ONLY one man has ever played more games for Burnley than Alan Stevenson, and there is a discernible pride in the voice of the Turf Moor goalkeeping legend as he recites the figure.

“I think I played 543 games, including cup matches,” he says.

“Although I didn’t play well in all of them!”

It is an astonishing number, amassed in 11-and-a-half years with the Clarets between January 1972 and May 1983.

It puts him only 26 appearances behind Jerry Dawson, and 46 ahead of Burnley great Jimmy McIlroy in the all-time list.

Michael Duff has been with the Clarets for just six months less, and served the club with distinction, but he is still 184 matches short of Stevenson’s mark.

It could all have been so different though, had it not been for Bob Lord’s famously tough negotiating skills.

Stevenson was in only his third full season at Turf Moor, the top flight relegation campaign of 1975/76, when he temporarily fell behind Gerry Peyton in the goalkeeping pecking order, and Everton came calling.

“I was tempted at the time,” he admits now.

“I’d lost my place to Gerry Peyton and I did think I might leave.

“Everton came in for me but Bob Lord wasn’t happy with the money they offered, so it didn’t happen.

“It would have been a step for my career, Everton were a big club, but it wasn’t to be.

“I was always happy at Burnley. You don’t stay somewhere for 11-and-a-half years if you’re not happy.

“I am proud to have played so many games. It’s a great club.”

Stevenson had joined Burnley from his local club Chesterfield for a fee of £50,000 - a sizeable figure in those days.

“It was the second highest fee for a goalkeeper at the time, £5,000 less than Gordon Banks,” he said.

“I’d won the Fourth Division with Chesterfield and played in the Third Division, then I joined Burnley in the Second Division and we got promoted to the First Division, so I made a step up each year.

“I think there might have been other interest when I left Chesterfield but I wasn’t told at the time.

“I was just told that Burnley had offered £50,000 and to get myself to a service station to meet them.

“There were no agents in those days. I did my own negotiations with Bob Lord. They took about 10 seconds!”

Stevenson was a natural sportsman, capable of turning his hand to more than just football.

“I played cricket for Derbyshire’s second XI when I was 15 and I played table tennis,” he said.

“I played in Burnley and Nelson, for Lancashire and also for England juniors. Table tennis was good for my reflexes, which are important as a goalkeeper.

“Football was always my first love.”

Stevenson was a key figure as Burnley won the Second Division title, although arguably his greatest moment during that season actually came in defeat, when he was applauded off by Liverpool fans in the FA Cup at Anfield.

“We played Liverpool, we drew at home and then played the replay at Anfield and I had quite a good game,” he says.

“There was a quote from Bill Shankly after the game that Stevenson was the find of the season. I kept the clipping of that!

“I shouldn’t mention the score. We lost 3-0, although it was only 1-0 until late on.”

The step up to the top flight was a dream for the goalkeeper, and his performances in his first season in the First Division not only earned himself an England call-up, but helped to catapult Burnley to sixth place and an FA Cup semi final.

“It was amazing to be playing in the top flight,” he said.

“A lot of the team hadn’t been there before but we had a good season.

“We won at Sheffield United in the first game and we beat Tottenham 3-2 away.

“We got to the semi final of the FA Cup and unfortunately we lost 2-0 to Newcastle.

“Malcolm Macdonald scored twice but I thought we were unlucky. Geoff Nulty hit the bar at 0-0.

“I was only 23 then so I thought there would be lots of other chances to play at Wembley, whereas people like Keith Newton were in their mid 30s and knew it was maybe their last chance.

“In the end I never played in a competitive game at Wembley, but I did play in a TV All Stars match before the FA Cup final between Liverpool and Wimbledon in 1988.

“I played in a team with George Best, Bobby Moore and Alan Ball. It was like a who’s who of football. It was only 20 minutes but it was fantastic.”

The Clarets’ semi final loss to Newcastle did allow them to take the honour of still being the last club ever to finish third in the FA Cup. They beat Leicester City in a third-place play-off, a fixture that was soon scrapped.

Briefly ousted by Peyton, Stevenson had to watch from the sidelines as Burnley dropped out of the First Division.

He would win his place back and then help the Clarets to some cup success in 1979.

“We won the Anglo Scottish Cup and we beat Celtic on the way,” Stevenson said.

“We won 1-0 at home then we drew 1-1 in front of 30,000 or 40,000 at Parkhead. It was a great tie.”

Stevenson’s consistent performances in the Clarets goal weren't enough to prevent the club from suffering relegation to the third tier for the first time in their history in 1980, although they would return to the Second Division two years later.

“It was disappointing to drop into the Third Division but the first season we just missed out on promotion and then we came back in the second season,” he said.

“Brian Miller was manager and we were second bottom in December but then we went about 28 games without losing and won the league.

“Although it was the Third Division, we had a lot of good players - Trevor Steven, Mike Phelan, Brian Laws, Billy Hamilton, Vince Overson."

“Trevor Steven and Mike Phelan went on to play for England.”

Stevenson’s 12th and final season with the Clarets was one of real mixed emotions.

Burnley were relegated from the Second Division once more but the campaign did still produce one of the highlights of his time at Turf Moor.

“We got to the League Cup semi finals, and in the quarter finals we won 4-1 at Tottenham,” he says. “They had Ossie Ardiles, Steve Archibald, Steve Perryman. It was a real challenge.

“It was at 0-0 at half time and then they scored early in the second half and we thought, ‘Here we go’.

“Then bang, bang, bang and we were 3-1 up, and late on we scored a fourth on the break.

“It was amazing.”

* Tomorrow: Leaving Burnley Football Club, my special rapport with the supporters and a second career in helping clubs move home.