The John Francis Story: Clarets cult hero discusses life after his playing days

“Why bother?” It’s a question former Burnley favourite John Francis often posed when he weighed up the possibility of fulfilling an ambition of becoming a football manager.

With a FA UEFA A Licence to his name and 20-odd years playing at virtually every level of the English domestic game from non-league to the Championship, Francis boasts a wealth of experience and knowledge.

Charismatic and approachable, but with steely-eyes which suggests he doesn’t suffer fools gladly, it would appear the former speedy striker has all the pre-requisites needed to be a successful football manager.

However, at the age of 62 - with his 63rd birthday approaching next month - Francis philosophically admits he gave up on the dream of becoming a manager a long time ago.

Like other black players, the hero of Clarets’ title-winning Fourth Division campaign found his opportunities limited once he retired from playing.

Research from The Black Footballers Partnership in 2023 stated that 44% of Premier League footballers and 34 per cent of English Football League players were black, but only four per cent of managers were black.

Francis, who played in an era when it was commonplace for black footballers to be racially abused on the terraces and the pitch, and he himself suffered abuse, has forged a long career in coaching after hanging up his boots.

An academy coach at Leeds United for a number of years, Francis helped develop a number of players who went on to play in the Premier League such as Tom Cairney, Lewis Cook and Fabian Delph.

A spell working in the USA preceded a return to the Clarets as the head of the club’s youth development where he served for seven years.

The Yorkshireman currently oversees the Wharfedale Grassroots Association, its scholarship programme, and Ilkley Town’s holiday camps.

While he freely admits coaching youngsters is his passion, there’s a sense that Francis would have relished a crack at management if there had been more opportunities.

“The opportunities in football at a certain level, it can be quite exposed,” Francis said. “You can see certain things happen where some people get better opportunities.

“I have had my A Licence eight, nine years. I’ve had my B Licence 15 years. I shouldn’t need any more qualifications and I am quite fortunate that I am in a job now where I dictate what goes on.

“I have got 14 coaches with me and I am assessing 180 coaches. In a sense, I am doing what I love. For me, this is my passion. This could be Burnley FC or Leeds United FC.

“I have seen it (lack of opportunities for black managers) but sometimes you just get to a position where you think, ‘Why bother?

He added: “I think (racism) is generational. It’s tough to get away from it, especially with everything which is going on in the world right now.

“All my family were born in this country barring my mum and dad. So, where are we from? Are we English? We’re all English.

“We have paid our taxes all our lives.

“Does that make us English? In some people’s eyes, it’s a no.

“It does grate you a little bit.

“I will give you a good example, Frank Lampard got a first-team job straight away; got a Premier League job soon after he qualified. Who was also looking for a job at the same time? Sol Campbell - which job did Sol get? Macclesfield.

“Both players played for England but when you see that scenario...”

Departure from Burnley after being hero of the hour

Having been the hero of the very late hour for Burnley, Francis could have been forgiven for thinking that he would have had time to bask in the glory of his goalscoring exploits.

Bundling the ball home at the near post in stoppage time at York City, the speedy ace wrote his own piece of club history by being the man who scored the goal which sealed the old Fourth Division title for the Clarets in 1992.

Promotion would signal the end of seven long years in the bottom rung of English football - and a bright new dawn in the club’s future.

But as the striker was soon to discover in the dog-eat-dog world of professional football, there would be no sentiment shown to him.

Later that summer, Francis was told he could leave the club by manager Jimmy Mullen after Cambridge United came calling for his services.

The U’s at the time were in the old First Division - now known as the Championship - a step up in class from Burnley at the time.

It is widely believed that Francis turned down the offer of a new deal to seek the challenge of playing at the higher level.

However, he revealed that the money Cambridge offered meant the Clarets were keen to get the deal done.

“It wasn’t me (who asked to leave),” said Francis.

“I just got asked the question. Jimmy said, ‘I’ve had a club who have come in for you and they have offered this amount of money and it would be good for the club if we didn’t turn it down.

“I was like, ‘Oh ok’. I don’t think I was out of contract and even if I was, there was no way I was going anywhere in my mind. It wasn’t my decision to leave the club.

“I spoke to Cambridge, I spoke to my missus about the move and she was okay with it, so I went.”

Francis’ separation from the Clarets lasted less than a year. He played 29 games, scoring three goals, for the Us under John Beck - who was renowned for playing an extremely direct style of football.

The Leeds-born star revealed he enjoyed his time at the Abbey Stadium but was delighted when he returned to Turf Moor on transfer deadline day the following March.

He added: “I made the move but the problem is my family never came with me. I was down there for nearly a year in digs.

“Listen, what a lovely place Cambridge is and I played with some really good footballers.

“If you remember, I moved there because Dion Dublin had left Cambridge to move to Manchester United.

“I remember thinking, ‘Really? It was hardly a like-for-like replacement bringing me in.

“John Beck was the manager and he said to me that the way they played would suit my game.

“Knowing how Becky played, it was always going to be an eye opener.

“He said that I would get lots of chances with the style of play.

“Everything was knocked on, midfielders could not bring the ball down. It had to be played into paradise island as we used to call it - into the corners.

“When you play direct football, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.”

Cambridge struggled that season and were ultimately relegated but by then Francis had already returned to his spiritual home.

Mullen came back in for the frontman with a £70,000 offer.

“I was in and out of the team at Cambridge and so I was pleased to get back,” he added.

Francis played a further 76 games for the Clarets - featuring as the club won promotion in 1994 to the second tier after an eventful play-off final encounter against Stockport County.

The Hatters had finished 12 points ahead of the Clarets - who had Francis’ namesake, the 6ft 7in striker Kevin spearheading their attack - in the normal season and looked to be heading for promotion after taking a second-minute lead at Wembley courtesy of Chris Beaumont.

However, they self-destructed spectacularly as Mick Wallace was red carded after an altercation with Ted McMinn.

David Eyres then restored parity just before the half-hour mark with a brilliant piece of individual skill.

County were then reduced to nine men on 60 minutes after Beaumont was sent-off for violent conduct after appearing to elbow Les Thompson and the Clarets edged ahead six minutes later through Gary Parkinson.

They held onto the slender lead to secure a second promotion in three seasons although for Francis, his memories of Wembley that day are bitter sweet.

He had been the hero of the semi-final, scoring twice against Plymouth Argyle to seal a 3-1 aggregate win, but he limped off underneath the Twin Towers after just 12 minutes, replaced by Andy Farrell, after a collision with County goalkeeper John Keeley.

He received a booking from referee David Elleray for his troubles, but more significantly the incident left him with a serious cruciate knee ligament injury.

The next year left him fighting for fitness and he believes he was never the same player again.

“It was nice to celebrate our achievements of winning promotion but to finish in a bandage at the side of the pitch; it wasn’t very nice ,” said Francis. “It took some getting over but then the hardest part then was getting back to full fitness.

“It took a little spring out of my step.”

It was not the first time that Francis had played at the home of football - he played on the hallowed turf in the final of the FA Vase in 1988 for non-league outfit Emley, which is a small village in Yorkshire.

It would be the first occasion that his name would become familiar with an East Lancashire audience as Emley’s opponents in that final were Colne Dynamoes.

Despite being a thorn in the side of Graham White’s men all afternoon, Francis ended up on the losing side as Dynamoes emerged victorious 1-0 courtesy of Stewart Anderson’s winning goal.

“We had a really cracking non-league team at Emley,” Francis added. “We had a few players who had come out of the Football League and nobody wanted to come and play us when it was cold and snowing on a Tuesday night because Emley is so high up.

“I remember I scored the winner in the Vase semi-final, I just smashed it into the top corner, and so for us to get to Wembley was amazing.

“We were unlucky against Colne. They were decent and were paying out a lot of money with Chalky White as manager.”

Despite the heartbreak of that occasion, Francis at the age of 24 was starting to make clubs higher-up the food chain sit up and take notice of him.

Six months later, a move to Hull City fell through after the Tigers failed to meet Emley’s valuation, but it was Sheffield United who won the race for his signature and he moved to Bramall Lane.

Nearly two decades later, Francis brought the curtain down on his playing career in the Football League after a short stint with Scunthorpe United and a spell in non-league, following his release from Burnley in 1996.