Robbie Blake | Burnley 1-0 Manchester United

In a career spanning almost twenty years as a professional footballer, Robbie Blake played for ten different clubs, but for reasons only he can understand, Burnley always felt like his spiritual home.

Blake’s first four years at Turf Moor earned him a move to the Premier League with Birmingham, but it proved to be a brief hiatus. He lasted six months in the West Midlands before joining the gang of strikers at Leeds that Kevin Blackwell was determined to play on the wing. His two years at Leeds coincided with a Championship play-off final defeat and relegation to League One, after which it made sense for everyone that he returned to Burnley. Within another two years he’d helped the Clarets to the top flight, a promotion deemed surprising by most that — with Blake and Clarke Carlisle in their side — felt all too predictable in Leeds.

In Turf Moor’s first top-flight fixture for 33 years, Burnley welcomed a Scum team as hateful as ever. Ferguson in the dugout, Neville off the bench, Giggs in midfield, Rooney up front. They were the reigning champions, and had won their previous seventeen games against newly-promoted clubs, scoring 44 goals and conceding only seven.

If Burnley were going to halt that sequence of results, they needed someone to produce a moment of class. Step forward Robbie Blake, carefully watching the ball drop out of the air after a cross was cleared at the back post. Blake was a diminutive, skilful player, but there was nothing nuanced about his finish. Arms splayed wide, on the volley, he leathered the fucker into the top corner in a blink of an eye, the ball still rising as it rattled in at the near post.

The sheer force of the goal seemed to spook Ferguson’s side. Michael Owen struggled to pass the ball ten yards without it being intercepted, Rooney should have been sent off for a frustrated lunge, Giggs tried a short corner routine with Antonio Valencia only to concede a throw-in. Not wanting to steal all the limelight himself, Blake gave away a penalty towards the end of the first half, allowing goalkeeper Brian Jensen to save from Michael Carrick and share the plaudits. In the tunnel before the game, Giggs had promised to swap shirts with Blake, but he didn’t keep his word after the full-time whistle confirmed Burnley’s victory. “It is nice to shut a few people up,” Blake said afterwards.

Blake’s winner wasn’t enough to keep Burnley in the Premier League, but it was enough to stop Scum winning the title. They missed out by a point, and had to turn their attention to the FA Cup. At least they were given a favourable draw, at home to League One Leeds on January 3rd. ⬢

(This post is free to read from The Square Ball magazine season 34 issue 5. Click here to read more)