Twelfth Might!

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Twelfth Might!

Part 13 of our summer squad-number feature

2021-06-30T15:55:10.329Z

Twelfth Might!

Part 13 of our summer squad-number feature

2021-06-30T15:55:10.329Z

PRE-SEASON PREVIEW: SHREWSBURY TOWN V BURNLEY - Image 3

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 12, a shirt worn by only six players in more than two decades from Ronnie Jepson to Robbie Brady, whose spell with the Clarets ended this summer.

The number 12s

1999-2001 Ronnie Jepson

2001 John Mullin (to Oct)

2001-04 Tony Grant (from Oct ’01)

2004-13 Brian Jensen

2013-15 Alex Cisak

2017- Robbie Brady (from Jan ’17)

JENSEN CALLS ON TURF MOOR CROWD - Image 1

BRIAN JENSEN

Of the six players to have worn the Clarets’ number 12 shirt since the introduction of the squad-number system, by far the longest occupant was goalkeeper Brian Jensen.

“The Beast” was a tremendously popular figure between the sticks and played over 300 games for Burnley in his 10 years at Turf Moor.

But surprisingly, he took the number-one shirt only in his first season and for much of the rest of his career successfully fought off challenges for his place in the side.

Stan Ternent signed Jensen from West Bromwich Albion in the summer of 2003 and he was ever-present in his first season as a Claret.

Defensively it was a tough season for the Clarets, though, and when Steve Cotterill took over as manager in 2004, he installed Welsh international Danny Coyne as first choice in goal, establishing a pattern that persisted through several other pretenders to the throne.

None of whom, however, could hope to match Jensen in the crowd’s affections or keep the great Dane out of the side for long.

His best season was undoubtedly 2008/09 when under Owen Coyle’s management Burnley won their first promotion to the Premier League, going up via the play-off win against Sheffield United at Wembley.

The team also reached the semi-finals of the League Cup, inflicting “Capital Punishment” against four London sides, most notably Chelsea, when Jensen was the penalty shoot-out hero at Stamford Bridge.

It was Tottenham who finally ended that run with two heart-breaking late goals at Turf Moor in the second leg of their semi-final.

Jensen was ever-present in the Premier League season of 2009/10 and remained first choice until Coyle’s successor, Brian Laws, signed Lee Grant. Duties were shared at first, but Jensen, by now in his mid-thirties, finally gave way to the younger man.

His final appearance for the Clarets came as a late substitute in the final game of Sean Dyche’s first campaign (2012/13), when he was given a tremendous ovation by the supporters.

However, Jensen’s career was far from over and he went on to play well into his forties, before moving into coaching with Bury and then Shrewsbury Town.

RONNIE JEPSON

The first to have squad number 12 at Turf Moor was Ronnie Jepson - one of Stan Ternent’s first signings in July 1998.

Jepson had many links with Ternent throughout a long career in playing and management.

Burnley fans already knew Jepson well as a thorn in their side, having scored against the Clarets for four previous clubs including a hat-trick while at Preston.

He was already 35 when he became a Claret and had played for Ternent’s previous club, Bury, when they won promotion to the second tier in 1997. In between times, he had been at Oldham, where he was managed by the other recurring figure in his career in Neil Warnock.

Ternent was never likely to be a regular starter at the Turf and all but six of his 68 appearances came from the bench.

However, Jepson was the archetypal Ternent player on and off the pitch and in many of his late cameos he was effectively the manager’s voice, in which role he was very effective.

He usually played behind the main strikers, and in fact scored fewer goals for Burnley than he had in opposition. His sheer commitment to the cause ensured that he was always well-liked by the Turf Moor faithful.

Jepson retired from playing in 2001 and became Burnley’s reserve-team coach, the first of his many coaching and management positions.

He was then assistant to Ternent at Gillingham before succeeding him as manager in 2005, and later had a brief spell managing Bury.

His many coaching posts have included several working under Warnock, including at Cardiff City during the Bluebirds’ Premier League campaign of 2018/19 and currently at Middlesbrough.

TONY GRANT

In common with the other two players included in this feature, Tony Grant was a Stan Ternent signing for Burnley, in October 2001.

A classy and dependable midfield man, with fine passing skills, he was a regular in the side for four seasons and one of the few who survived the clear-out of players in 2004 prior to the appointment of Steve Cotterill as Ternent’s successor.

A Liverpudlian by birth, Grant’s professional career began at Everton. He made his debut as a teenager, but never quite became established in the side.

He did, however, win an England Under-21 cap in 1996 and commanded a fee of £450,000 when he moved to Manchester City three years later.

It was from City that he joined Burnley and it was at Turf Moor that he enjoyed the most consistent spell of his career.

Managers and team-mates clearly rated him and it he was arguably under-appreciated by a wider audience for the undoubted talents he possessed.

Grant left Burnley for Bristol City in 2005 and played out the remainder of his career in the lower divisions, including a short spell as player/coach at Accrington Stanley.

He then moved into coaching, based around the North-West, including spells with Blackburn Rovers and as assistant manager at Blackpool, before moving first to Australia at Brisbane Roar and then to his current post with East Bengal FC in the Indian Super League.