we don't throw the cash around and still beat the book. What I'm trying to say is that a club can attain the 'impossible' even though the brass has got to be watched. That's what we've done - cut our coat to suit the cloth available. But let's admit it, that doesn't expalin how or why the club have been so consistent over the years. It goes a lot deeper than money. I reckon the major reason for our success is - tradition. Everybody at Turf Moor is desperate to see their club at the top. Since most of the players on the staff come to us at an early age, they are immersed in this tradition. And how they work to achieve it. On top of that, every player on the books knows he has been specially picked. He knows if he works hard at the game then the glamour of being a top flight player is there for his asking. That's one of the reasons why so many good young players are enticed to Turf Moor. I know that was the reason I picked Burnley as the club I wanted to join. I was only fifteen when they became interested in me. I was playing for a local youth club in my home town, Amble, in the North East. Charlie Ferguson, at that time Burnley scout in the area, invited me to go Burnley for a couple of weeks to see how I'd like it. Actually - and I only found this out later - that two week 'holiday' in Burnley was as much to find out how the club would like me. Well I was most impressed by the set-up. They, in turn, seemed suitably pleased with me - and asked me to sign. I was all for it, but my dad reckoned I was too young to leave home. Yes, even though the club would have looked after me well. And that sums up my first encounter with Turf Moor. It was to be another two years before I actually signed for Burnley. Although I had first class offers from other clubs the initial impact the Burnley hospitality had made on me at 15 made me want to play for them - and only them. Alan Brown, now manager of Sheffield Wednesday, was boss at Turf Moor when I signed. But the system then for new players was much the same as now. I travelled over from Amble with my folks. We were met in Burnley by a club representative, then taken on a tour of the ground and shown what were to be my digs. The idea behind giving parents an insight into the running of the club is to stop any worry. This in turn means the lad himself has no worries and can concentrate solely on football. When I signed those few years back all the young players were part-timers. I was an apprentice joiner and was found a job. Nowadays everybody on the staff is full time. I think this is a good thing. It's a big advantage being able to think about the game ALL the time, instead of having to give a lot of thought to a job during the day and switching to soccer at night. Really the only other major change for a younster betwen then and now is training. Then we were kept apart from the first team men more than are today's lads. We still trained a little with the first teamers and got to know them well enough. But, when in their company, we all but dried up. They were big shots to us. And, considering the players we had in the late fifties, you can understand why. Put yourself in the place of a youngster, who had hardly been out of the North East of England, sitting in a dressing room with such as Jimmy McIlroy, Jimmy Adamson, Colin McDonald, Ray Pointer and Brian Pilkington. Just that sort of situation cropped up for me a season after I joined the club. I'd played a few games in the 'B' side and three games in the reserves when manager Brown came across to me. He sad that, because of injury to others, I'd be playing against Everton at Turf Moor on the Saturday. I can't remember whether I was more happy than petrified. But Mr Brown wasn't the type to put his arm round you and start telling you what to do. You were a player on the books. You were playing. That was that. Well I don't think I played too badly - we won at any rate - and so another youngster was introduced into the first team. That's something Burnley have been doing regularly over the years. Almost every season sees them pulling another young player out of the reserves. Almost always, too, they hit the top. It says a lot for the way their 'football school' is run. For a start the club doesn't believe in over-burdening themselves with youngsters. Only a few are picked out every season. And, once they get settled in, it's all hard work. The slackers are sifted out. You never hear about them again - or very rarely. Let's face it - if Burnley pick out a young player he must have some talent. But there are faults to be sorted out. This is what they concentrate on. When I arrived it was realised that, for a full-back, I was slow on the turn. Naturally a lot of time was spent on fixing that deficiency. After the normal training stint, Alex Elder and myself would go into a corner by ourselves and work on it. I would stand facing Alex, who would be a good distance in front of me. He would push the ball behind me and hare after it. The idea was I should get the ball first. We repeated this tactic time and time again until it was coming out of our ears. I'm not saying it cured me completely , but it improved my speed no end. Actually I felt sorry for Alex being roped in with me on this. It must have been a real bore for him. Naturally our training is not all as repetitive as that. Our manager, Harry Potts, and his training staff see to it ther is plenty of variety. A lot of work is spent on the ballunder the supervision of Jimmy Adamson - one of the best coaches in the business - George Bray and Joe Brown. After all, when a player has complete control of the ball he has few problems. These training methods are another reason for our success. Obviously, with limited finances Burnley have had to concentrate on building a team. There is no dependence on any one individual star. It also means that, over the years, we build up a pattern of play which the loss of one player never seems to break. Not for long anyhow. We have always been taught that sheer good football is all the club is interested in. Alan Brown and the late Billy Dougall, who took over as manager for a time before illness forced him to retire, were men who preached pure football. Our present manager is the same. Sure we can hold our own in a hard game. And like all players we can 'lose our heads' - which is something that always brings a talking to from Mr Potts. Since I've been at Turf Moor there have been plenty of football characters on the books. I can't think of one to compare with wee Willie Morgan, our present right-winger. He's a real 'with-it' man. Long, Beatle-style hair cut, 'way out' mod clothes. And you should hear his patter in the dressing-room before a game. He's a real wag. Of course the frail-looking Scot from Sauchie is a top class player. For confirmation just ask any full-back who has felt the effects of his ball artistry and fast acceleration. Willie joined us as a kid straight from school a few seasons back. Even then he looked to have all that's needed for success in the game. Well Willie has developed tremendously. I wasn't surprised when Scotlandtook him off on their world tour last close season. Willie's big interest in the latest fashions has taken him into the business world. Along with our right-half, Brian O'Neil, he opened a boutique in the centre of Burnley. It caters for the youngsters and is a roaring success. If Willie can keep spirits high with his talk before a game, we've had plenty of laughs even he couldn't think up! The one I remember best happened when we were in London for a game with Arsenal. After the evening meal, somebody suggested we should go to a cinema where one of the big epics was showing. Everybody was out for that. So the whole party, directors, manager, trainer and players boarded the team bus for the short journey to the cinema. It was the height of the rush hour. The streets were jam-packed with traffic and people. Suddenly - our busbroke down. Right in the middle of the road. There we were, only a short distance from the cinema, holding up a great mass of traffic. With drivers blaring their horns and shouting out of the windows at us. There was only one thing we could do - get out and push. Nobody was exempt from duty - not even club directors. When the milling crowds saw who we were we got quite a cheer - and a lot of wisecracks. We sure gave the commissionaire a shock when we trundled that bus up to the cinema door. It wasn't the most glorious entry we've made, but the unexpected exertion didn't do us any harm. Anyway, we took home a point next day. As you'll have gathered by now, everybody at Turf Moor is working for everybody else. That includes our directors, who have the well-known Mr Bob Lord at their head. A typical piece of Mr Lord's expertise was the purchase of a training ground, Gawthorpe Hall, a few years back. That, plus the board's decision to build an up-to-date gymnasium beside Turf Moor, means we have some of the most modern training facilities in the country. How our directors look after players' interests is shown by what happened when we reached the final of the Cup in season 1961-62. Win or lose, we were told, the club would take us on a cruise round the Greek Islands. Well, we lost, and were bitterly disappointed. But we got our cruise and the players appreciated that a lot. Yes for a club with such limited finances we've certainly hit the high spots. I see no reason why this success can't be maintained. In fact we're all pulling that bit harder to see that it is increased. Reproduced by Jez Wilson, August 1998

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