Sweet 16

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Sweet 16

Part six of our summer squad number feature

2021-06-13T10:00:00.000Z

Sweet 16

Part six of our summer squad number feature

2021-06-13T10:00:00.000Z

Part six 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 features shirt number 16, currently worn by Dale Stephens since his arrival from Brighton and Hove Albion last summer.

1999-2000 Tom Cowan

2000 Phil Gray (to Nov 2000)

2000-03 Ian Moore (from Nov 2000)

2003 Gareth Farrelly (on loan to Nov)

2003 Jay McEveley (on loan Dec)

2004-05 Paul Scott

2005-11 Chris McCann

2011-12 Zavon Hines

2012-15 Luke O’Neill

2016 Lloyd Dyer (Feb to May)

2016-19 Steven Defour

2020 - Dale Stephens

IAN MOORE

Ian Moore became Burnley’s first £1m signing when Stan Ternent brought him to Turf Moor in November 2000, and he went on to play well over 200 games for the club over the next few years.

His father, Ronnie, had a long association with Tranmere Rovers as both player and manager, and it was with the Birkenhead club that Ian began his professional career in 1994.

He played for Tranmere during their peak years as a Championship side, and won six England U21 caps while at Prenton Park.

A move to a bigger club was always likely, and Moore commanded his first £1m fee on moving to Nottingham Forest in 1997.

His next move was to Stockport, also then a Championship club, the following year, and it was from there that he made the move to Burnley.

Moore was a keen competitor who never recognised a lost cause and during his time at Turf Moor he formed fine forward partnerships with Gareth Taylor and then Robbie Blake.

In his latter years at Burnley, he featured on the wing and occasionally in midfield.

A curiosity of Ian’s record as a Claret is his scoring success in the FA Cup, with 12 goals in just 17 games, including a hat-trick against non-League Canvey Island in 2002.

He moved to Leeds in March 2005, and subsequently played for Hartlepool, Tranmere again, and Rotherham, his manager at the latter two clubs being dad Ronnie. Ian retired in 2011, having played 580 League games in total.

Following his marriage in July 2009, he changed his name to Ian Thomas-Moore.

STEVEN DEFOUR

Defour was a class act at Turf Moor and it was a tragedy that his Clarets career was so blighted by injury.

The Belgian became the club’s record signing for a reported fee of around £8m in August, 2016. Defour was already an established international and had won four League titles, two in his homeland with Standard Liege and two in Portugal with Porto.

It was at Liege where his star really began to shine; he was appointed captain at the age of 19 and attracted the attention of Alex Ferguson, although rumours of a move to Manchester United proved unfounded.

He won his first national cap in 2006 while still a teenager.

Porto was his next club, and his first two seasons there brought League title success; at the end of his third, he played for his country in the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil.

After two seasons with Anderlecht, Defour moved to Turf Moor.

He made a fine start but reached his peak in the first half of the 2017/18 season, when he played in every league game up to January and his skills on the ball made him a big favourite with the Burnley faithful.

A highlight was his superb free kick in a Boxing Day draw at Old Trafford, but injury struck soon afterwards and the midfielder missed the rest of the season.

However, it was largely on the pre-Christmas form that the Clarets qualified for the Europa League in 2018 and Defour had played a huge part in that.

He finally returned to action in October, but featured in the side only rarely before his contract was cancelled by mutual arrangement in August 2019.

It was a similar story back in Belgium with Royal Antwerp and Mechelen, and Defour finally gave up the fight against his injury problems, announcing his retirement in April of this year.

LUKE O’NEILL

Full-back Luke O’Neill’s career began with Leicester, but he made only one League appearance there before moving into non-League where he made a considerable impression, prompting Eddie Howe to sign him for Burnley from Mansfield in the summer of 2012.

Sadly, his career at Turf Moor was blighted by the man ahead of him in the pecking order for the number two shirt, Kieran Trippier, who hardly missed a game during O’Neill’s three years as a Claret.

Indeed, O’Neill was restricted to only two first-team appearances in three years with the club, one each in the Championship and the League Cup. There were five loan spells during that time, including two with Southend, and it was to Roots Hall where he eventually moved in 2015.

O’Neill’s subsequent career has seen him featuring regularly in the lower divisions. He moved to Gillingham in 2017, and two years later to AFC Wimbledon where he has been a regular in the side this last season.