"The Greatest Clarets"

Fans like me, blooded on players like Grewcock and events like ‘The Orient Game’ have long been told how Jimmy Mac was the best player to ever wear our shirt, how our team from those glorious years contained the finest footballers Burnley FC has ever seen. Maybe that's true but I never saw them, my heroes were the Billy Hamilton's and Roger Eli’s of this world. However good players were during the halcyon 60’s they would never make my list of Clarets greats, how could they be?

So I decided to find out, just who did today's fans think were the greatest, who would come out on top.

Now I make no claims that our survey is representative of the entire fan base. With only 15 responses it was never going to be. That said those that responded did cover a wide age range, from those who had been part of the Glorious 60’s right up to younger fans who have only seen our recent resurgence. With all this in mind here’s the Top 5 from our survey – I’m sure the results will surprise some.

1. Robbie Blake. By a whisker top of our list is the mercurial talent that is Robbie. I was certainly one who had him top of my list. I regard him as the most talented player I have ever seen in Burnley colours. Others chose Robbie because ‘for a long time he was the only reason to attend the Turf’  or simply ‘The Magician’ and ‘worth the admission money alone’.

2. Glen Little. It was very close between Glen and Robbie. Another immense talent who’s wing play was instrumental in getting us back into footballs second tier – and keeping us there. As one person said ‘On his day as good a winger as you could wish to see. A joy to watch’ or another who thought ‘without a doubt THE most skillful player I've ever seen’.

3. Jimmy McIlroy. Widely regarded as Burnley’s finest ever player and one who would undoubtedly have been number 1 on our list had the respondents been older. I never saw him play but as others have said, ‘Easily the best Burnley player I've ever seen’ or ‘The greatest ever Claret.’ More has been written about ‘Jimmy Mac’ than any other Burnley player and to this day there are tales of people who have never set foot in Turf Moor since the day he was unexpectedly sold.

4. Andy Payton. The Padiham Predator and a player who had to create a career elsewhere before Burnley were ready to benefit from his goal scoring instincts. A local lad he was a terrace hero in a way that only the ‘natural born claret’ could be.

5. Willie Irvine.  One person summed him up when they said ‘for two seasons the most prolific and spectacular striker in the country.’ In an era when football really was a mans game and putting your head in where it hurts really did, Irvine excelled. Still at the club and a fantastic match day host, Clarets fans from that era are convinced that but for injury Willie would have been an all time top scorer for the Clarets.