Jimmy Adamson: The Man Who Said No to England

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Recruited from youth football in Northumberland, Adamson joined Burnley's groundstaff before signing a first professional contract with the Clarets in 1947, aged 17, although he did not make his senior Clarets debut until 1951. Recruited from youth football in Northumberland, Adamson joined Burnley's groundstaff before signing a first professional contract with the Clarets in 1947, aged 17. However, he did not make his senior debut until 1951. Perhaps he should have stayed. After only a month in charge of Sparta Rotterdam and two years at Sunderland, in 1978 he accepted the challenge to manage Leeds United, a kind of Sargasso Sea for the managers trying to follow in the giant footsteps of Don Revie, who had built such a formidable team in the 1960s and early 70s. After retiring, Adamson stayed on with Burnley as a successful coach under Harry Potts as manager. He polished and promoted raw talent, much of which had been scouted by the club in his native north-east. "We don't get the first-class players," Adamson would say, "we get the second-class players," but the quality of Burnley's coaching ensured that many of them became stars. In 1962, Adamson had the world at his feet: FA Cup finalist, Footballer of the Year and invited to become England manager, having been assistant at the World Cup in Chile. But Adamson said ‘no’.

As a Burnley player, Adamson's closest friend and companion was the gifted Northern Ireland inside-right, the ebullient Jimmy McIlroy. They complemented one another perfectly both on and off the field, Adamson's dry humour a foil for McIlroy's exuberance. Having been coach to title-winning Burnley manager Harry Potts, Adamson took over in the hot seat at Turf Moor.Adamson, a right-half, joined Burnley in January 1947 after playing non-league football in his native Ashington and working as a miner. His early career was interrupted by national service, which he completed with the Royal Air Force, meaning his debut had to wait until February 1951, when Burnley played away to Bolton Wanderers. He played once for the England B team, but never made the full England side. Though 1962 was a landmark year for Adamson, he will be best remembered as the ever-present captain of the Burnley team which won the League Championship in the 1959-60 season. This was a tremendous achievement for a small, unfashionable club that lived on its wits, the generosity of its pork butcher chairman, Bob Lord, and the skill of its scouts and coaches.

This is a poignant story of broken dreams, failed ambitions and personal tragedy, ending in estrangement from the club he loved. A story of what might have been. He retired in 1964, having played 426 league games, and joined the Burnley coaching staff. He had previously coached the England team in the 1962 World Cup in Chile and was the Football Association's preferred choice of manager ahead of Alf Ramsey but declined the offer. [2] In 1962 Jimmy Adamson had the football world at his feet; a supremely elegant player respected throughout the game, Footballer of the Year and invited to become England manager having been assistant manager in Chile during the World Cup. He turned it down. Appointed Burnley coach in 1965 he oversaw the 1968 Youth Cup Final victory and made a bold prediction that Burnley would become the ‘Team of the Seventies,’ but relegation soon followed. Then came the promotion season of 1972/73 to restore the club and repay the faith that Bob Lord had kept in him. He came so close to his dream but Chairman Lord then sold the best players one by one to pay the bills. After a golden three-year period, his vision faded and died. Adamson formed a midfield partnership with inside-forward Jimmy McIlroy, around which much of Burnley's creative play was centred. Despite finishing on the losing side in the 1962 FA Cup Final, Adamson was named footballer of the year and, at the age of 33, was included in England's World Cup squad for the tournament in Chile that summer.

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Winterbottom resigned after the tournament and FA bosses turned to Adamson. He didn’t want the job and instead carried on playing at Burnley while Alf Ramsey became England manager. He was an incredibly loyal man too because he turned down the England manager's job to remain at Burnley." The team of brilliant young players roared to sixth place in 1974 and also reached the semi-final of the FA Cup – but that day at Hillsborough ended in tears with a defeat at the hands of Newcastle United. In 1976 Adamson left Burnley and the Clarets slid out of the top flight – and he went on to have short spells in charge of Sunderland, Leeds, who he led into the UEFA Cup, and Sparta Rotterdam.

Burnley were relegated again in 1976, although Adamson had already left that January. In May 1976 he was appointed as manager of Dutch side Sparta Rotterdam, but left the following month. In November 1976 he was made manager of Sunderland, but was unable to prevent them from relegation from the First Division. [2] Jimmy Adamson was very much an enigma, a great player of the 50s and early 60s, a title winner, man-of-the-match in the 1962 Cup Final, a revered coach whose name is still remembered in the game, but a manager who was sometimes not the easiest to get on with, and whose spirit was shattered by his dismissal as Burnley manager.

Despite living in Burnley, Adamson stayed away from Turf Moor for more than 30 years until he emotionally returned this January for the opening of the Jimmy Adamson suite as peace between the club and former loyal servant was finally made. Two years later the Clarets were beaten at Wembley by Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup final – but the brilliant Adamson was still honoured as player of the year. Jimmy Adamson was a football enigma, revered by some, disliked by others – a supremely elegant player of the ’50s and early ’60s, a title winner and a respected coach, but a manager whose spirit was ultimately shattered.

We will never know what may have happened had he said yes but some 486 games on from his debut Adamson retired from playing as one of Burnley’s greatest – and when he became manager in place of Harry Potts in 1970 there was more glory to come. On 1 August 2013, his biography, written by Dave Thomas, was published. [4] Honours [ edit ] BurnleyThe players who were around at that time got the benefit of his knowledge and were taught to play the right way.