Burnley Memorabilia And Programmes

Andrew Payton, born 23rd October 1967 seemed destined to be a Claret legend but ended up going the long way round to the home dressing rooms at Turf Moor. After failing to make the grade as a youngster Payton upped sticks and headed off to Hull City to continue his apprenticeship and it was here that the “padiham Predator” started to make a name for himself. After over 100 appearances and 50 goals for the Humberside club which again would seal him fondly in the memories of many Tigers supporters (In fact many pictures of him still adorn the walls of the Hull City supporters bar) a move to Middlesbrough beckoned for a fee of £750000. This fee would remain a record for a number of years for an transfer fee received by Hull City.

Life at Middlesbrough wasn’t as good and after just one season, 3 goals and 9 appearances (23 as sub) at Ayresome park Payton was on the move again.

His next port of call was arguably one of the biggest teams in the UK. The famous green and white hoops of Glasgow Celtic were the next to grace the shoulders of Andy Payton. He may have only spent a season and half on the green side of Glasgow but we will long be remembered for his winning goal an Old firm derby. In total Andy Payton scored 20 goals for the Glasgow giants in 25 full appearances with a further 19 as sub.

After his brief sojourn in Scotland Andy came back south of the border and was back in Yorkshire, this time his boots parked up at Barnsley. Another bag full of goals followed and I am sure many clarets fans wont forget the goal he scored against us at the Turf in the 94/95 season when he simply refused to celebrate and you could clearly see the pain it caused him to score against his beloved club. Little did we know at the time he would make up for that little indiscretion and more in years to come. Before he could right his wrongs though, and after a total of 45 goals for the Tykes Andy Payton was on the move again.

His next stopping point was for the Terriers of Huddersfield Town for a fee of £325000. Again his goalscoring showed no sign of stopping and he plundered a further 20 goals in 50 appearances. However there was still only one love in his heart and finally, after 11 and a bit years as a professional, Andy Payton came home.

The deal that brought The Padiham Predator back to his spiritual home sent Paul Barnes in the opposite direction. He came in to a struggling side managed by Chris Waddle. In fact many would say that bringing Payton to the club was the only good thing he did apart from resigning. With the clarets struggling at the bottom of the league and staring at the horrible possibility of relegation back to the basement division Andy started to do what he does best and score goals. 12 goals in 24 appearances in his first half season including a goal on his home debut against Southend United, helped the club stave off relegation with a win on the last day against Plymouth Argyle who would instead go down.

A new season and a new manager in Stan Ternent followed but that didn’t stop one of the most natural goalscorers to play for the clarets doing what he does best. A further 20 goals in 41 appearance were added to his CV. Again this was in a struggling team flirting dangerously with a return to the wilderness and but for Payton's goals and an unbeaten run of 13 games at the end of the season we could well have been relegated.

Better times were not far off though. The following season saw a renewed vigour and determination in the side to show we would not be dragged into another relegation battle. The season would also provide Andy Payton with some memorable milestones for the club he adores. Indeed it was Tuesday 28th December 1999 that Payton would score the last goal of the old millennium at Turf Moor in a 3 – 2 victory over Oxford United. This in front of the remaining members of the glorious 59-60 Title winning team, who had come together to help Jimmy Mac open his stand. Another notable milestone for Payton was he won the Golden boot for the second division with a Total of 27 Goals. His goals and a brief cameo from a certain Ian Wright (he even inadvertently helped bring this legend to the turf by getting sent off in a highly charged game against Wigan Athletic) helped propel the Clarets from play off contenders to League runners up behind our close rivals Preston North End. I am sure not many clarets who were either at Glandford Park that sunny May Saturday or the thousands who had gathered together on the Longside to watch the match relayed live to a big screen will forget the dramatic and euphoric events that unfolded.

So after helping the Burnley out of the 3rd tier of English football could Andy Payton still cut it at a higher level? Well his season started well but things then started to go wrong and Andy would end up making cameo sub appearances towards the back of the season. He could still bag a goal though and even though he wasn’t a regular starter any more (just 21 starts with a further 25 sub appearances) he still managed to top the scoring charts with 15 goals. That, unfortunately, proved to be his last major contribution in a claret and blue shirt.

The 2001/02 season saw Andy not make a league start and he only featured 15 times as a substitute managing just four goals. A brief loan spell with Blackpool “for personal reasons” followed where he scored just one goal in four appearances before time was finally called on his goal laden professional career.

He is amongst a select band of members to score more than 80 goals for the clarets in a total of 131 appearances which any striker will be immensely proud of. His career stats also stand up to the best with around 226 goals in 469 appearances.

Brief spells in non league football with Stalybridge Celtic and Nelson didn’t last long before Andy finally hung up his boots.

Personally speaking, I have watched the Clarets since the season before the dark days of the Orient season and I have yet to see a more natural goal scorer in a Claret and Blue shirt. If you listen carefully enough, on a cold winters night, you can just about still hear the Longside chanting his name after another goal for the club he loves.

Andy, Andy Payton, Andy, Andy Payton.

With thanks to Longside poster 'Claret'n'Booze'