WILLIE Irvine can remember it like it was yesterday.

Fifty years ago this season the Clarets were back in Europe for the first time since their European Cup adventure of 1960-61, this time in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.

They’d been denied entry to the competition since their league title success, but having been desperate for a return to the grandest stage of all for club sides, it was time to get the passports out again as Burnley prepared to head to the continent.

On September 20, 1966, they flew to Germany to face VfB Stuttgart, who had controversially replaced Hannover in the competition, in the first leg of their first round tie.

And it proved to be a memorable night for their young Northern Ireland striker, who scored the Clarets goal as they drew 1-1, laying the foundations for a 2-0 win at Turf Moor seven days later and a 3-1 aggregate success.

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“It was a great night. The Germans were hard to break down, we were told to be patient, but I don’t think there was any player in the Burnley team who had any patience, it was just ‘let’s go for it’,” said Irvine, who was 23 at the time.

“We were a good side then. We had Brian O’Neil, Gordon Harris, Willie Morgan, Adam Blacklaw in goal - it was a great squad and a pleasure to play with them.”

Half a century ago this newspaper described Irvine’s 17th-minute opener as a ‘brilliant opportunist goal’, and he can still remember it in great detail.

“We were very organised, we went at them and we did well. I can remember the goal well,” Irvine said.

“I hit it from about 16 yards and it hit the underside of the bar and went in, it was something a bit special. I took it on the turn and hit it without thinking and, looking up, it was just an instinct I got.

“I hit it but God guided it.”

He added: “When we went ahead the silence was just deafening. The place was packed out with Germans, although there was a small group of Burnley fans there. They were drowned out for a lot of the game by these German supporters.

“It was a great experience to play in that atmosphere.”

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Around 100 Clarets fans had made the trip to Germany, but it was an incident that happened as the players and staff landed that Irvine can still recall, and one of the rare occasions he was riled by legendary boss Harry Potts.

“When we landed in Germany the team was coming off the plane and there was an old lady who must have been about 90 and she fell over and hurt herself. There was blood coming out of her nose,” he explained.

“I went over with Brian O’Neil to help her up, and Harry Potts came over and said, ‘They were trying to kill you in the war and now you’re trying to save them’, I was annoyed by that, I think it was the first time I ever swore at Harry Potts.”

Despite dominating much of the game, Burnley were pegged back by their hosts, with Harbmont Weiss equalising from a controversially awarded penalty five minutes after half-time.

If the Clarets players were annoyed by that decision then they were stunned when O’Neil was sent off with five minutes to go, having been penalised for simply trying to block the ball.

Potts certainly made clear his views after the game, saying: “I am very happy about the result and look forward to Tuesday. The penalty and O’Neil’s sending off were diabolical decisions.”

If the first away leg of the competition had been a new experience for some, then it wasn’t the case for Irvine, who had already been capped for Northern Ireland at that time.

“It was a marvellous experience,” he said, “but I’d already played with Northern Ireland against foreign opposition and I knew what it would be like. A lot of the other lads were lacking in that experience and hadn’t played in that type of atmosphere.”

A week later Burnley were back at Turf Moor and they made no mistake in seeing off Stuttgart in front of over 23,700 fans.

Just before the hour Irvine was involved in the build-up before Ralph Coates put the Clarets ahead, and the tie was settled 20 minutes later Andy Lochhead scored the first of his six goals in the competition that season.

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Although Burnley’s European run continued, to Switzerland, Italy and then back to Germany, Irvine would only feature once more in the competition before having his leg broken at Everton.

“I missed a lot of that run when I got my leg broken at Everton,” he said. “I don’t think I ever came back to what I was promising to be. It wasn’t done accidentally, put it that way. It was awful, my toes were staring me in the eyes.

“It was frustrating to miss those European games and it took me a while to get back into shape. I was frightened to go into tackles after that because it left such a scar on me.”

But partly thanks to Irvine, Burnley were on their way in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, and next they would face Swiss side Lausanne-Sports in October.