Bellamy recalls Euro adventure

Clarets boss Stan Ternent is hoping to keep German trialist Thomas Sobotzik at Turf Moor for a few more days so he can get a closer look at him.

The club was frustrated when it failed to get international clearance for the midfielder in time for him to play for the reserves against Oldham in midweek.

But just the name of his former club, Eintracht Frankfurt, is enough to send die-hard Clarets fans misty eyed.

The 26-year-old Sobotzik is unlikely to be aware of the place the German side has in Turf Moor history because the memorable clash between the two sides took place nine years before he was born.

But if he should sign for Burnley and wants to know more about it all he need do is chat to the club's groundsman Arthur Bellamy.

He played in both legs against the German side and remembers the bitter disappointment of elimination after a second leg defeat at Turf Moor.

It was in April 1967 that Burnley faced the German side over two legs in the quarter-final of the old Fairs Cup, the forerunner of the UEFA Cup.

Burnley had already beaten Stuttgart, Lausanne-Sports and Napoli and only the Germans stood between them and the semi-finals.

Everything looked bright for the Clarets after a 1-1 draw in Germany in the first leg but when they played the return at Turf Moor there was huge disappointment for the home fans when they lost 2-1.

"Looking back, that was one of the most enjoyable seasons of my career," said Bellamy. "I had missed the round before in Naples because I had broken my fibula playing against Liverpool at Anfield.

"It was a hell of an experience playing in European football, playing on foreign grounds. We had already played in front of 70,000 in Stuttgart and a lot of the grounds would have a running track around the outside.

"I don't remember too much about the game over there except it was Brian Miller who got our goal.

"It was the season after the World Cup win and Jimmy Adamson had decided to play me as a sweeper in away games. We first tried it against Chelsea and it worked well and that is where I played in Frankfurt but for the home leg I was played in midfield.

"We had got a good result over there and we thought we were going to go through. That is not to say we were complacent, it was drilled into us by the manager and the coaches that we had to get everything right on the night.

"But it sometimes happens, like in FA Cup matches, when you feel you are going to win and then it all goes wrong.

"We were looking at being in the semi-final and then all of a sudden we were sitting in the dressing room and knocked out. They were a very good side back then but it was still very disappointing."

Miller also got the goal in the second leg but it was not enough and the players and the fans were left to dream of what might have been.

There has been not time for dreaming this week for Bellamy as he has been in charge of the mopping up operation at the club's Gawthorpe training ground.

But having been in charge of the playing and training facilities since 1990 he is well used to coping with the vagaries of the Burnley weather.

"The pitches are in a low lying area, below the level of the river, and when I got there on Monday morning it was shocking," he said.

"But to be honest it is more of a problem for the coaches and the manager than it is for me because the players still have to train somewhere."

With sunshine yesterday and more dry weather predicted for the weekend, Bellamy is hoping that it will at least be business as usual at the training ground on Monday.

Stan working hard to put filling in middle

THE arrival of Tony Grant and the presence of German trialist Thomas Sobotzik indicates where Stan Ternent is keen to strengthen his squad.

Both players are midfielders and it is in the centre of the park that Ternent is keen to give himself more options.

For most of the season Kevin Ball and Paul Cook have been the men in the middle and they have done a fine job in the club's bright start to the season.

But the loss of wide men Glen Little and Alan Moore through injury has only highlighted the lack of cover in the midfield department and when Ternent was happy to sell John Mullin to Rotherham it was clear that he would have to bring in some fresh blood.

At 26 Grant should be coming into his prime and Sobotzik is the same age. Ternent has never been the type of manager to worry about the age of a player because in his view if you are good enough you are young enough holds as much as the other way round.

But there is no doubt that playing 46 matches in a shortened league season will stretch the resources at every club and quality support for the reliable 30-somethings Ball and Cook is essential.

Assistant manager Sam Ellis is one man who is delighted to see the arrival of Grant. He said: "We have bought him for his passing ability and he also has experience of playing in the Premier League.

"The fact is he has got age on his side. I think the next three, four and five years he will be at the peak of his career."