CLARETS: When Bond released me, I went home and cried

IT has taken Andy Payton 14 years to convince Burnley he's worth a shot.

Not to mention 147 goals.

The classic case of the young starlet who missed the net - but certainly not through his own doing.

Burnley only have themselves to blame for the fact that Padiham-born Andy, a self-confessed Clarets fanatic, found football fame away from East Lancashire.

He wasn't just on the doorstep - he was sitting at the kitchen table waiting to be signed!

Andy attended Gawthorpe High School (no more than a long free kick away from the club's training headquarters) joined Junior Clarets and did well enough to sign schoolboy and youth trainee forms.

Then a midfielder, young Andy was quietly confident on reaching 16 that he would get taken on. In the final trial match before decision day he scored a hat trick.

Job done.

Afraid not!

In their wisdom Burnley, then under the control of John Bond, decided not to retain Andy's services.

"What did I do? I went home and I cried. Listen I wasn't just another young hopeful, I was a Burnley supporter. With my brother David, I watched Burnley home and away for season after season. My dream was to play for the club, but suddenly in the space of a few minutes on one day the dream was in ruins. The fact that I was local seemed to count against me. Had I spoken with a Geordie or Scouse accent I might have had a better chance. Sounds daft, but that's how it seemed at the time."

Let's jump back in time a year or two to when Andy was playing for junior Burnley club Highfield, managed by a guy called Wayne Miller. "Wayne attracted all the best lads and really did his best for them - even to the point of writing to clubs requesting trials. When I was 13 he contacted Hull City for me and I went there for a week. I got the chance at Burnley too and, obviously, when it came to choosing there was no real choice to be made. It had to be Burnley, although things didn't turn out as I'd hoped."

Right - back to the future.

Wayne Miller took up Andy's case again when the Burnley bombshell dropped and got back on the blower to Hull.

"Brian Horton was the manager, I got invited over, did well and won a YTS contract, before signing pro. My career was up and running thanks in the first instance to Wayne and then to Hull for not forgetting who I was after a three-year break.

"Although still operating in midfield I started getting plenty of goals in the Central League and Hull also sent me off for a summer playing in New Zealand with a club called Porrirua United. They asked me to fill in as a striker and I scored 15 goals in 12 games.

"I enjoyed it too, the scoring bug took a hold and when I returned to Hull I continued up front. My debut came in a First Division match against Leeds at Boothferry Park and I scored in the first minute. Not the best goal, a scrappy effort from six yards, but what a way to start!

"I became a fixture although I was moved out wide to the wing for a while when Keith Edwards and Billy Whitehurst formed the main strike partnership. One season we really struggled and Brian Horton lost the job. We had Colin Appleton for a short time before Stan Ternent moved in. "He restored me as a central striker and, although we went down, I finished with 25 goals - I've been told, unofficially, that it represents the highest number of goals by one player in a team finishing bottom. There was a lot of summer speculation about my future and I moved on to Middlesbrough for a then Boro record fee of £800,000. Again I scored on my debut, against Bristol City, but I suffered a nasty ligament injury before half time and missed the next two months.

"Stuart Ripley was a real star up there at the time, just prior to his move to Blackburn, but I never really got my career into gear. Great experience though."

Next stop: Glasgow Celtic.

"When Celtic came in I could hardly believe it. Liam Brady was in charge and that was a massive move for me. I remember looking around the dressing room at the likes of Frank McAvennie and Charlie Nicholas and thinking I'd really landed on my feet.

"I had to wait until my second game for the first goal, against Dundee United, but ended the season as top scorer. I played in the UEFA Cup and, perhaps my biggest claim to fame up there was scoring the winner in the Old Firm derby in front of 60,000 - sounded like 600,000 at Parkhead."

Off the field Andy was to experience a series of personal problems which, in the end, resulted in him asking for a transfer: "I was a bit homesick but there were other reasons which I want to keep private."

Barnsley provided the escape route. Wayne Biggins (another Burnley connection) went the opposite way and Celtic picked up a couple of hundred thousand pounds into the bargain. Andy's scoring touch didn't desert him for a minute and he finished top of the Tykes scoring charts for three seasons on the bounce. Neighbours Huddersfield, very much a club on the rise, decided he was the man they needed to build their frontline around. A £350,000 offer clinched it. Have boots will travel.

"Rejoining Brian Horton was a telling factor, but I suffered injury problems for the first time and needed two hernia ops. By the time I was back fit, Brian had been sacked and I just got the feeling I didn't fit in with the plan.

"I only started playing again about three weeks ago and after a reserve team game with York I got a message that Burnley wanted to sign me in a swap deal with Paul Barnes.

"Bury had made a straight cash bid too, but that had been kicked out. I was asked if I fancied having a chat with Chris Waddle. Did I ever!

"Some people questioned my sanity about joining a club at the bottom of the Second Division. But this isn't any club, this is my club and a club capable of much much better.

"I'm just turned 30 and haven't come here to play out the last year or so of my career I'm too young, too full of drive and ambition. I've been top scorer at whichever club I've been at for the last six seasons and my job now is to ensure I get enough goals to keep us up.

"When the first one flies in at Turf Moor that will be one special moment for me. I have scored there before though, although I don't talk about it much.

"It was for Barnsley and all my family and friends were there. I felt like a traitor to be honest and when I scored (the only goal of the game) I remember turning away without the usual frantic celebration routine and just walking back to the halfway line. Now I have the opportunity to put the record straight and I can't wait."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.