He suffered an injury that ruled him out of the side and at the end of the season announced his retirement with the club offering him a testimonial. He could not have known that the game would be played at Turf Moor just three days after Burnley had clinched the Second Division title.
It proved to be something of a special night that saw two games played as well as the presentation of the Second Division Trophy to captain Martin Dobson from Football League president Mr Len Shipman.
It all lived up to all expectations and provided a fitting farewell for Burnley's long serving full back, the last of the 1959/60 championship team to bow out at Turf Moor.
All the ingredients were there to make it a great night and 16,059, more than 2,000 over the average attendance in the league, were there to witness it all.
The opening match saw the youth team take on a team of veterans and what a line up the youngsters faced.
Manager Jimmy Adamson and coach Brian Miller joined Angus in the veterans team alongside the brilliant Jimmy McIlroy whose appearance brought the house down.
Alongside those former Clarets was Tom Finney, a guest player for the veterans team, giving me my first and only ever opportunity to see the former Preston plumber, who my dad said was the best player he ever saw, play in a game at Turf Moor.
The main match saw the first team beat a Millionaire XI 4-3, the opposition coming from ex-Burnley players still playing in league football. One of them, Ralph Coates, had played the night before and would play the night after for Spurs, but he was determined to be there.
Others in the opposition ranks were Dave Thomas, Steve Kindon, Andy Lochhead, Arthur Bellamy, John Connelly and Peter Mellor.
Adamson confirmed that of 26 players invited to take part only Brian O'Neil was unable to be there and that because of illness.
"Everything worked out very well," said Adamson. "We were all pleased for John, he's deserved it."
Chairman Mr Bob Lord added: "Tonight we have seen the way the Burnley public feel about John Angus, I am sure that everyone is delighted particularly in view of the attendance ."
The season wasn't over for Burnley. On the following night the same players travelled to Burnden Park to play Third Division Champions Bolton in a testimonial for their long serving captain Warwick Rimmer.
An attendance of 13,314 saw Geoff Nulty give Burnley the lead before Bolton, who included Colin Waldron's brother Alan, came back with three goals from Paul Jones, Paul Jones and substitute Neil Whatmore to win 3-1.
That did bring the curtain down on the 1972/73 season, one that we hardly wanted to end had done so but with a return to the First Division that we so wanted.
Over the next few weeks we'll report the snippets of news from over the summer, before returning to cover the first season back in the First Division which kicked off on Saturday 25th August 1973.
Tuesday 1st May 1973 though was very much a night for John Angus whose testimonial raised around £5,000.