In honour of Alex Elder...

[The Bedlington Terrier]

Dave Thornley goes into full poetic remembrance mode for days gone by. Personally, I really enjoyed and absorbing contest in the rain. One dismal note however, which cretin thought it would be a great idea to disgorge 10,000 fans into a not so very OKAY corral on a bucketing down post-match Saturday afternoon in Burnley?
Turf Moor in the rain conjures up for me at least, images of football from a bygone era; one of terraces heaving with cloth cap wearing supporters, paying a couple of bob to witness baggy-shorted players hoofing rain-soaked leather balls around pitches resembling primordial swamps.
Of course, the heaving terraces are long gone, the cloth-capped supporters now turn up in the latest replica shirts, modern pitches more closely resemble billiard tables, and admission now costs anything upwards of ?40. Nevertheless, at Burnley at least, and especially on days like yesterday, football in its formative, unevolved, spartan state can at least be, if not witnessed, then easily imagined.
Not that yesterday?s 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest lacked for modern blandishments or tactical acumen, rather that some of the veneer of sophistication was washed away in the pouring rain.
One would assume that Burnley would have found these conditions more sympathetic to their style of play, but as the game unfolded, that was not necessarily the case. Indeed, it was Forest who took an early lead, their first attack resulting in a half-cleared corner which broke to Nico Williams whose shot from the edge of the box took a deflection which deceived Martin Dubravka in the Clarets? goal.
Fortunately, that was the only thing that would deceive him for the remainder of a game in which he gave a masterclass in keeping goal in treacherous conditions. He made at least three exceptional saves and was secure in dealing with Forest?s crosses into his goalmouth. In this he was ably assisted by Maxime Esteve, who was also in imperious form.
Burnley too were able to exert their own spells of pressure, Quilindschy Hartman?s fierce shot after latching onto Florentino Luis? sumptuous cross-field pass was smartly saved at his near post by Forest keeper Matz Sels, and a venomous free kick from Loum Tchaouna struck the crossbar.
In between those efforts, Jaidon Anthony scrambled Burnley?s equalizer squeezing home his stabbed shot via Sels and Oleksandr Zinchenko, after good set up play from Lyle Foster.
Both teams pressed hard for a winner in an always entertaining second half, but few could dispute that the draw was probably the right result of a game that was tightly contested but mercifully free from major controversy and the irritant of VAR intervention.
A point earned in the Premier League is a valuable commodity and, whilst there is a tinge of disappointment that Burnley did not win, it does at least nudge Scott Parker?s team a little further forward and offers more evidence that competing at this level is not beyond their capabilities.
As a footnote, and in a further nod to the history of this great club, Alex Elder, full back in Burnley?s 1960 title-winning team and captain of the Clarets in the first game I ever saw at the Turf, was presented to the crowd at half time and warmed the heart with his recounted memories of tussles with Tom Finney and Denis Law. The term legend is thrown around loosely these days, but so far as Burnley Football Club is concerned, no description is more fitting for Mr. Elder.
Editor?s note: Even though our new full backs Walker and Hartman have blended in ever so well, will the Clarets ever have a better full back pairing than John Angus and Alex Elder? I think not.

[Supersub6]

JOhn and Alex played together for around 8 seasons in a team that was very well organised and worked hard for each other ---very much like the way our current team is trying to perform.
They had a superb understanding and, until John passed away just over 4 years ago, we shared many memories of those days.
As someone who played left full back for the majority of my playing days, Alex was always the role model and I played with a right back who was just like John ---sadly ----we were nowhere near as good as those two.

[The Bedlington Terrier]

Not many were mein freund.

[sinkov]

Editor's note: Even though our new full backs Walker and Hartman have blended in ever so well, will the Clarets ever have a better full back pairing than John Angus and Alex Elder? I think not.

Aye, they were pretty good, they kept two cracking full-backs in Freddie Smith and Mick Buxton out of the first team.

[Supersub6]

Editor's note: Even though our new full backs Walker and Hartman have blended in ever so well, will the Clarets ever have a better full back pairing than John Angus and Alex Elder? I think not.

Aye, they were pretty good, they kept two cracking full-backs in Freddie Smith and Mick Buxton out of the first team.

It must have been hard for them because they were both decent players but were at the Clarets in the wrong era.
Freddie was from just down the road from here and his sister was the steward at the Bomarsund Miners' Welfare Club where I used to call the bingo when I ran their football team. She thought that it was brilliant that I was a bid Burnley fan. I met Freddie a few times when he was visiting.

[The Bedlington Terrier]

It must have been hard for them because they were both decent players but were at the Clarets in the wrong era.
Freddie was from just down the road from here and his sister was the steward at the Bomarsund Miners' Welfare Club where I used to call the bingo when I ran their football team. She thought that it was brilliant that I was a bid Burnley fan. I met Freddie a few times when he was visiting.

We certainly took more than our fair share of north-east talent in the late 50's and early to mid 60's.

[Supersub6]

We certainly took more than our fair share of north-east talent in the late 50's and early to mid 60's.

Jimmy Adamson, John Angus, Freddie Smith, Brian O'Neill, Ray Pointer, Billy Gray, Peter Robinson and Billy Ingham all are from within a 15 mile radius from Ashington and these are the ones I can remember seeing play between 1952 and mid-1970s.

[mnrht]

i think Ralph Coates was another from the NE who did well for BFC

[alfinyalcabo]

Alex was a great player and defender.Enjoyed watching him throughout his immense career for the Clarets.

[Supersub6]

i think Ralph Coates was another from the NE who did well for BFC

There were many, many more who hailed from the north east, I only listed the ones who were from a 15 mile radius of Ashington in Northumberland which is where I now live.
There were a whole boat load who hailed from County Durham suuch as Dave Merrington, Dave Thomas, Stan Ternent and many more.
In the late 60s and early 70s JOhn Angus told me that, at training, they used to play the north east against the rest and that some of the north east lads had to play for the other team because there were that many of them.
It really was a hotbed of football in those days, sadly, that no longer applies.