Leighton ?Taffy? James
News has reached us this evening of the passing of former Claret Leighton James at the age of 71, and it?s news that has certainly left me devastated.
Always Taffy to us, I saw him from a distance at Swansea one year but the last time I spoke to him was at the Turf in April 2011, thirteen years ago last Tuesday. He was back in Burnley for our game against Swansea and he told me they would beat us and that they would pass us off the pitch. As it turned out, despite going a goal behind, an Ashley Williams own goal and a Chris Eagles penalty ensured a 2-1 victory for the Clarets.
I think it is fair to say he was always opinionated, always full of himself, but I knew him well during his spells with the Clarets and always found him to be someone who was really engaging and also a decent person. He loved talking football; he loved talking cricket too because he was a very good cricketer as well. He was just seventeen when he made his Burnley debut against Nottingham Forest back in November 1970. He only played a handful of games that season but then stepped up to become first choice until left for Derby five years after his debut.
During that time he was a member of the Burnley team that won its place back in the old First Division and established itself there, but he was more than being a member of the team, he was the star of the team down the left wing and he contributed with goals too and by the time he left us he?d scored 44 league goals, thirty of them in the top flight.
We...
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