The 1959–60 season was Burnley Football Club's 61st season in the Football League, and their 13th consecutive campaign in the First Division, the top tier of English football. The team, and their manager Harry Potts, endured a tense season in which Tottenham Hotspur and Wolverhampton Wanderers were the other contenders for the league title. Burnley won their second First Division championship, and their first since 1920–21, on the last matchday with a 2–1 victory at Manchester City; they had not topped the table until the last match was played out. Only two players—Alex Elder and Jimmy McIlroy—had cost a transfer fee, while the others were recruited from Burnley's youth academy. With 80,000 inhabitants, the town of Burnley became one of the smallest to have hosted an English first-tier champion. In the FA Cup, Burnley reached the sixth round before being defeated by local rivals Blackburn Rovers after a replay. Burnley won the local Lancashire Cup for the fifth time in their history after defeating Manchester United in the final. After the regular season ended, the Burnley squad travelled to the United States to participate in the first edition of the International Soccer League.
During the season, 18 players made at least one appearance for the club, with Jimmy Adamson, Brian Miller and Ray Pointer present in all 50 competitive matches. The team's top goalscorer was John Connelly with 24 goals, including 20 in the league. The highest attendance recorded at home ground Turf Moor was 52,850 for the FA Cup fifth-round replay match against Bradford City; the lowest was 17,398 for a league game against Leeds United. The average league attendance at Turf Moor was 26,869, around one-third of the town's population.
Background and pre-season The 1959–60 campaign was Burnley's 61st season in the Football League, and their 13th consecutive season in the First Division, since promotion from the Second Division in 1946–47.Simpson (2007), pp. 529–530 The team had finished the 1958–59 season in seventh place and had reached the sixth round of the FA Cup.Simpson (2007), p. 290 Burnley ended the campaign with 8 wins out of 13 in the league, and approached the new season with confidence.Quelch (2015), p. 211 The club's chairman, Bob Lord, was elected to the position in 1955. Lord only appointed managers with a previous playing career at the club; he selected Harry Potts for the post in February 1958. Burnley had become one of the most progressive clubs under Lord,Quelch (2015), pp. 199–206 who was described by the scriptwriter Arthur Hopcraft as "the Khrushchev of Burnley" as a result of his authoritarian attitude. Burnley were one of the first to set up a purpose-built training ground (at Gawthorpe in 1955), which included a medical room, a gymnasium, three full-size pitches and an all-weather surface.Quelch (2015), p. 253 The club also became renowned for its youth policy and scouting system. Burnley's scouts—including Jack Hixon—focused particularly on North East England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
During matches, Potts often employed the then unfashionable 4–4–2 formation and he implemented a Total Football playing style. Billy Wright of Wolverhampton Wanderers described Burnley's playing style as "progressing [from defense to attack] by nicely controlled patterns with every man searching hungrily for space".Quelch (2015), p. 66 Jimmy Greaves labelled the team's style of play as "smooth, skilled football that was a warming advertisement for all that was best about British football". Most Burnley players had been recruited from the club's youth academy—only Alex Elder and Jimmy McIlroy had cost a transfer fee. Both players were bought from Northern Irish club Glentoran; McIlroy transferred to Burnley for £8,000 in 1950, while Elder cost the club £5,000 in January 1959.Simpson (2007), p. 292
Potts made no major additions to his squad during pre-season, while Ken Bracewell (to Tranmere Rovers), Albert Cheesebrough (to Leicester City for £20,000), Doug Newlands (to Stoke City for £12,000) and Les Shannon (retired) left the club.Simpson (2007), pp. 497–498 On 17 August 1959, the team played a pre-season friendly against Glentoran, which was organised as part of Elder's transfer. Burnley defeated their opponents 8–1, with Jimmy Robson scoring four times.Simpson (2007), p. 504 Burnley's kit remained unchanged from the previous seasons: a claret jersey with light blue sleeves, a light blue stripe around the collar, and white shorts along with claret and light blue socks.
First Division
August to December Burnley's First Division campaign began with a 3–2 win over Leeds United at Elland Road on 22 August, with goals from Brian Pilkington, John Connelly, and Ray Pointer.Simpson (2007), p. 294 Ahead of Burnley's first home match of the season at Turf Moor against Everton, Potts wrote in the club's matchday programme: "We pride ourselves on being a footballing team and no club can be more eager to meet the demand for better play".Quelch (2015), p. 74 The team defeated Everton 5–2, but then lost 3–1 at home to West Ham United, despite taking the lead through Connelly. Burnley's form remained inconsistent: a 4–1 away loss against Chelsea was followed by 2–1 wins against local rival Preston North End and West Bromwich Albion, after coming from behind on both occasions. Potts had selected the same starting line-up for the first seven matches, but he made several changes to his side for the reverse fixture against Preston on 15 September. Billy White replaced McIlroy, who was injured, while Bobby Seith had contacted giant urticaria and was replaced by Tommy Cummings, leaving the left-back position open for the 18-year-old Elder to make his debut.Simpson (2007), p. 295Quelch (2015), pp. 87–88 Burnley lost the fixture 1–0 but Elder played well against Preston's England international Tom Finney and remained in the starting line-up.
Burnley ended September by defeating Newcastle United and Birmingham City, both by a scoreline of 3–1. The team were a point behind league leaders Tottenham Hotspur, who were their next opponents. Both sides were missing key players—Spurs were without Dave Mackay and Danny Blanchflower, while McIlroy, Burnley's playmaker, was still absent. The match ended in a 1–1 draw, after defender Brian Miller equalised for Burnley in the 87th minute. Burnley then faced Lancashire rivals Blackpool at home; Burnley took the lead through Robson but the visitors scored four goals to win 4–1.Quelch (2015), pp. 101–103 Before the East Lancashire derby at Blackburn Rovers on 17 October, Potts received criticism from the Burnley supporters who objected to his "confusing playing style", such as the defenders switching positions during matches.Quelch (2015), pp. 60, 103–104 Against Blackburn, Burnley equalised twice, but the hosts scored a third goal to win 3–2. McIlroy was back to full fitness for the match against Manchester City a week later and led the team to a 4–3 victory. Burnley ended October with a 1–1 draw at Luton Town after being 1–0 down.Quelch (2015), pp. 106–107 On 7 November, Burnley defeated Wolverhampton Wanderers 4–1 at Turf Moor; Wolves were the First Division champions of the previous two seasons. Two weeks later, Burnley recorded their largest post-war league win when they beat Nottingham Forest, the previous season's FA Cup winners, 8–0 at home. The team kept their first clean sheet of the season, and Robson became the club's first player in over 30 years to score five goals in one match. It was followed by a 1–0 loss against newly promoted Fulham on 28 November.
After beating Bolton Wanderers 4–0 on 5 December, Burnley defeated Arsenal 4–2 at Highbury a week later. Arsenal led 2–0 after the first half; during half-time Potts pushed McIlroy and Miller forward. The team turned the match around: Jimmy Adamson, Burnley's captain, scored a penalty kick halfway through the second half and Connelly completed a hat-trick inside 16 minutes. McIlroy received many plaudits for his performance, even though he had picked up a groin strain injury early during the game.Quelch (2015), pp. 130–132 With McIlroy absent, Burnley hosted last-place Leeds United on 19 December in front of a season-lowest crowd of 17,398. Leeds won 1–0 and Burnley slipped down from third to fourth place in the table, three points behind leaders Tottenham. On Boxing Day, Burnley defeated Manchester United 2–1 at Old Trafford; forward Ian Lawson came back into the team after three years and scored the winner. In the return fixture against United two days later, Burnley lost 4–1 in front of 47,696 spectators—the highest home league crowd of the season.Quelch (2015), pp. 134–135
January to May The team's first match of 1960 resulted in a 5–2 victory away at title contenders West Ham. The Sunday Pictorial concluded: "If they go on playing like this they'll soon have nobody above them".Quelch (2015), pp. 141–143 Burnley then defeated Chelsea 2–1 on a snowy Turf Moor pitch and drew 0–0 with West Brom to end January in second place in the table. Burnley beat Newcastle United 2–1 on 6 February, the scorers being Robson with a shot from and Pointer with a lob. The match against Birmingham City a week later was postponed due to poor weather.Quelch (2015), pp. 153–154 On 1 March, the team recorded a 2–0 home win over league leaders Tottenham to close the gap to three points, but with two games in hand on Spurs. Burnley also defeated Blackburn Rovers 1–0 and Arsenal 3–2 to win three league matches in a row. On 30 March, Burnley played second-placed Wolverhampton Wanderers but were overwhelmed by "Wolves' fast, direct power play" and were defeated 6–1.Quelch (2015), pp. 171–173 The following game, at home against Sheffield Wednesday, ended in a 3–3 draw after Miller equalised for Burnley in the 88th minute. It was Seith's last match for the club; he read in the Burnley Express that he would not play the next game against Nottingham Forest and was aggrieved at not being told directly by Potts. A dispute followed, after which Seith was put on the transfer list.Quelch (2015), p. 176 Potts moved Adamson to the centre-half position to partner Cummings, while Miller was placed in midfield.Simpson (2007), p. 293 The team recorded three consecutive wins: Forest and Leicester City were both defeated 1–0, while Burnley beat Luton 3–0 despite only having 10 men for most of the game, after Pointer came off injured.Quelch (2015), pp. 179–181 Connelly scored the winning goal against Leicester, his 20th league goal of the season, but picked up a cartilage injury during the match and was out for the remainder of the season; he was replaced by Trevor Meredith. On 18 April, Meredith scored his first goal in a 2–1 defeat in the return game at Leicester, with former Burnley player Cheesebrough netting the winner for the home team.