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The season that resembled a roller-coaster, with more ups and downs than a depressed man on laughing gas.
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Chris Waddle, England and Geordie superstar, Burnley's new manager and with him came a complete new back room, Gordon Cowans England coach and Aston Villa legend, Glenn Roeder straight from England coaching staff, Chris Woods former England Goalkeeper, Tony Parks who famously won the UEFA Cup for spurs with fantastic goalkeeping. the Dream Team, The Dream Ticket, unfortunately the Dream was a nightmare.
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(right, Chris Waddle's Autobiography,listing his life right up until he took the Burnley job)
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Burnley under Chris Waddle managed to stay in the relegation positions all season , the highest place Burnley found themselves this season was a shocking 19th ! and it took a nail biting last gasp game against relegation fodder Plymouth Argyle. Two Andy Cooke goals saved us and sent Plymouth down, with it Chris Waddle out of management.
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People say that the second half of the season was Promotion material? Rubbish, 21 points were gathered before the new year crept in and just 31 points in the second half of the season, a total of 62 points would have given Burnley a 13th place in the 2nd division.
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Chris Waddle with his new signings failed, seven game it took to score a league goal that season, a further five more games before we won a game. Gerry Creaney would be Burnley's mid season saviour 8 goals in his 9 games on loan from Manchester City (before he was recalled), Creaney was a success but Micheal Williams, Steve Blatherwick and Lee Howey weren't, even £250k spent on midfield man Mark Ford did work out as it should.
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With goals hard to come by Barnes,Eastwood,Eyres,Carr-Lawton Mark Robertson and John Mullin all spending time up front, it took Chris Waddle to go down as a Burnley hero when he exchanged Paul Barnes, who never really won over the hearts and minds of the Clarets faithful, for the Padiham Predator, Andy Payton.
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With Any Payton paired with Andy Cooke Burnley had found a pairing that worked, with an aging David Eyres left for pastures new(signed for Preston), a new Claret legend was born Glen Little having been signed by Heath from Glentoran the season before, the mercurial winger would be a major part in Burnley's turn in fortunes, too little to late for Waddle who would leave after the Plymouth Game.
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Taken from the Independent newspaper August 1997
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Waddle's plan to wake up `sleeping giant'
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Glenn Moore talks to a superstar eager to learn his trade as a manager
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Glenn Moore: Saturday, 16 August 1997
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It was a steamy afternoon in Lincoln and Chris Waddle, former wing wizard and terrace hero from Tyneside to Provence, was helping to cart Burnley's match kit into the changing rooms at Sincil Bank. Alongside him, offering a helping hand, was Frank Teasdale, the Burnley chairman.
Welcome to life in the Nationwide League's Second Division. It is hard to imagine Kenny Dalglish and Sir John Hall pushing the kit skip at Newcastle, where Waddle began his playing career, or Irving Scholar and Bernard Tapie, the chairmen of Spurs and Marseilles when Waddle was playing for them. Like several contemporaries, Waddle could have cut his managerial teeth in the Premiership, so why Burnley?
Waddle, who makes his home debut as manager against Gillingham this afternoon, explained: "A lot of people I spoke to said `work as high as you can', a lot said `go and learn your trade'. I think this club fits both. They have the potential to be regarded as a sleeping giant. It should be a good First Division club at least. I have a three-year contract and that's my target. I had no connection with the club, apart from playing there once with Newcastle and getting beat, but I had waited for a club of this stature."
By the standards of the division Burnley are very well supported and well funded. They just missed out on the play-offs under Adrian Heath last year and, importantly for Waddle, have a tradition of good football.
"I like to play," he said. "I hate long-ball football. There will be times we do hit it long, no team can pass pass perfect all the time, but I've said to the players, `get it, pass it, move'. I'd never resort to direct football. If success means doing that I'd rather walk away, go and follow a team as a spectator instead."
Waddle's first three matches are against teams who play the direct game to varying degrees. Last Saturday they lost at Watford, today Waddle makes his home debut against Gillingham. In between, they were at Lincoln for a Coca-Cola Cup tie.
It is five hours before the game but Burnley are taking the opportunity to lay out the kit before the crowd gathers - and to have a look at the pitch to see if the infamous John Beck, now manager of Lincoln, has done anything to it.
It looks perfect but one of the groundstaff admits that when Beck arrived he attempted to have the corners banked as on a cycle track so a long ball hit into the corners would hold up. A few holidaying schoolboys are hanging around. As usual they follow Manchester United, not the local team, and are thrilled when Waddle allows them a quick look around the bus - it is the one United use.
This is a rare touch of luxury for Burnley. Waddle admitted that while he had talked about management to a lot of people the most "invaluable" preparation was having a month as a player at Falkirk last season and five at Bradford. "I'd been accustomed to clubs where you can wave a cheque book around and where everything was geared to the players. Where you were spoilt. I'm not saying those clubs are small clubs but they were not as big as the ones I was used to and that gave me a different expectancy."
Waddle has spent pounds 600,000 bringing in former Premiership players Mark Ford (Leeds), Steve Blatherwick (Nottingham Forest), Lee Howey (Sunderland) and Michael Williams (Sheffield Wednesday) along with Marco Gentile, nephew of the infamous Claudio Gentile. He also has an impressive back-room staff of Glenn Roeder, Gordon Cowans and Chris Woods, who is also eligible to play. Not surprisingly, the bookmakers have Burnley down at 9-4 to gain promotion.
"If the bookies are right, I'll be happy but I don't have a magic wand. It would be a massive achievement to go up this season, new players need time to settle. All I can do is get the players to believe in what we are trying to achieve, to play football, give effort and commitment. We won't fail for lack of effort, it will be because we were not good enough or did not have the luck. People say luck levels itself out. I'm not a great believer in that."
Continental theory is in vogue and he will introduce afternoon training later in the season but notes: "Marseilles' training wasn't hard. People say `you do morning and afternoon' but we'd do 40 minutes in the morning and 45 in the afternoon. It is pointless doing it because they do it. It has got to be beneficial. We have cut out all the chips and stuff like that but you can't watch them 24 hours a day. Me and Jean-Pierre Papin used to have a McDonalds after training. You just hope that players are good pros and when they leave training they go home, they eat sensibly, they stay in and do all that, but English players are a breed of their own."
Supporters, too. In the evening Waddle is taunted with chants of "you're not famous anymore" when he warms up, but he had earlier recalled: "I, noticed a difference in the way I was perceived when I came back from France. People always say you are a good player in your country but if you go abroad, and do very well, you are looked at differently. When I came back I was known as a great player - and I was a better player. Also, everybody was saying how well I was playing yet I could not get in the England squad."
Ironically, the man who would not pick him was his first opponent as manager, Graham Taylor having returned to Watford. "It wasn't a problem. I don't bear any grudges against Graham. He was manager and he had to make decisions about who to pick and leave out, I'll have to do the same."
Taylor is also at Lincoln, probably to watch Lincoln's Gareth Ainsworth, a modern-day Nigel Callaghan who causes Burnley problems from the start. Burnley are clearly the better footballing side but they have problems on the flanks and, despite the first of three superlative saves by Marlon Beresford, are behind to an excellent Phil Stant goal at half-time.
Waddle, who is not fully fit, has made himself substitute. On the touchline he is a prowler, pacing about the manager's box like an expectant father, but he shows little emotion. Only once does he berate the lenient referee, ex-player Steve Baines, when Paul Barnes is unfairly pulled back. Most of the time he restricts himself to clapping and encouraging his team.
With 13 minutes to go he is rewarded when Howey heads in a corner. Waddle, pleased with the team's resilience, leads the mutual applause with the 436-strong away support then heads for the dressing room before re-emerging for the long round of media interviews.
Then it is home to Sheffield to reacquaint himself with the family. I remind him of an interview when his wife, Lorna, complained that she would send him out for a takeaway and he would stop on the way back to watch a kids pick-up game in the park, so keen was he on football, and would come back with a cold dinner.
Waddle confirms that he has not changed, this week he watched six live and two televised games.
"I'll be seeing a lot of football this season. I knew it would be hard until I got into a routine but I haven't just gone and said to Lorna `I'm taking this job'. I've been offered jobs since I was 32 [he is 36] and we've talked about it for years. She said `go for it'."
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