The Hall of Fame Number 21 – Alan Stevenson

Date of Birth: 6th November 1950 Place of Birth: Staveley Burnley debut: Orient (a) 22nd January 1971 Other Clubs Chesterfield Rotherham United Hartlepool United

In the 1960s Chesterfield had built up a reputation for producing top class goalkeepers. England keeper Gordon Banks had started his career with the Derbyshire club whilst Bob Wilson the Arsenal keeper was from the town and there were others.

The next on the production line appeared to be a young local lad by the name of Alan Stevenson who had claimed the first team jersey as his own when still a teenager and was such a prospect that many of the top clubs were linked with him.

At the time Burnley were in some sort of a goalkeeping crisis, something unheard of in post war Turf Moor history. The likes of Strong, McDonald, Blacklaw and Thomson had served Burnley well but we were now choosing between an out of form Peter Mellor and Tony Waiters who had come out of retirement. We had even tried young Welsh keeper Jeff Parton in a couple of games.

The Chesterfield and Burnley scenarios were hardly linked, in fact not at all, so it was something out of the blue when Jimmy Adamson handed over £50,000 for his signature. It was a shock, it was the second highest fee the club had ever paid for a player (after Paul Fletcher) and it had all been expected that the much talked about keeper would join a First Division club.

But it was to Turf Moor he came and he made his debut in a 1-0 defeat at Orient on the following Saturday. He did enough to convince the Burnley fans there that we had got our hands on a good keeper.

Mellor went out on loan to Chesterfield initially but on his return he was soon signing for Fulham whilst Waiters too never played for the club again as the Derbyshire youngster made the position his own from day one.

We were in a poor run of form and that continued for a while and the firs six away games he played in were all lost. The last of those as at Sunderland on Easter Monday 1972 and the Clarets with Stevenson in goal did not lose another match away from home until the following January.

Adamson had built a side ready to take the 2^nd Division by storm and Stevo was the rock at the back as we won the Championship in 1972/73 with only four defeats all season. He’d been tipped for the top and he had made it at the age of 22 as Burnley returned to the big league.

He was in outstanding form as the Clarets got to the FA Cup Semi-Final and finished within a point of qualifying for Europe. He played in all but two of the games that season and one that he missed was a 3-3 draw against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

He, along with his captain Martin Dobson, couldn’t make it because they were on England duty. He was sub for his country that night against Portugal as Dobbo made his debut. Phil Parkes was in goal and sadly that was as near as he ever came to winning a full cap.

He did though win a record eleven England Under 23 caps and actually played out of goal for a period in one game after a mix up by the coach regarding substitutions.

It was becoming difficult to imagine a Burnley team without Stevenson in goal but in the 1975/76 season he did lose his place to Gerry Peyton who had arrived from non-league Atherstone.

It took his some time to regain his place too as Peyton played 30 games stretching into the following season. By then the Clarets had been relegated and Stevenson’s days in the top division were over but he was never to lose his place again as first choice at Burnley until just before he left.

It soon became apparent that a promotion back to the First Division was unlikely and a number of clubs were linked with Stevenson. Nothing ever materialised though and he continued as our first choice keeper.

That was the best news the Burnley fans could have had, the one thing that could be relied upon at that time was Stevenson’s form in goal.

Even so we were relegated to Division Three in 1980 but as new boss Brian Miller put a side together to try and get us back up the one position he didn’t need to look to strengthen was that of the goalkeeper.

He missed just two games in the 1980/81 season, suspended after being sent off at Christmas against Blackpool. He lost it just before the end of the game with the Clarets already 4-1 up.

And he was an ever present in the following season as we went on a run of 20 games unbeaten and won the Third Division title. He also enjoyed a very successful testimonial that culminated in a game against Manchester City who were managed by John Bond. It was played in front of a good crowd and was a superb night. He played in every game that season but a year later he was leaving Turf Moor.

As we embarked on what was to be the most incredible of seasons in 1982/83 he was still very much first choice. We were relegated straight back to Division Three but reached the semi final of the League (Milk) Cup and the last eight of the FA Cup.

Again it was a red card, this time somewhat unfortunate, that cost him his place. Billy O’Rourke replaced him but after just a few games O’Rourke was dropped after a nightmare performance at Bolton that saw him concede a goal with a kick out from the Bolton keeper.

Stevenson was back as the cup runs came to a climax but on the last day of April 1983 at Derby he had a poor game in a 2-0 defeat and three days later O’Rourke was recalled at Shrewsbury.

He had just played his last game for us, it was his 438^th league appearance that left him just one short of the Club’s post war record held jointly by Jimmy McIlroy and John Angus.

He moved on to Rotherham and then Hartlepool where he eventually became Commercial Manager. He has since spent many years working in the game and has worked for clubs such as Huddersfield, Middlesbrough and West Brom as well as the Wembley project.

At Rotherham he had his last real contact with Burnley when he played against us. The teams came out to warm up and he went down to the end housing the home fans. The teams changed ends for the first half and the applause from the Burnley supporters started just as he was leaving the penalty area at the far end.

By the time he arrived at our end the noise was deafening. But it was a thank you to him for eleven years of service to the club. He had followed in a long line of top Burnley goalkeepers and I can pay him no higher compliment than to say that he deserves to have his name alongside those mentioned above – Strong, McDonald, Blacklaw and Thomson.