Burnley: A Turf War!

In December 2010 – also in the second tier - we scored another three second-half goals there after being 2.0 down at half-time. Our own Jonny Howson scored the winner just five minutes from time, with the travelling Leeds United fans commiserating en masse with their hosts, suggesting they should have gone Christmas shopping instead…

In 1967-68 we were going for the league title and top of the table in April, but successive defeats in our final four matches of the season – against Stoke City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Burnley – saw us finish fourth for a second, successive season, and letting Manchester City to become champions for only the second time (their first coming back in 1937). The Burnley game at Turf Moor ended in a 3.0 defeat. In the following season when we did win our first league title, we had lost at Manchester City but then only lost one more league game that season, 5.1, to a young Burnley side managed by Harry Potts on 19 October 1968.

Curiously, when we were again challenging for the title in 1973-74, we only lost four league matches all season – three of our conquerors being the same as in those successive defeats in 1967-1968: Stoke City, Burnley and Liverpool. The Burnley defeat – 4.1 on 23 March 1974 – was our only home defeat of that season.

The ‘Eddie Gray match’ at Elland Road on 4 April 1970 - the only win in our last six league matches as that season imploded - saw Leeds win 2.1 with both goals scored by Eddie, the second of which has often been described as the finest goal of all time to be scored by a Leeds United player, as he skilfully outwitted at least four players in Burnley's defensive line.

However, when researching my book, it is a story about David ‘Soldier’ Wilson that really captured my imagination. Also, at Elland Road it was in our previous incarnation as Leeds City that we took on Burnley on 27 October 1906 – in just the second league season of the club’s existence. Manager Gilbert Gillies had recently signed powerful striker David Wilson from Hull City where he had scored 13 goals in 15 appearances. Just 23 years old and a former soldier from the Boer War – hence his ‘soldier’ nickname – his thick moustache gave him every appearance of a player from that Edwardian era.
Wilson was winded in the first half after a challenge with the Burnley defenders and left the field complaining of ‘a heavy pain in his chest’ after 15 minutes of the second half. A heavy smoker he clearly was in evident pain in the dressing room; medical assistance was sought with the thought that he was having a heart attack.

In the meantime, two further Leeds City players had to come off injured, so Wilson offered to go back on the pitch to what was described as a ‘storm of cheers.’ Doctors advised him against it, and he was obviously too ill to carry on, leaving the field again after just three minutes. He lost consciousness in the club bath and died. The official cause was heart failure from over-exertion. The eight men of Leeds City held out until just before the end when Burnley scored to win the match 1.0.

The Leeds Mercury summed up Wilson’s heroism: “His devotion to the game and to the club proved fatal.”

It may be a turf war, but getting home safely is everything.