|
 CLARKE CARLISLE
The WEMBLEY PLAY-OFF FINAL
MAY 25th 2009
It isn’t too often that The Spectator waxes lyrical about Burnley Football Club or one of its players but in May 2009 there was an exception to this rule.
‘Thank heaven for Burnley who played their hearts out to win the Premier play-offs. Afterwards their heroic defender Clarke Carlisle picked up the MOTM award and in a short and graceful interview he gave every sign of being one of the most impressive human beings on earth. Moved to tears, he spoke with wisdom, articulacy and passion about the game, players, supporters and his own personal journey through a host of injuries as well as alcoholism. If anyone should carry a torch for all that is great and good in the beautiful game – it is Clarke Carlisle’.
Nor is it very often that The Guardian picks out Burnley as being one of the shining lights of football. But it did on May 30th, 2009, when David Lacey bracketed Burnley’s football ethos with that of Barcelona:
‘In football it has been a good week for fundamentalists, those who believe that amid the hustle and haste of the modern game the basics of good passing and movement plus the ability to make space and not give the ball away are too often taken for granted. To which might be added the willingness of players to run with the ball when the opportunity is there, a habit in danger of being coached out of teams fearful of losing possession and being caught on the break.
On Monday Burnley displayed many of these qualities in beating one United, Sheffield, to win promotion to the Premier League. On Wednesday Barcelona did as much, and a bit more besides, when they outplayed another United, Manchester, to win the Champions League Final in Rome. In each case the match was run and won by medium-sized men with the brains and technique to outwit the athletes whose power and pace are beginning to dominate football at the expense of the subtler arts…
…Forty-nine years ago Burnley set standards which were embodied in the Tottenham double side the following season. So it is good to see Turf Moor back in the big time and the Lancashire heartland is promised a rare pantomime now that Burnley’s Cinderellas have joined the Ugly Sisters – Sam Allerdyce’s Blackburn and Gary Megson’s Bolton – with Wigan playing Buttons…’
There are those who would say that the game against the powerful athletes of Sheffield United was no classic. But try telling that to the 36,000 Burnley supporters who were there. It was the match of their lives.
 Lacey was right in his assessment. No-one could call Burnley’s Wembley team that day a team reliant on nothing but muscular, powerful, physical athletes, good at running and pressing, but lacking in flair and deftness. This was a team, and it was a team in the proper sense of the word, where the sum of the parts is greater than the individuals. In this respect it continued in the tradition of the McIlroy/Adamson Championship team of 1959/60 and then Adamson’s golden team that flowered so briefly from 1973 to 1975. What the team of 2008/09 had was a blend of strength at the back, creativity in midfield and pace and skill up front. Above all there was flair and as Lacey says it was the small men who ran the show; Wade Elliot, Robbie Blake, Graham Alexander, Joey Gudjonnson and Martin Paterson, not one of them a giant. Burnley played well and their goal came from a mazy run from deep by a player with the skill, confidence and bravery to take the ball forward almost to the edge of the box from inside his own half. He passed, it came back to him, and from 25 yards the ball was stroked home with a level of skill that would have made that great legend Jimmy McIlroy proud. In their victory Burnley demonstrated to the nation that passing skills and ball control can prevail and succeed over might and muscle.
Ironically the only physical giant in the Burnley outfield was Carlisle, at 6’ 3” a powerful colossus who, on the day, was unbeatable in the air and impassable on the ground.
In an interview after another game, ironically against Sheffield United again in a League game only a few weeks earlier, Carlisle described the experience as like playing in the Land of the Giants. Again it had been a game where Burnley’s smaller men had won although Carlisle was honest enough to describe some of his defending as “industrial,” a case of needs must. This is an articulate man indeed, and in that single word, he conjured up the image of his approach and method. He is not a man to weave his way out of defence with elegance and sophistication. He is not a man to make pinpoint 40 and 50 yard passes to the feet of a colleague on the other side of the pitch. He is direct, simple and uncomplicated. He wins it, he makes the simple pass. His job is simple – to defend. “It is up to the likes of Chris McCann, Robbie Blake, and Martin paterson to produce the pretty, eye-catching stuff, but the defensive unit to keep clean sheets.” At corners in the opposition half it is his job to move up into the penalty area, steam in, and attack the ball. Burnley’s progress to Wembley in the final weeks was marked by a string of games in which there were clean sheets and he received the MOTM award.
Club programme notes outlined the key role he played in 2008/09. They referred to his never-say-die attitude, the way he was able to dip into his own well of strength after a dip in form briefly cost him his place. “I have got to a stage in my career where I can’t be dipping below a seven out of ten. I’ve played 300-plus games and I am approaching 40 games this season and I haven’t done that for a while. I should be experienced enough to know what is expected of me and produce it every week. It’s about having a mindset and knowing that when you cross the line you are not going to take any chances or risks and just focus on your job. I get paid to defend and sometimes it may not be aesthetically pleasing as some might want and it might be quite industrious at times, but as long as the ball is not in the back of our net my job is done. I am feeling great, probably the fittest I have ever felt at this stage of the season, having played more games than in the last six or seven years.”
Wembley on May 25th, 2009 was certainly the match of a lifetime for this dignified centre-back in which yet again he received the best player award. It was clear from the on-pitch interview that this was a day he will never forget. The story of his journey to get there is that of a fall from grace and then a lesson in self-appraisal, determination to recover, rehabilitation, and then ultimate triumph. This is a man who faced his demons and found his renaissance.
Born in Preston in October 1979, his first club was Blackpool. There he made 100 appearances between 1997 and 2000. His form was such that QPR paid £250,000 for him in the summer of 2000. He made appearances for England at U21 level and really was seen as an emerging star. However, the injuries began and a cruciate ligament tear kept him out of the game for a year. Doctors thought he was finished. In his first game back, a reserve fixture at Bristol City, there were fears he had repeated the injury when he was forced to limp off. Fortunately it was not as bad as feared, and he was back within a month.
Carlisle spent four years with QPR, helping them win promotion to the Championship and in January 2002 he won the title of Britain’s Brainiest Footballer in a TV Quiz. In a close Final he beat Alan Brazil 6 – 5. It was QPR’s first major trophy since 1967 one newspaper pointed out not without humour.
But, by the 2003/04 season there were problems and he was admitted to the Sporting Chance Clinic for treatment for alcohol problems. The trigger came when he was axed from manager Ian Holloway’s squad after going AWOL on the eve of a game.
“With the knowledge I have now, I realise it had been affecting my performance for a long time. I had been playing at nowhere near 100%. At one stage I found I wasn’t actually that bothered. Then, suddenly, I had a moment of clarity and thought: Clarke what the hell are you doing? It was when clarity set in I felt at my lowest. To be honest I was scared.”
Tony Adams’ Sporting Chance Clinic nestles in the tranquil Hampshire countryside. There are several football stars who have attended the centre but wish to remain anonymous. Clarke Carlisle has never wished to do that. There is no pampering to ego or salary, the kitchen is a place where beans on toast are on offer. There are facilities for retaining fitness but definitely no facials. Instead of pampering there is a regime of individual and group counselling sessions. TV is allowed only in the evenings. It was at QPR that he turned to drink.
“After training I’d go to my local and have a few pints and then when I was bloated I’d shift onto cocktails or shooters and then when my friends had finished work we’d crack on into town.”
His turning point was when he arrived for a match looking the worse for wear and was sent home. He was days away from getting the sack. It was then that the realisation hit him that his career was going rapidly downhill. Once there he found it mentally and physically draining going through all the emotions that came to the surface. “There are reasons for behaviour and getting to the roots of the problems was liberating.”
He acknowledges now that what the clinic and its staff did for him was lifesaving. He acknowledged them again in his interview on the pitch immediately after the Burnley Wembley Final.
The effect they had him was not only to combat the drinking but also to help him realise that it was his reaction to certain situations that triggered the drinking. “It was an intense and emotional 28 days.”
“Clarke’s shown bravery and was man enough to face up to his problems,” said manager Holloway. I can only applaud him for what he has done. Nobody has seen the best of him yet and my message is to watch out for him. He can go on to play in the top flight with the new tools he’s been given to deal with the rest of his life.”
Carlisle’s prophetic comment was: “I do believe I can do a lot more than almost anything I’ve shown in football so far.”
His contract at QPR ended in 2004 after 212 appearances and 6 goals. Kevin Blackwell took him to Leeds United on a free transfer. There he spent just one year, playing 38 games and scoring 4 goals. Here too there were injury problems, torn ankle ligaments during a game at gloomy Rotherham, when there was a 0 – 1 defeat, keeping him out for six weeks.
Leeds accepted £100,000 for him from Watford (Stoke City too would have signed him) and he signed a three-year deal. His potential remained clear and manager Aidy Boothroyd tipped him to become one of the best defenders in the Championship. It would be five years later that Boothroyd’s prediction was proved correct. Boothroyd identified that he had enormous strengths and was certain that he would become an even better player. Watford finished third in the table in 2004/05 and gained promotion to the Premiership. But by the time of the play-offs Carlisle had been injured again, this time a thigh injury, and he took no part in the final games or the Final. Nor did he take much part in the Premiership season. He missed eight months of the season finding it hard to cope with and by the time he was able to play again Watford had been relegated. He regarded the small number of games he played when he returned as a taster of Premier football. He could not have known that in 2009 he would be instrumental in another club’s promotion to the Promised Land.
In the summer of 2007 Burnley manager Steve Cotterill was the next man to recognise his abilities signing him for a reported £200,000. He replaced Wayne Thomas who was sold to Southampton for over £1m. These two moves were amongst the smartest of Cotterill’s deals and once he arrived at Burnley Carlisle was an almost ever-present.
The move back north was not in Carlisle’s script. He had just forced his way back into the Watford side after injury and presumed he would figure in Aidy Boothroyd’s plans for the season. Cotterill’s phone call changed all that.
“I was all set for Watford’s season and this phone call came out of the blue – apparently not so for the gaffer – he said he’d been after me for a few months, but I was completely unaware of it,” said Carlisle. “It all just fell into place. It was excellent. I don’t just want to tag along in the background, I don’t believe that’s a stage of my career I’m at. I believe I’m definitely a first-choice centre half and that’s what I’m here to prove.”
If constant injuries had been a problem for him until joining Burnley, he avoided them at Turf Moor. But tragedy might have struck if he had not had a miraculous escape from a car crash on October of 2007 when his car spun into a ditch on the way to training ahead of a game against Crystal Palace. The car was a write-off yet he emerged unscathed. In fact his wife collected him and they continued the journey to training. The following weekend he played against Crystal Palace.
“Anybody else doing another job might have had a week off work in a neck brace and a doctor’s note signing him off,” commented manager Cotterill. “Clarke did remarkably well even to play on Saturday.”
It could certainly be argued that the arrival of Owen Coyle as manager at Burnley took Carlisle’s game to another higher level. As Steve Cotterill’s term reached its end, this was a disenchanted group of players, several of whom he had alienated and had lost confidence in him. Nine of the Burnley Wembley team, including Carlisle, had played under Cotterill. These same nine players had established a club record run of 20 winless games. With Owen Coyle they achieved promotion to the Premiership.
“The manager, Owen Coyle,” said Carlisle, “tells us week in, week out, it doesn’t matter what other teams are going to do or who they’ve got in their side. It’s all about what we do and how we can perform, because he believes – and it’d filtered all through the club and the squad – that if we play to the best of our ability we’re more than a match for anyone…. There’s a lot of pressure… but when we cross that white line, a freedom to go and express ourselves and play the game in the right manner has been instilled into us, with a knowledge that the manager supports you in that – and that if we, as a team, play to our strengths and abilities, we can win the game.”
On Monday May 25th, 2009, that philosophy took Burnley to an improbable triumph. “Little old Burnley,” is how Peter Beagrie, a smile etched on his face, referred to them with clear affection the end of the day. This was the club with one of the smallest budgets and one of the smallest squads in the Championship. The season had begun badly with two defeats and two draws. Slowly but surely things were turned round. Then over the Christmas period there was a run of five consecutive defeats. Again things were turned round so that by the final game of the season if Burnley won the last home game they would progress to the play-offs. This they did with a thumping 4 – 0 win over Bristol City, not a bad side themselves.
Behind the scenes, however, the club was in financial turmoil. In April administration was imminent. The club could not meet the wages bill. The payment instalments for the purchase of Chris Eagles had already been re-negotiated. Four directors, Barry Kilby, John Sullivan, Ray Griffiths and Mike Garlick saved the day with more loans totalling nearly £1m. All this was a well kept secret. Without those loans, the push for the play-offs and the Premiership could have taken a far different turn. It made the Wembley play-off even more of a match to remember. In the great scale of things it was up there with the Orient Game of 1987 when basic survival was at stake and Burnley might just have folded.
The two semi-final games against Reading were won, 1 – 0 at Burnley and 2 – 0 at Reading. Yet again Clarke Carlisle was immense in both games. To reach Wembley within the context of all the background problems, limitations and pressures was a miraculous achievement. To have actually won it was quite simply an astonishing fairy-tale and with a £60m jackpot at the end of it, how those directors celebrated, although one of them, Ray Griffiths, lay in a hospital bed unable to attend this most marvellous of days. It is not unreasonable to say that the win over Sheffield United saved Burnley Football Club from eventual financial meltdown.
BURNLEY ARE BACK wrote Burnley Express reporter in the May, 26th edition in his account of the occasion:
The day was all the sweeter for those who have traipsed around, with all due respect, places like Aldershot, Maidstone, Halifax, Rochdale, and those who witnessed Hereford win 6 – 0 at Turf Moor, an FA Cup embarrassment at Telford, a defeat to nine-man Rochdale, and those who refused to let their club die on that fateful day in 1987.
The teams came out to Ian Brown’s FEAR, which starts, “For each a road…” and it certainly has been a long old road since 1976. The Burnley supporters wondered which path this wonderful team would take on a day of destiny. But any early nerves were settled in sensational fashion.
If the goals in the semi-final second leg were special, Wade Elliot’s 12th minute strike was every bit as good – and it will now acquire legendary status – the goal which took Burnley up.
It started with a driving run, typical of the former Bournemouth man, whose piercing movement when played through the centre has been instrumental in Burnley’s success over the second half of the season.
The Blades backed off, and after he laid the ball off for Chris McCann to try his luck, when his effort broke, Elliot effortlessly whipped the ball inside the top left-hand corner to spark mass celebrations in the stand, but not on the pitch where Elliot remained calm.
He knew, as has been the mantra throughout the season, nothing was won yet.
The game took a lot of winning. As is often the case, the Clarets did things the hard way. They created a raft of chances, Martin Paterson curling an effort inches wide, Steve Thompson nodding just past the post. Joe Gudjonnson had an effort scuffed off the line after the break, and then Kyle Walker somehow got back to deny Robbie Blake from Thompson’s pass.
You wondered if the missed chances would come back to haunt them, but with Brian Jensen untroubled all afternoon, all fears were unfounded.
We dared to dream, we believed in this team, and my, how they have delivered.
BURNLEY ARE BACK.
They came from all over the world, from Bermuda, Philadelphia, Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne, Wellington, Mexico, Bulgaria, California, Vancouver, Seattle, Yemen, Kazakhstan, Florida, Belgium, Malta, France, Norway, France and Cyprus. They came from all points of the UK compass, Ireland, Dublin, Belfast, from the tips of Scotland to the ends of Cornwall. There is a family of Burnley expatriates for who the umbilical cord will never be stronger. And Burnley itself was half empty.
How many miles did people travel during the season to watch them, how many thousands and thousands of pounds did they spend. Which of them during the opening month of the season did not think that disaster lay ahead? Which of them did not live on their nerves towards the season’s end when the prospect of success was close? Who did not feel despair when we could only draw at Southampton, or Derby scored their last minute equaliser with just a handful of games remaining? When were the first thoughts that something special might happen?
“Little Burnley,” we kept saying and little Burnley became the ‘peoples’ club’ as the feeling grew in the outside world that here was a hard-up, modest club from a small town battling against the odds. The pundits and the great and good wanted us to succeed. They remembered as we did that horrible night against Tottenham in the Carling Cup when Burnley were just two minutes away from the Final.
None of us dared contemplate with certainty a win over Sheffield when the actual day came. To be there was a bonus we consoled ourselves but for Graham Alexander it was his seventh experience of play-offs, the previous six all failed. Surely this time he will be lucky we implored the football gods.
I know that I spent the Sunday wondering if just one moment would settle it. Would it hinge on referee’s decisions or would one man seize the moment and strike home a winning goal? As it turned out, the football gods were indeed on Burnley’s side. Every Burnley player played his part none more so than Carlisle who gave a masterclass in the art of defending. But they were all on top form. Blake twisted and turned until he sent us all dizzy. Caldwell was not far behind Carlisle. Paterson ran and ran and did the work of two players, in attack one minute, defending the next. Elliot was all guile and darting runs, Duff and Kalvenes solid at the back. Thompson up front was more than a match for the physical Morgan. And the Beast, the player of the season, had a quiet day, rarely troubled by Sheffield, but was there on the rare occasions he was needed.
The spectacle at the end was stunning. Mike Dean blew his whistle and the claret and blue end erupted. The tears flowed. Exultation, exhilaration, exhaustion, joy and more joy, cascaded down from the terraces and engulfed this band of brothers who had defied the odds and achieved this miracle. The noise was deafening as we danced and hugged with strangers and pinched ourselves and asked was this really happening. The Sheffield end had emptied by the time skipper Caldwell lifted high the trophy. Another roar filled the stadium and more tears flowed.
This was little Burnley, a founder member of the Football League and no-one could say that they had not earned their place in the Premiership. On that warm sunny afternoon the members of that team had they lost would have been heroes still. But in winning they, and Clarke Carlisle, became legends forever.
Carlisle afterwards described his feelings on the day. “Words will not describe how it felt at the final whistle to stand in that centre circle. I didn’t know what to do, whether to laugh or cry. It was unbelievable – such a magnificent achievement.
It was awesome. I cried like a little girl on the pitch. It was an unbelievable time and a moment to savour. What an achievement, 61 games, 23 players. It was such a compressed workload but we did it.
Every single one of us, from the gaffer and Sandy Stewart and Steve Davis and Phil Hughes all the way through the playing staff, what I’m so proud of is from a town of 80,000 there were 36,000 out there, more wanted to come, and we performed and we gave them something to sing about. We respect their support and we’re Premier League now. It’s awesome.
I’m just trying to say to the lads who have always been on the fringes of success, and young lads like Alex Macdonald, Adam Kay, Jay Rodriguez, savour the moment. Moments like this don’t happen ten a penny in your life. Just enjoy it and make sure you experience the 36,000 out there and all the trappings that come with it. It’s an awesome day.
It had to be a normal 90 minutes, and that’s why we stayed at the Bull where we stayed before the Cup games against Chelsea and Arsenal, and we made it as normal and down to earth as possible because when you step into the arena, the last thing you want is to have been daunted already.
The lads went out, did what they had to, and I was just blessed and privileged to have been a member of this.”
There is no doubt that the media and the experts widely welcomed Burnley’s return to the bigtime, and just about everyone who saw Carlisle’s aftermatch interview could not fail to have been deeply moved.
Neutrals sighed with relief at not seeing Sheffield United playing Stoke in the Premier League next season… instead Burnley will grace the top division, 33 years after they left it and 22 after they nearly slipped into the Conference. It gladdens the heart and makes you feel good about the old game…Daily Express
It was settled by a goal that deserved to win any game. If Burnley’s tale, on a club level, is a romantic one for having been away from the top division for so long, then the goalscporer encapsulated the fairy-tale nature of their ascent. Wade Elliot, 30, who settled the outcome after only 13 minutes, was a free transfer from Bournemouth having previously played in non-league football at Bashley… The Independent
Grown men cried, strangers embraced, and under a shower of ticker tape Wembley saw an emotional outpouring that brought an end to 33 years of hurt… it was hard to avoid being consumed by the euphoria that greeted the minor miracle overseen by Owen Coyle… among the Claret and Blue hordes few ever imagined they would see this day come to pass… nobody can say they do not deserve it… The Times
For all ages of Burnley fans, yesterday was special… for the older supporters it was all about the restoration of the natural order, a return to the time when Burnley were an established force in the land… The Telegraph
All over the pitch there were Burnley heroes… Carlisle didn’t put a foot wrong. Then there was Elliot who can dine out for life on his winner… make no mistake the better side won… The Telegraph
Burnley are back in the bigtime and ready to bring a touch of much-needed romance to the billionaire world of top-flight football. they are the smallest town ever to boast a Premier league club and their entire population could fit inside Old Trafford. What Owen Coyle and his players have achieved this season is little short of a miracle… and no-one could begrudge brilliant Burnley their long-awaited return to the bigtime… The Sun
It will be 50 years next season since Burnley won the title and the anniversary will be celebrated among the elite. A Lancashire town has burst into the limelight, their elevation back among the elite constituting a staggering achievement by one of the Championship’s thinnest squads… The Guardian
The enormous significance of this match was that a town was united both during the game and afterwards. Supporter Mark Griffiths was both at the game and the celebrations and parade afterwards.
“I can’t get over what I witnessed. There’s real poverty in Burnley – there were young women with teeth missing holding their grubby babies up like it was some kind of papal blessing. There were whole Asian families waving and shouting at the roundabout by Centenary Way. It was magnificent.
Our little town turned itself inside out to applaud – nay worship our team. They were stood on walls and rooftops and leaning perilously out of office windows and hanging banners from the bridges over Yorkshire Street and Finsley Gate. It was still magnificent.
Leaving the Town Hall the chill descended and the crowds thinned out a little, but the busses were pursued by young girls and middle aged men waving home made flags and tattooed adolescents who’d ripped their shirts off. When we approached the Turf again the crowds were still there, deeper and even more urgent, with some having sprinted across the town to get there. When we crossed some of the junctions you could see people running along the parallel streets. In a ‘zombie’ flick it would have seemed threatening, but instead, here, it was utterly heart-warming to see that people cared so much.”
Burnley has had its well-documented problems in the past, both social and political. But this was a match and victory that brought a town together. It was a glorious triumph.
Dave Thomas
|
