The Magic 8

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The Magic 8

Part 12 of our summer squad-number feature

2021-06-28T08:51:12.168Z

The Magic 8

Part 12 of our summer squad-number feature

2021-06-28T08:51:12.168Z

Part 12 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 concentrates on number eight, a shirt worn by a couple of real crowd favourites in the shape of Robbie Blake and Dean Marney and now worn by another midfielder making his mark at Turf Moor in Josh Brownhill.

The number 8s

1999-2003 Paul Cook

2003-05 Robbie Blake (to Jan ’05)

2005 John Oster (to May ’05)

2005-06 Micah Hyde

2006=07 Alan Mahon

2007-10 Joey Gudjonsson

2010-18 Dean Marney

2019-20 Danny Drinkwater (to Jan ’20)

2020- Josh Brownhill (from Jan ’20)

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DEAN MARNEY

Brian Laws may not have stayed at Turf Moor for too long but he did leave one notable legacy through the signing of Dean Marney, who became a Claret in May 2010 and remained one for eight years.

Not an immediate crowd-pleaser, Marney was a player who became hugely popular with the Burnley faithful. His non-stop efforts for the team, allied to no little skill, made him perfectly suited to Sean Dyche’s preferred style and his place as a starter was seldom in doubt through the first few years of Dyche’s reign.

His first League club was Tottenham Hotspur, but chances were limited there and he was loaned out to several lower division sides before his career really took off following a move to Hull City in 2006.

The Tigers won their first promotion to the Premier League two years later and Marney was a key man in that success. He continued to impress among the elite but played less frequently as Hull were relegated after two years in the top-flight. Enter Burnley.

His hard-running, hard-tackling style soon endeared him to the Turf regulars. He was a regular under Laws’ successor Eddie Howe and probably had his best years as a Claret following the appointment of Dyche and arrival of David Jones in 2013.

They proved a perfect central midfield pairing throughout the promotion campaign of 2013/14 and the Premier League campaign that followed before a cruciate ligament injury sustained in a home game against West Bromwich Albion in February 2015 kept Marney on the sidelines for almost a year.

He returned as good as ever but was desperately unfortunate to suffer a further cruciate injury at Arsenal in January 2017. Although he eventually returned to fitness, that was to prove his last first-team appearance for Burnley.

Released in 2018, he joined Fleetwood Town where he was signed by fellow ex-Claret Joey Barton. By now approaching the veteran stage of his career, though, Marney struggled to make a big impression and he left when his contract expired at the end of the 2019/20 season.

JOEY GUDJONSSON

Johann Berg Gudmundsson is not the first Icelandic international to have appeared in Burnley’s colours.

That was Joey Gudjonsson, who was signed by Steve Cotterill in January 2007 and went on to play his part in the Clarets’ first promotion to the Premier League under Owen Coyle.

Joey’s surname is a patronymic, derived under the Icelandic tradition from his father Gudjon Thodarson who played for and managed his national side and also managed Stoke City among other English clubs. Three of his brothers also played professionally.

Gudjonsson’s early career was spent in his homeland and he had moves to Belgium, Holland and Spain before his first experience of English football came with Aston Villa.

After loan spells there and with Wolves, his profile in this country was raised at Leicester City where he was joint top scorer and Player of the Year in 2005/06.

He came to Burnley after half a season with Dutch side AZ Alkmaar but his arrival coincided with a downtown in the Clarets’ fortunes which culminated with Cotterill’s departure in November 2007.

He fared much better after the appointment of Owen Coyle and enjoyed his best season as promotion was won in 2008/09.

His bullet free-kicks were a feature, best seen with a superb goal at Turf Moor against Preston, and his commitment, which sometimes went far enough to incur the displeasure of referees, ensured his popularity.

Gudjonsson played only one Premier League game for Burnley and was suspended by the club after criticising manager Brian Laws on an Icelandic website, eventually leaving the club before the season’s end. He subsequently moved to Huddersfield Town, his last English club before returning to play and manage back in his homeland.

MICAH HYDE

Some players are remembered mainly for one key moment in their career at a club.

In the case of Micah Hyde, that moment with Burnley came when he scored a spectacular equalising goal in an FA Cup replay at Blackburn in 2005. Rovers were the dominant force in East Lancashire football at that time, a fact naturally not appreciated by those of a Claret persuasion, and that made Hyde’s strike all the sweeter.

Hyde was one of the first signings made in 2004 by Steve Cotterill as he rebuilt the team which had been reduced to shreds following the collapse of ITV Digital.

He joined from Watford where he had spent seven years as a reliable defensive midfielder, his time at Vicarage Road including one season in the Premier League, 1999/2000.

He scored his only league goal for Burnley on his debut against Sheffield United in the first game of the 2004/05 season. Notably difficult to dispossess, he was the hard man of the Clarets’ midfield until the emergence of Chris McCann threatened his regular place in the side.

He was transfer-listed at the end of his second season but remained at Turf Moor until January 2007, still a model of consistency.

Hyde then moved to Peterborough United, where he won promotion to League One in 2008 but featured rarely as the club went up again a year later.

He moved into non-league towards the end of his playing career and is currently an academy coach with QPR.

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