Bob Lord and Jimmy Mcilroy

[blueheeler1]

Some Burnley fans may have wondered why Jimmy left Burnley for Stoke.

Some Burnley fans may not even have known Jimmy left Burnley for Stoke.

Its a journey worth recounting.

Jimmy McIlroy joined Burnley from Glentoran in 1950, and in the dozen or so years he played at Turf Moor, he became a firm favourite of the fans. He was talented and inventive, yet with the determination required to make the most of his assets.

It was, therefore, a shock to all concerned when the club sold him to Stoke City. Despite twelve years of service, there was little sign of any diminution of his powers, and after nearly 500 club appearances, the decision was as swift as it was puzzling – at least initially.

Acutely aware of McIlroy’s importance to the club, manager Harry Potts was reluctant to sell. After being summoned to a meeting at one of Lord’s businesses, Potts was informed in no uncertain terms that the player was to leave, and if Potts had a problem with the decision, the door was open for him to follow soon after.

The Burnley fans were in uproar when hearing the news that one of their favourites was being shipped out of the club for no good reason. If the full truth of the matter had been known at the time, it’s difficult to imagine the levels of anger that would have been expressed.

Petitions were raised to have the deal reversed. Unsurprisingly, they fell on deaf ears. Fan demonstrations at the ground elicited a similar response. Some reports even suggested that parts of Lord’s property was vandalised.
Whatever did occur failed to alter the decision.

Legend has it that the player himself only found out about the deal upon reading a local newspaper. Prudently, however, he kept his counsel. In 1999, almost 20 years after Bob Lord had died, McIlroy let it be known that the decision to sell him had been Lord’s response to news that the Northern Irishman had a friendly relationship with the family of Reg Cooke, a former vice-president at the club.

For reasons that are unclear, Lord detested Cooke, and having a friendship with him was treachery of the highest order in Lord’s eyes.

Whilst so much good was achieved by Bob Lord (Gawthorpe being one) he was a Dictator who saw the club as "his club" and acted accordingly.

Yin and Yang is Bob Lord's legacy today.

But we remember with great fondest the man Jimmy who always considered himself "Burnley"

[Altobelli]

I'd heard the same Heeler, which IMO is bad practice from Lord.

[sinkov]

Of course I've no idea if the following is true or not, but a story I heard a long time ago ties in with what Blueheeler is saying. After one away game Jimmy was offered a lift back home in the Cooke family car and he accepted. Mr Lord was returning on the team bus and asked where Jimmy was. When he discovered he was travelling back with the Cooke's that was it for for Bob, Jimmy was finished at Burnley as far as he was concerned.

[Supersub6]

As far as I am aware both the above tales are very true. I had the pleasure of sitting with Jimmy at a dinner a few years ago to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of becoming Champions of England and there were a lot of tales doing the rounds that night with Jimmy Robson and Trevor Meredith also at the table. Needless to say, as a fan for over 55 years at the time, some of the tales were eye openers as far as I was concerned.
Things never change though, those running the show, whatever it is, only tell you what they want you to know!

[oldcolner]

Jimmy said he went into training on the Monday ( presumably after the lift) and was told the manager wanted to see him. Potts said he was putting him on the transfer list and when Jimmy asked why, he was told because he hadn’t been playing so well. Jimmy said why didn’t you drop me then, and got the answer I don’t drop players of your calibre.

Bob Lord was a tyrant and calling an emergency Board meeting on the Sunday in his meat factory must have been scary. I guess other directors were yes men or they might have been sausages.

He was famous for banning reporters and papers from the reporters section on games, even the Colne Times got it. The fact that he was also Chairman of the FA made him impregnable for years.

Jimmy said he lived in Burnley and travelled to Stoke daily 2 hours each way with no motorway. He was knackered when he got there. But he helped them win promotion with Stanley Matthews and a few othe veterans from big clubs

He was offered Sampdoria and River Plate but turned them down saying What would we want to leave Burnley for!

Another snippet he told was he playing for Glentoran and thenwent to watch a boxing match on a Saturday night and had to walk home from Lisburn over a mile, at the end of it. No street lights and he saw a cycle coming towards him. It was his sister to say to take the bike and get him fast as Burnley people were at his house wanting to sign him. He took the bike leaving his sister to walk home in the dark and signed early Sunday morning. That was apparently illegal as no signings were allowed on a Sunday.

One more
Jimmy Hill eventually broke Lords resistance to keeping the maximum wage. Players contracts were renegotiated and Lord asked McIlroy what he wanted and he said or was offered £100 a week. Lord supposedly said Is that before tax or after and Jimmy took the latter. Maybe Lord wasn’t that good a businessman or he was expecting Jimmy to want more and gave him the chance to get it.

The good old days!

[oldcolner]

And would you believe Jimmy spoke of a fan also called Bob Lord who at the time was in his 80s. He told Jimmy he was good but wasn’t the greatest as Bob Kelly was that much (a few inches between finger and thumb) better than him. I had never heard of him but he played also in midfield from 1913-25 before being sold to Sunderland for a record massive sum then of £6k and was an England international.

So whenever people said he was the greatest he always answered no that was Bob Kelly.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Kelly_(footballer)

Blue don’t forget to do the score Predictor.

[oldcolner]

Burnley Football Club have today opened a Book of Condolence for Jimmy McIlroy who sadly passed away yesterday at the age of 86. The book can be found in the Bob Lord Stand reception and can be signed any time by supporters between 8 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. each day.

So Bob Lord still in control of Jimmy.
However Jimmy has the bigger stand!

[sinkov]

They might call it the Bob Lord Stand, but we all know it's the Martin Dobson Stand really.

[1959_60]

Without doubt, the glory years of the 50's and 60's would not have happened without Jimmy Mac and Bob Lord.

We owe them both a debt of gratitude.

The decision to sell Jimmy was very damaging to the club and I remember the bad feeling round the club - everything changed. Bob Lord up to that point was seen as a father figure and was well loved by the Turf Moor massive. Afterwards he was seen as a despot by many supporters.

But the Clarets continued to compete well and I well remember the cracking team of the mid 60's.

But...economic reality was that we had to continuously sell our star players - and what a list of talent they were.

We could have continued to be a force in the country but chose instead to develop the ground. First the Bob Lord Stand and then the Cricket Field Stand (Sinkov, wasn't this the Martin Dobson Stand?).

The decision to sell Dobson met with a similar fury to selling Jimmy Mac.

In my opinion we would have been much better served at the time to hang onto Dobson, Coates, Thomas etc and put the Cricket Field Stand on hold - perhaps we COULD have been The Team of the Seventies....

Two monumental decisions from Lord that defined his stewardship of the club for many.

But the work he did for our club prior to this was instrumental in making us a major force in England.

Gawthorpe, the scouting network, sticking up for our club etc.

Perhaps, like Arsene Wenger, he went on too long?

[sinkov]

"First the Bob Lord Stand and then the Cricket Field Stand (Sinkov, wasn't this the Martin Dobson Stand?)."


59/60, The Bob Lord stand was opened in 1974, Martin Dobson was sold to Everton in 1974. Bob had to get the money from somewhere to pay for the new stand.

I agree with you about Bob Lord, his reputation and memory have been, if not trashed over the years, something fairly close to it, mostly unfairly imo. Of course he was cantankerous and bloody awkward but he fought for the club, and every single D1 Lancashire town club was relegated after the abolition of the max wage long before we were. We have an awful lot to thank him for, he was by no stretch of the imagination all bad, he did a lot for BFC.