Football and life work in funny ways sometime. The next Burnley game after his death was against Leeds United. Whilst a hero at Burnley he was the opposite at Leeds having been there as manager at a time in his career and life when he was slowly losing all interest in football. Whilst a legend at Burnley, he became a figure of scorn and derision at Elland Road, despite a reasonably successful first season there.
 
     It’s possible that the seeds of his disinterest with the game began in 1976 when his team of the seventies was finally buried at a game against Blackpool in the FA Cup. As the foul weather dove in off the Irish Sea, a team managed by Harry Potts of all people, knocked Burnley out. Adamson was dismissed just days later.  Things were already acrimonious between him and Chairman Bob Lord. Jimmy had a mind of his own and old Bob found that difficult to cope with.
 
     Overall his management story is one of broken dreams. His playing career was outstanding. His reputation and renown as a coach was second to none. But his success as a manager was limited to just one brief spell at Turf Moor, when there was a promotion and then two good seasons in Division One, until one by one his players were sold to pay the bills.
 
    There were players who loved him and were his disciples. There were others who did not. Such is football. But what a cultured and elegant player he was, his long legs and long stride, his passing skills and football brain making him one of the truly great Burnley players. Adamson and McIlroy, McIlroy and Adamson, the two names were spoken in the same breathe many times by all the sports writers. What a fabulous team it was that won the ‘59/60 title and then had two more outstanding years.  Jimmy A was one half of the brains in it. It tells you how good Jimmy was as player and coach that Bobby Charlton devotes several pages to him in his biography. You get the clear feeling that Bobby Charlton was an Adamson disciple.

     Mrs T and me didn’t get to Burnley for the game. Various things I won’t bore you with meant we had to stay at home. In some ways I wasn’t sorry. Behind us last year in the James Hargreaves trouble kicked off when a ‘family’ of Leeds supporters were ejected. Whether they were instigators of the trouble or the victims was unclear. But how on earth did they get into the James Hargreaves? And what a bizarre looking group as well. Five of them if I remember rightly, all dressed in black; not Leeds colours, but black. It was bizarre.
 
     You could say that Leeds and all their money troubles some years ago were a football definition of what Barry Kilby is trying to avoid. That is to say the slippery and rapid road down to financial meltdown. The Burnley accounts that were published a couple of days before the game were as per the earlier forecast and showed a loss of app £4million. By and large there is a reluctant acceptance of the situation at Turf Moor, albeit with a degree of headscratching from many. The feverish messageboard responses reached their peak the day before the game and then slowly tailed off. Most of it was constructive and informed with genuine questions and worries. A smaller group was abusive demanding a new Board and chairman but quite where the next generation of directors is to come from is anyone’s guess. Wealthy investors are not exactly queueing up. Someone like the Venkys taking over perhaps; there’s some interesting stuff emerging about them that if correct will take Blackburn into a catastrophic position.............

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Goodbye Jimmy