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Six Pack!

Kicking off a special squad number feature

2021-06-05T09:00:00.000Z

Six Pack!

Kicking off a special squad number feature

2021-06-05T09:00:00.000Z

PLAYED FOR BOTH: STEVE CALDWELL - Image 2

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.

We’re kicking off with the number of current captain Ben Mee.

Come in, number 6:

1999-2003 Gordon Armstrong 2003-04 Graham Branch 2004-07 Michael Duff 2007-10 Steven Caldwell 2010-11 Jack Cork 2011-13 Chris McCann 2013- Ben Mee

Gordon Armstrong

The first wearer of Burnley’s number six shirt under the squad number system, Gordon Armstrong had been signed by Stan Ternent in the summer of 1998.

He was 31 and already vastly experienced, having spent over a decade at Sunderland where he won two promotions and appeared in the FA Cup final in 1992 when they were beaten by Liverpool.

Mainly a left-sided midfield man in his earlier career, Armstrong was a versatile player who performed equally well in defence.

Ternent was certainly a fan, having signed him for Bury in 1996 when Armstrong’s long spell on Wearside finally ended. He was instrumental in Bury’s unexpected success in winning the Division Two (now League One) title in 1997, and again as they defied the odds by staying up the following year.

When the Burnley job became vacant in 1998, it was no surprise when Ternent made the short journey north to Turf Moor, and he soon brought with him several of the mainstays of his Bury side, Armstrong prominent among them as he was made club captain.

The Clarets won promotion to the second tier in 2000, but Armstrong suffered to some degree through his versatility and as the side became settled and successful his place was no longer guaranteed.

Nevertheless, he remained a valuable squad member for the next three seasons, always keeping the number six shirt until he was released in the summer of 2003 after making 113 appearances for the Clarets.

He then joined Accrington Stanley, who had just been promoted to the Conference, but failed to make a big impression there and left after one season, going on to play lower down the Non-League ladder as he moved into his late thirties.

Since hanging up his boots, Gordon Armstrong has worked as a football agent, numbering several players with Claret connections among his clients.

Steven Caldwell

The picture of Steven Caldwell holding the Championship play-off trophy aloft at Wembley on a sunny day in May 2009 is one of the iconic images in Burnley’s recent history.

Caldwell joined the Clarets on the final day of the January 2007 transfer window, having already won a promotion from the Championship with Sunderland and won nine full caps for Scotland.

His first club was Newcastle, but it was after his move to the Stadium of Light in 2004 that his career really took off as he established himself as a dominant central defender.

He scored the Black Cats’ winning goal against Leicester to clinch promotion to the Premier League in 2005, but never reached those heights again over the next season-and-a-half.

Steve Cotterill was the manager who brought Caldwell to Turf Moor. He was initially given the number 24 shirt and immediately established himself in the side, soon being appointed captain and moving to number 6 as a great leader of the side.

His first full season was a stop-start affair blighted by injuries, but there were no such problems in 2008/09 when he played 57 games as Owen Coyle’s side, having already suffered a heart-breaking League Cup semi-final defeat to Tottenham Hotspur, compensated by reaching Wembley for the play-off final against Sheffield United.

Caldwell’s partnership with Clarke Carlisle at the back was arguably as crucial to the victory that day as Wade Elliott’s winning goal.

That was clearly the peak of Caldwell’s time with Burnley, for whom he played a total of 119 games.

A pre-season injury on international duty kept him out at the start of the club’s first Premier League campaign and reared its head again later on. Despite those problems, it was a major surprise when he was released at the end of the season.

After spells with Wigan Athletic, where his brother Gary was a team-mate, and Birmingham City, he moved abroad to play Major League Soccer with Toronto FC, finally retiring from playing in 2015.

He remained in Canada, becoming a respected TV analyst before, in January 2019, being appointed president of Oakville Blue Devils FC and then eight months later taking up the role of assistant coach with the Canadian national team.

Chris McCann

In an era when it was rare for teenagers to appear in Burnley’s first team, Chris McCann was regarded as quite a prospect when, after moving from Home Farm in his native Ireland, he made an early debut in August 2005 after just having turned 18.

He was given an extended run in the side later that season and his tenacious displays in midfield and long-range shooting marked him out as one for the future.

He didn’t disappoint and proved his versatility with appearances at left-back, in central defence and even up front, apart from his regular role as midfield anchorman.

Voted Burnley’s Young Player of the Year in both 2006 and 2007, it seemed inevitable that a full Republic of Ireland cap would come his way, but despite his consistency at club level he never got beyond youth recognition internationally.

As with several of his contemporaries, his best season was 2008/09 when he was a regular in Owen Coyle’s side which reached the League Cup semi-final before winning Burnley’s first promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs.

But it then sadly went wrong for a spell for McCann as an early-season knee injury, followed by cruciate ligament damage which needed surgery, kept him sidelined for most of that Premier League campaign.

He was undoubtedly missed as the side slid to relegation and he remained out of action until late in the following season, when he made a scoring return in a victory at Derby County.

Eddie Howe appointed McCann as captain for the 2011/12 season, which also marked his move into the number 6 shirt.

A midfielder with a keen eye for goal, and a player who could undoubtedly have gone on to even better things had it not been for his injuries, McCann left the Clarets after making 268 appearances for the club and moved to Wigan Athletic in 2013.

After three years with the Latics, he played in the USA for Atlanta and DC United before returning English football last season with a spell at League Two Oldham Athletic.

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