Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
I THINK DAD SEES A BIT OF THE CRAZY GANG IN US
Jack reckons Clarets have that same bond
BURNLEY midfielder Jack Cork reckons there’s a touch of the Crazy Gang about the Clarets – and he should know.
Cork’s dad Alan was part of the Wimbledon team of Vinnie Jones and John Fashanu that proved there was method in their madness when they brought Liverpool to their knees in the 1988 FA Cup Final.
Cork has been resisting invitations from his old man to use lockdown to catch up on the days when the Dons punched above their weight – and kept on swinging.
But, as Burnley boss Sean Dyche prepares to get his team firing on all cylinders in readiness for the season resuming next month, England international Cork accepts that team spirit is going to be key for the Clarets. He said: “I think the reason my dad really enjoys watching Burnley is because he can see a little bit of what Wimbledon had.
“You feel everyone has got your back. And, in training and in games, if someone’s not at it, they are soon told.
“No one wants to disappoint people, to disappoint their mates. That’s down to the gaffer bringing in people who are hungry, who want to improve and who have something to prove. We get a lot of stick about our style, but there is a lot of quality there as well. We’ve got a lot of good players, look how well we have done.
“Before it all stopped, we were on a good run, we’d gone eight unbeaten in the league, and were all a bit disappointed it stopped.
“We were going in the right direction, had the momentum and it felt how it did when we finished seventh to get into Europe.”
Cork, 30, wasn’t born when Alan and his Plough Lane mates softened up a
Liverpool team that was going for the double. But the former Southampton midfielder knows his family history.
He said: “My dad has been texting me saying, ‘Watch this, you’ve got to watch that’, when all the old games have been on television.
“He is loving all the reruns – though he wasn’t happy that they put the 1987 final on recently and didn’t follow it the next week with the Wimbledon one.
“I watched the Wimbledon final ages ago and I’ve got lots of books about the Crazy Gang.
“I’ve got a picture of him, with his mum and dad at the old Wembley when they won, in my study.
“I tell my kids, ‘Look, that’s your grandad when he was playing at Wembley in the FA Cup Final’ – they can’t believe it because they just see the size of him, bald, and don’t really think it’s him! I wasn’t born when that game was played, but I was at the semi-final when he was playing for Sheffield United against Wednesday.
“My mum still reminds me that when my dad scored, I dropped my hot dog and burst into tears!”
Burnley have been putting in the hard yards as they prepare for the restart – despite first-team coach Ian Woan testing positive for coronavirus.
He is asymptomatic and is now in isolation.
Cork said: “It was strange when we found out about Woany. When we went back and he wasn’t there, no one wanted to say anything and then it came out he had it.
“Even one person having it isn’t great, but, hopefully, he will recover. It could have been a whole lot worse.”