| Willie Irvine |
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Name: William John Irvine D.O.B: 18th June 1943
Fee payed by Burnley: Jr Then Apprentice Signed by Harry Potts Burnley Debut: 11th May 1963, Arsenal Last Burnley Appearance: 27th Jan 1968 West Ham United (FA Cup) Burnley Stats: 144(4) Games - 97 Goals International Honours: 23 Full Northern Ireland Caps, 3 U23 Northern Ireland Caps Willie Irvine, makes it into the Legends category, A prolific goalscorer, and one of the nicest and funniest men you will ever meet. If you visit Turf Moor on a match day you will more than likely see Willie, his down to earth personality and all round "Irish" Humour its just a pleasure to speak to him(Ask him about his Northern Ireland room mate George Best?). I think Burnley played a master stroke when they asked Willie to entertain the supporters in the posh seats, his love for life and the ability to make any old Burnley story humorous is an art in itself. Born in Carrickfergus, Willie first found his fledgling footballing career at Antrim Schoolboys, where he became a Schoolboy International for his native Northern Ireland. Burnley would take the young Irishman first as a junior then around his 17th birthday as a Professional. Burnley's set up back then was not the vast age groups of today's teams, and Willie would play amongst others waiting for a chance to climb the Turf Moor ladder, his early games would come in the Lancashire League (the third team), but he soon made it up to the reserves, making his reserve team debut in Oct 1960 against Barnsley reserves Willie netted a Hat Trick and also had on stroked off, as Burnley's second string won 6-1, another soon to be legend making his debut in this game would be a Scottish lad by the name of Willie Morgan. Burnley reserves back then were getting huge crowds with full Internationals taking part on a regular basis, it was where most of Burnley' Legends of the 40s,50s and 60s would ply their trade and wait for the opportunity to make the giant step up to the first team. Willie would be no exception, in his first season in the reserves Burnley would win the championship, Irvine would still only be a bit part player, the man with the centre forward shirt would be Irvine's strike partner of the future Andy Lochhead. When Andy Lochhead was selected in the first team, Willie stepped in, and when Jimmy Robson's injury hit season 62-63, Andy took his chance, and with 19 League goals in 32 games, Willie stepped into the breach in the reserves and started to make his name, but it would be an International call up first when he was selected to play Wales in April 1963 alongside his club colleagues, McIlroy,Elder with his Goalkeeping brother Bobby Irvine also selected. Willie Irvine already a full international, made his Burnley bow at the end of the 62/63 season, stepping in for the injured Andy Lochhead against Arsenal at Highbury, and with it came his first Burnley goal, (the first goal of a 3-2 win). He kept his place for the last home game of the season against Birmingham city, where he scored his first Burnley hat trick on his home debut in the 3-1 win which gave Burnley a third place finish in Division One. The following season Willie started the season alongside Andy Lochhead, Jimmy Robson, and Gordon Harris. But was dropped after the 3-1 defeat at Ipswich on the opening day of the 63-64 season, and didn't get a first team shirt till March 30th 1964 where he netted in the 1-2 defeat at Bolton, he kept his place for the remaining six games due to injuries to Harris, Lochhead and the sale of John Connelly to Manchester United, Willie netted 4 times in his 7 appearances that season. Burnley Legend Jimmy Robson would only start 5 league games in the following season, as the Lochhead/Irvine partnership was beginning to gel,21 goals for Lochhead and 22 for Irvine in the League made the two a formidable partnership. Burnley's 12th place finish was a poor one by Burnleys high standards, but with Irvine and Lochhead still young enough to represent the football league in an U21 tournament in Germany, the future of Burnley's strikers looked bright. Goals Goals Goals were the agenda as Irving netted Hat tricks in four matches, the legend that is George Beel only managed three in one season, this feat including a treble in the 3-4 Defeat to Spurs in the fifth round of the FA Cup at White Heart lane. He finished the season with 29 League goals this was a post war record and with and 8 goals coming in the FA and League cups, 37 goals in a season is something which to this day has never been beaten. One of his hat-tricks against Nottingham Forest (a 4-1 win) on the 26th March 1966, would be the first game for longside poster ShanghaiClaret, with his strike partner Andy Lochhead getting the second, its a great way for long time Claret Supporter ShanghaiClaret to open his account. The 29 goals in the 64/65 season has only been beaten thrice, both in Burnley pre-war history once by Freeman who netted 31 League goals in 1912/13 and George Beel who netted 35 League goals in 1927/28, and 30 in 1928/29. The following year disaster for Willie and for Burnley, a Broken leg at Goodison Park on the 31st of January 1967 kept Irvine out for the team for the remainder of that season, with Irvine on 13 goals in his 22 League games, he was looking good to become Burnley's top goalscorer for the third year running, the accolade went to his strike partner Andy Lochhead with just 18 goals. Willie fought back from his broken leg to start the 67/68 season, but he would never recapture the form of his early days as a Claret, 5 League goals in 20 games was detriment to this, it would be almost a year to the day of that leg break, that Willie Irvine would play his last game as a claret, the FA Cup tie at Home to West Ham on the 27th January 1968, where Willie Irvine would say his goodbyes to the Turf Moor faithful by coming on as a substitute for Arthur Bellamy in the 3-1 defeat. The departure of Willie Irvine left the No9 Shirt open and a new pretender to his crown had been signed Frank Casper (Casper would be Burnley's first fee payed for 8 years, and the only significant fee ever), Casper would take the Clarets top goalscorer in his first season with 14 league goals. Irvine's shirt went to a good home. Irvine that January was sold to Preston North End, where he stayed until the end of the 1970/71 season, he scored 27 goals in 81 games for the Northerners, taking his legend status over to Deepdale. From Preston Willie went to Brighton and Hove Albion, where again 27 goals plundered in just 67 games, his legend status was now in bedded in the Seagulls folklore, Brighton however were relegated, and Willie was on his was again this time back up north to Halifax Town, his one and only goal for the Shaymen was his last in League football, incidentley it was against Scunthorpe United.
Willie Irvine stands in 11th place in the all time Burnley Goalscorers, behind Beel, Pointer, McIlroy, Page, Freeman, Lochhead, Kelly, Connelly, Robson and Billy Bowes(1891-01). With a goal ratio of just under a goals every 1.5 games, Irvine is a true goalscoring legend !
Dave can be contacted by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , or visit his website at http://www.burnleyfcbooks.co.uk/ |
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| Last Updated ( Saturday, 04 October 2008 ) |
Clubs: Brighton, Preston, Halifax, Burnley
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