Goalscorer back at the Turf

Last updated : 19 January 2007 By Tony Scholes

Britton was 32 when he joined the Clarets at the beginning of the 1986/87 season, initially on loan from Blackpool, and by then had played over 250 league games for Chelsea and had reached three figures at Bloomfield Road.

Money was so tight that we nearly missed out on the Dundee born player who on 9^th May 1987 wrote his name into every Burnley history book when he scored our second, and what proved to be our winning goal in the game against Orient that rescued us from life outside the Football League.

He remained with the Clarets for another two years and he was in the side that played in the Sherpa Van Trophy Final at Wembley against Wolves. Finally in the summer of 1989 he was released by new manager Frank Casper and it brought his professional career to an end.

Britton did an excellent job for Burnley in the two years following Orient as the club slowly started to rebuild, but there's no doubt that whenever his name is mentioned it is thoughts of Orient and what might have been that will always come to mind.

Ian Britton has ensured he'll always be a popular visitor when he returns to Turf Moor – as thoughts turn to what might have happened to our club had he not scored that goal back in 1987.