WHEN Neil Grewcock got the call from Burnley in the summer of 1984 his mind was made up almost instantly.

After a dream start to his career with hometown club Leicester City – he scored against Cardiff on his debut as a 16-year-old – Grewcock had slid into non-league football and was a 22-year-old playing for Shepshed Dynamo.

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Then John Bond expressed an interest in bringing him to Turf Moor.

Grewcock jumped at the chance to reignite his Football League career. Notts County and Port Vale were both keen, but Burnley were a big name in English football, champions just over two decades previously, and he knew where he wanted to go.

“I had three years at Leicester and 18 months at Gillingham but things didn’t work out there,” he explains.

“I drifted into non-league for a season and then I got the call from Burnley, I was playing for Notts County reserves at the time.

“I was at Shepshed Dynamo and Notts County were interested. I played in the old Central League against Wolves and then, after that, got a call the following week from Burnley.”

A dazzling winger on his day, Grewcock had been released by Gillingham and had dropped out of the professional game, playing for Kettering Town before his move to the Dynamos.

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Having had such a dream start to his career, did he think his chances in the Football League had gone?

“You never know,” he said. “You can be lucky and have a decent game when somebody is watching you and you’re back in the Football League.

“At the time that’s how it went. Notts County were interested and so were Port Vale.

“When Burnley came in I thought, ‘That’s the one’, a recognised club with a lot of history and a reputation for playing good football, so it was a no-brainer at the time.”

The mystery was how it had got to that point.

Grewcock, a Leicester City fan, was a hot prospect around Filbert Street and he got his chance in the first team when barely out of school.

But his debut strike didn’t spark a long career for him with the Foxes, and he made just eight appearances before leaving for the Gills.

“At the time Jock Wallace, the manager, was blooding quite a few youngsters so you always thought you had a chance of playing in the first team,” the 52-year-old said of his dream debut.

“We had a bit of a yo-yo time when I was at Leicester. We got promotion to the old First Division then got relegated the following season.”

For a 16-year-old to jump into competitive action in the Football League was a big ask, but Grewcock didn’t feel out of place.

“You tend to adapt,” he said. “At the time you didn’t think anything different because I’d had half a season playing in the reserves, so I was used to coming up against some experienced players.

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“You came up against some names in the reserves and it was a progression into the first team. You got taught a lesson or two by these experienced pros and you had to learn to look after yourself.”

If he’d struggled to make an impact with Leicester and Gillingham, Grewcock hit the ground running at Turf Moor.

He had been signed by Bond, but it was John Benson who was in charge at the start of the season as civil war nearly broke out.

Bond went after a row with chairman John Jackson and Benson came in as the club’s fourth manager in 20 months.

Despite the turmoil, Grewcock enjoyed a bright start to his career in East Lancashire, and he felt the Clarets had a squad capable of challenging at the top of the Third Division. He was to be proved wrong.

“Surprisingly enough I settled in really quickly at Burnley,.I don’t know what it was, but I just felt comfortable at the club,” he said.

“I thought we had some bloody good players at the time when I signed, some experienced players, ex-internationals. I thought, ‘We’ve got a reasonably good side here’.

“I wouldn’t say I was wrong but we just didn’t put the results together.”

Burnley won just two of their opening 11 games, but Grewcock was proving a hit with the Turf Moor crowd.

“The crowd got behind you quickly and that helps, especially when you’re young. If you can get the crowd with you and enjoying your style of football then that’s half the battle won,” he said.

“They took to me quickly. It was good to play in front of the Longside. I was fortunate really, the crowd seemed to be with me from the start.

“It helps if you have a few good games early in the season and show them what you’re about.”

Despite his own contributions, with nine goals in league and cup that season, Burnley were to end the campaign relegated to the bottom division.

The Clarets gave themselves hope with a 3-2 win over Walsall in their final league game, but a quirk of the fixture list meant they had a six-day wait for Swansea City – now managed by Bond – to finish their own fixtures.

The Swans needed a point to survive and condemn Burnley, and that is what they got, at home to Bristol City.

Having joined what he thought was an upwardly mobile club with a good squad, Grewcock was stunned.

“It was devastating,” he said. “I think we played on Saturday and beat Walsall. Then we had to wait for Swansea to play six days later.

“They don’t do that now, they all play on the last day of the season, but I remember that game taking us down. It was awful.”

On the pitch things weren’t going to get much better for Burnley, but Grewcock would eventually write his name into Clarets folklore.

  • Tomorrow: Neil Grewcock on his Leyton Orient heroics and the heartbreak of missing out on a Wembley appearance.