Next Game - Rotherham United (away)

Last updated : 23 December 2001 By Tony Scholes

Martin McIntosh
I think it is somewhat unfair given that it usually provides clubs with the biggest pay day of the season and four years in succession is out of order. So after York, Bury and Barnsley we are off to Rotherham.

Burnley winning away from home on Boxing Day is not the most common of events, in fact it is 29 years since it happened with a 2-1 win at Blackpool courtesy of two Frank Casper goals in a 25,277 crowd at Bloomfield Road. Mind you Burnley being in top spot at Christmas is just as rare and the last time was, yes you've guessed it, 29 years ago. Hopefully that's a good omen.

When Rotherham came to the Turf in September nearly an entire league seperated us. We had gone top the week before with a win at Bradford and the only thing keeping the Millers off the bottom was the pointless Unprofessionals of Stockport. The result was predictable, a 3-0 win for the Clarets, but to be fair the win was not as comprehensive as the scoreline suggests.

The very fact that we were playing Rotherham at all is a great testimony to their manager, and Ian's dad, Ronnie Moore. He took over after they had been relegated to the 3rd Division in 1997 and after some time sorting out the mess has now lifted them two divisions in two years. By his own admission success this season will be kicking off next season in Division One.

When they left the Turf they had just two points from five games and even at that early stage of the season the word relegation was already a major talking point. If they hoped things were going to get better in the immediate future then they were very much mistaken. Another five games later and they were still without that elusive first win as they picked up two 1-1 draws at home against Norwich and Sheffield Wednesday, a 3-0 home defeat against Wolves and two away defeats at Forest 2-0 and Gillingham 2-1.

John Mullin
By this time they had slipped to bottom place with just four points and things were starting to look very bleak. Ronnie Moore had a go at his directors saying he needed to strengthen the squad but it looked as though there was no money available.

We went into October and the first week of the month so the first chink of light. On the Thursday Ronnie Moore knocked on Stan's door and an agreement was reached for him to sign John Mullin for £150,000. Moore said he was the quality midfield signing he had been looking for and for John it was an opportunity to go and get first team football.

Having said that John was on the bench for his first few games and the day after signing was an unused sub as they recorded their first win, a 2-0 success at Grimsby. This started a run that saw only one defeat in the next eight games, a 3-2 defeat at Walsall.

Apart from Grimsby there were other wins at home to Portsmouth 2-1 and Wimbledon 3-2 with a 1-0 victory at Stockport. Alongside these was a 0-0 home draw against Coventry and 2-2 draws at home to Crewe and at Birmingham.

John Mullin by now was a regular in the side and Rotherham, although only three points above the top relegation place, had now climbed to 17th in the league.

Since that run of one defeat in eight they have continued in reasonable form and have won and lost three in the seven games since. The wins have all been at home against West Brom 2-1, a revenge win against Walsall 2-0 and a 1-0 victory over Preston the week after our win at Deepdale. The defeats have all been away at Millwall 1-0, an undeserved 2-1 at Manchester City when punching the ball in seemed to be allowed and then 3-1 at Bradford. To add to that they drew their last match 2-2 at Sheffield United after coming from 2-0 down.

Alan Lee
Other than the signing of John Mullin the only other transfer activity since our last meeting has seen Martin McIntosh make his move permanent after spending time on loan from Hibs. A £125,000 fee saw his move completed in mid November.

They have scored 32 league goals this season and not surprisingly their leading scorer is Mark Robins with 10. He is followed by defender Chris Swailes who has 6.

It was Swailes who scored their last goal at Bramall Lane and they lined up: Mike Pollitt, Rob Scott, Chris Swailes, Martin McIntosh, Paul Hurst, Chris Sedgewick, John Mullin, Kevin Watson, Andy Monkhouse, Mark Robins (Nick Daws 63), Ritchie Barker. Subs not used: Chris Beech, Ian Gray, Guy Branston, Paul Warne.

Two players will be hoping to play against their previous club on Boxing Day but in fact it is possible neither of them will feature. Alan Lee, who left Burnley for Rotherham last season, was missing again against Sheffield United and is rated a doubtful starter for Boxing Day.

John Mullin is fit and raring to go but Burnley did try and have a clause put into the contract that prevented John from playing in this game and should that be so he too will be missing.

The big news in the build up to the game though will probably be father against son again, Ronnie v Ian.

There are a number of other players who have played for both clubs and just four seasons ago when we played them in the FA Cup they had both Mark Monington and Steve Thompson in their side. Both had joined Rotherham directly from the Clarets although both of them are now playing non league football. Neil Moore was a scorer in that cup tie for Burnley and he had previously played for the Clarets.

Mark Robins
One of the best known players to have played for both clubs is Frank Casper, in fact they were his only two clubs. Frank started his career at Millmoor and in fact scored in an FA Cup tie at the Turf for them taking it to a replay.

He joined us in the summer of 1967 and was a regular in the side for almost seven years until receiving a bad injury at Leeds. When he took over as manager from Brian Miller in 1983 his first and only signing during that spell in charge was to bring Terry Donovan in from Villa. The following season Donovan, having been outcast by John Bond, moved to Rotherham.

On now to memorable games between the two clubs at Millmoor and to be honest this section could easily be left blank. It is not a venue that brings back memories of great games at all.

The only time we have won a league game there was in the first season after winning the 4th Division. It took an Adrian Heath penalty, his first spot kick for the Clarets, to give us a 1-0 win. The two things I remember most about that Tuesday night in Rotherham were the performance of loan player Louie Donowa who missed chance after chance after chance and then the party atmosphere on the car park afterwards as we listened on the radio as Coventry just couldn't stop scoring goals as they won 5-2 at Ewood Park.

Back to Frank Casper and his first league away match in charge of the Clarets in 1983 was a 1-1 draw at Rotherham with Steve Taylor scoring in a game we deserved to win. Other than that it isn't a ground that I have seen much good football on.

League results in the last 20 years

Season

Div

Ven

Result

Att

Scorers

1982/83

2

h

1-2

9,169

Steven

a

1-1

6,079

Taylor

1983/84

3

h

2-2

4,676

Scott Biggins

a

1-1

5,544

Flynn

1984/85

3

h

7-0

3,907

Hird(3 1pen) Biggins(2) Devine Lawrence

a

2-3

4,646

Biggins

1988/89

4

h

1-0

9,290

Oghani

a

1-3

5,726

Farrell

1991/92

4

h

1-2

13,812

Francis

a

1-2

6,042

Conroy

1992/93

2

h

1-1

9,684

Deary

a

1-0

4,989

Heath(pen)

1993/94

2

h

0-0

10,806

a

2-3

5,553

Laws(og) Francis

1995/96

2

h

2-1

10,478

Eyres(pen) Philliskirk

a

0-1

5,553

1996/97

2

h

3-3

7,875

Cooke(2) Barnes

a

0-1

4,562

2001/02

1

h

3-0

14,820

I Moore Weller Payton(pen)



Last Time in the League

Rotherham United 1 (Druce 42) Burnley 0 – Nationwide League Division 2, Saturday 12th October 1996

Rob Scott
Oh dear, when it's bad it's bad. Just occasionally you go to an away game and with only a few minutes gone you know it is not going to be your day. The Clarets arrived at Millmoor in eighth place in Division Two after a 5-2 win against Stockport the week before whilst Rotherham were bottom with just one win in their first eleven games.

Everything was set up for a Burnley win, our first away win since the opening day of the season. The only thing that could really prevent it is if Rotherham had a particularly good day and we had a bad day and there was a fluke somewhere along the line.

Well there was no fluke to assist Rotherham and they played to form, like a side at the bottom of the league. The one thing that prevented us picking up all three points, in fact prevented us picking up anything at all, was the fact that we were downright awful. There had already been too many poor performances in Heath's season of promise but this was worse than any others, far far worse.

The game was a dreadful advert not just for 2nd Division football but for the game itself but make no mistake about it Rotherham were the better side. It started badly and we were absolutely dismal in the first half. The only thing that kept us in the game was the fact that Rotherham were so bad.

Mike Pollitt
Disaster struck though just three minutes from half time when Rotherham took the lead. You knew, you just knew, there was no coming back. Burnley NIL was written all over it. I'm not so sure we got any worse in the second half but we certainly didn't get any better and the worst side in the league were able to pick up the easiest three points they were going to collect all season.

It is a game that I would much prefer no to remember and how pleasing it would be next time I write a preview for a visit to Rotherham if I could recall the last visit being a classic game and a Burnley win.

The teams on that dreadful day were,

Rotherham United: Steve Cherry, Ian Breckin, Andy Roscoe, Jim Dobbin, Mark Monington, Brian Gayle, Bradley Sandeman, Jimmy Crawford, Mark Druce, Andy Hayward, John McGlashan.

Burnley: Marlon Beresford, Gary Parkinson, David Eyres, Gerry Harrison, Mark Winstanley, Vince Overson, Paul Weller (Damian Matthew), Paul Smith, Kurt Nogan (Andy Cooke), Paul Barnes, Nigel Gleghorn.