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Part 11 of our summer squad number feature

2021-06-23T08:34:18.373Z

Seven-Up

Part 11 of our summer squad number feature

2021-06-23T08:34:18.373Z

Part 11 of our summer squad number feature

Squad numbers were introduced for the first time in the 1999/2000 season and a generation of Clarets have since put their own special mark on a particular shirt.

Repeating a series by contributor Wallace Chadwick which ran in the on-line Turf matchday magazine during the 2020/21 season, we will be highlighting who wore what and profiling some of those who made their mark at Turf Moor.

This instalment focuses on number seven, a shirt worn by some high-profile players and currently the property of Iceland international and World Cup performer Johann Berg Gudmundsson.

1999-2004 Glen Little

2004-05 Richard Chaplow (to Jan ’05)

2005 Peter Whittingham (Feb to Mar ’05)

2005-08 James O’Connor (from March ’05)

2008-11 Kevin McDonald

2011-15 Ross Wallace

2015-17 Andre Gray

2018 Georges-Kevin Nkoudou (Jan to May ’18)

2018- Johann Berg Gudmundsson

GLEN LITTLE

After being signed by Adrian Heath and initially seemingly under-rated by Chris Waddle, Glen Little’s Burnley career really blossomed under Stan Ternent.

The relationship between manager and player may have been volatile, but Ternent certainly brought the best out of a player who was an idol of the supporters and a key figure in Burnley’s return to Championship level in 2000.

Crystal Palace, not Burnley, was Little’s first English club but it was after leaving Palace for Glentoran that he began to attract notice, persuading Heath to sign him for £100,000 in November 1996.

His appearances were occasional at first but as the Clarets struggled following Waddle’s succession to the management seat in 1997 it became an increasing source of frustration to many why he was not in the side.

Once in, he was a major factor as Burnley just avoided relegation on the final day of that season.

It was all uphill once Ternent moved in. A midfielder/right winger, Little’s style was unconventional but highly effective and defenders were often bamboozled by him.

He had an eye for goal too and scored the winner as the Clarets clinched promotion to Division One (now the Championship) at Scunthorpe in May 2000.

The first two seasons at the higher level were successful, with Burnley just missing out on the play-offs both times. Little arguably reached his peak early in the 2001/02 season as the Clarets’ star man as Ternent’s side topped the table and looked on course for promotion to the Premier League. There was even talk of England recognition at that time.

Injury and the team’s decline brought some loss of effectiveness and in 2003 he had loan spells with Reading and Bolton Wanderers before making the permanent move to Reading in 2004, his last game for Burnley also being Ternent’s farewell at Turf Moor against Sunderland.

He appeared back at Turf Moor with Reading during a loan spell from Portsmouth in 2009, playing against the Clarets in the play-off semi-final that season.

After a stint at Sheffield United, his last League club was Aldershot before several more seasons playing and coaching at non-league level.

KEVIN McDONALD

It’s unfortunate that for many Burnley fans, one of the main memories of Kevin McDonald is his half-time exit to the KSC Club with the Clarets 5-0 down at home to Manchester City in April 2010.

That incident didn’t do justice to the talent he showed sporadically at Turf Moor and more regularly at subsequent clubs during a highly successful career in English football.

McDonald cost £500,000 when Owen Coyle signed him from Dundee in the summer of 2008. Although still a teenager, he had made a considerable impact in the Scottish League and looked sure to make the grade in England.

He did so, but largely following his time at Burnley which did include a few high spots, most notably scoring both goals in a League Cup quarter-final victory against Arsenal during his first season with the Clarets and an equalising goal at Manchester City in November, 2009.

Often used as a substitute, his contributions grew ever less frequent and in his third and last season as a Claret he was loaned out to Scunthorpe United and Notts County.

A tall and commanding presence in midfield, his potential was realised to some extent with Sheffield United, where he moved in 2011, and particularly with Wolves, where he was a mainstay of the side that won the League One title in 2014.

His reputation continued to grow following his move to Fulham two years later, and he finally made his debut for the senior Scottish national side at the age of 29 in 2018, having won 14 Under-21 caps several years earlier.

McDonald was a key part of the Fulham side that won promotion to the Premier League in 2018 and was also part of their promotion-winning squad again two years later.

However, he was unable to play in the top-flight in 2020/21 due to a kidney problem which required a transplant in the summer of 2021 – with his elder brother acting as a donor – as he ended a highly popular stay at Craven Cottage.

ROSS WALLACE

Brian Laws’ time as Burnley’s manager was brief but he did make several good signings for the club during the summer of 2010, one of which was Ross Wallace.

Wallace was an established player when he came to Turf Moor, having previously represented Celtic, Sunderland and Preston North End, where he won his sole full cap for Scotland in 2009.

Operating occasionally as a left-back, more centrally in midfield or in a more attacking role, he was seen at his best as a winger.

With a wonderful left foot delivery, Wallace was a provider of goals rather than a regular scorer, but nevertheless netted in four successive games during October-November 2011 during probably his best season as a Burnley player.

Early in the 2013/14 campaign a knee injury kept Wallace sidelined for several months and by the time he returned Sean Dyche’s side were mounting a serious bid for promotion with Scott Arfield and Michael Kightly the first choices in the wide positions.

In the following season in the Premier League, Wallace made only one start although he remained a regular presence on the bench and often made an impact as a substitute.

He left Turf Moor in 2015 and moved to Sheffield Wednesday, enjoying two seasons as a regular as Wednesday reached the Championship play-offs, before his playing career continued under ex-Claret Joey Barton after signed for Fleetwood Town in 2018.

He was a regular in his first season at Highbury but left at the end of his second before returning to his homeland for a brief spell with St. Mirren in the Scottish Premiership in the 2019/20 season.

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