Five Clarets get England call-up

[mikeS]

In September 1961, England manager Walter Winterbottom called up five Burnley players to face Luxembourg in a World Cup qualifier.
Angus, Miller, Pointer, Harris and Connelly.
The match played at Arsenals Highbury stadium.
Ray Pointer scored Englands first goal in a 4-1 victory.
Five players. Amazing!

3F23276A-4D8E-47C7-B510-E00AF379A381.jpeg (536.78 KiB) Viewed 1706 times

[thehistorylecturer67]

and yet of the five only Pointer played in the game … good old FA …

[Petersa]

Didn't Angus and Miller have their one and only caps by then and it took Harris another five years to get his one and only cap!

Wasn't the England team still selected by t'comittee when Winterbottom was in charge?

[Rowls]

and yet of the five only Pointer played in the game … good old FA …

Plus ca change...

[Royboyclaret]

Fully deserved recognition for all five. They were part of the great Burnley team that was pretty much at it's peak during the early part of that season. In the month of that International match, September '61, we played seven league games, won them all scoring a remarkable 27 goals, an average of almost four per game. A special time to be watching Burnley.

[Inchy]

I don’t swing that way but bloody hell Ray Pointer was a beautiful man

[bfcjg]

I don’t swing that way but bloody hell Ray Pointer was a beautiful man

[Royboyclaret]

Didn't Angus and Miller have their one and only caps by then and it took Harris another five years to get his one and only cap!

Wasn't the England team still selected by t'comittee when Winterbottom was in charge?

Angus and Miller were both in the same game against Austria in 1961, followed by Harris against Poland in 1966.

[Spijed]

For such a great period in our history and with so many great players why did a number of them end up with just a few international appearances, such as Ray Pointer?

[Royboyclaret]

For such a great period in our history and with so many great players why did a number of them end up with just a few international appearances, such as Ray Pointer?

It's a fair question, but even by this period we were still considered as little old Burnley from the north and Tottenham were assumed to have slightly superior English players to us. That said, the likes of John Connelly still managed double figures in International caps scoring four goals.

[Tricky Trevor]

For such a great period in our history and with so many great players why did a number of them end up with just a few international appearances, such as Ray Pointer?

They weren’t kept out by mugs. We love our guys but Armfield and Howe were super RBs ahead of John Angus, who reportedly was a home bird and not keen on being away. Miller was
behind Ron Flowers, another fine footballer. Bomber Harris, as a LW then was behind Bobby Charlton, he got his only cap as a CM. Pointer was the unluckiest scoring 2 in 3 appearances. Bobby Smith or Gerry Hitchen were the chosen one alongside Jimmy Greaves. Pointer was a better foil than both IMHO.

[thehistorylecturer67]

John Connelly and Ray Pointer both played and scored in the opening 9 minutes of the WC Qualifier against Portugal in October 1961 .Ray played for England three times in 27 days scoring twice but was never selected again.