DARLINGTON DEBUT
Torquay 5 Darlington 0
December 12, 2009
Steve Staunton’s name is not one recalled with any fondness at Darlington, the former Liverpool defender having been the manager for most of the 2009-10 season when the club were relegated from the Football League.
He is remembered for signing a glut of players, with a total of 54 used over the course of the campaign including Dan Burn in December 2009.
Youth coach Craig Liddle had brought Blyth-born Burn to the club and the 17-year-old caught the eye in the first year of his apprenticeship.
This was a point when Steve Foster suddenly stopped being selected due to being at loggerheads with chairman Raj Singh. Due to a clause in his contract, the experienced defender would receive an extension if he started two more matches
With Foster sidelined, Burn was on the bench at Torquay and was thrust into action for his senior debut after 19 minutes when Mark Bower went off injured.
“I remember him coming on for me but I’d never twigged it was his debut,” Bower said this week. “I did my ankle and needed an operation after that.
“He was a big boy back then but obviously he’s filled out now and has done brilliantly. I remember it was a very long drive down there. We got there quite late on Friday. That was probably his first experience of an overnight stay. He managed to get himself on but it was a bit of a baptism of fire for him. Then to lose 5-0. But stuff like that builds character. He learned lessons and has done really well.”
The hammering at Torquay was Quakers’ sixth consecutive away loss in the league. Staunton took only six points from his first 11 games, leaving the team 11 points adrift of safety.
FIRST 90 MINUTES
Darlington 0 Dagenham 2
May 8, 2010
In the months following Burn’s appearance at Torquay, he returned to youth team duty, while Darlington’s crisis continued at the bottom of League Two.
Hapless Staunton made zero impact on the team’s perilous position at the foot of the table, so Singh sacked him in March and appointed former Barnsley boss Simon Davey.
By the time their final match came around, Quakers had long since been relegated, so the fixture with play-off Dagenham would be their last in the Football League (for now), making for a sombre occasion.
It proved also to be significant for Burn. After three previous bit-part appearances (two as a sub, and another game which he started but was replaced before full-time), Davey gave him his first 90 minutes in senior football a day before his 18th birthday.
It was not a dream day, however. Davey told the Echo afterwards: “The second goal was after a mistake by a young lad who will learn from it. He’s got a good future, he’s only a first-year YTS.”
TROPHY TIE
Darlington 4 Bath City 1
January 15, 2011
The following season in the National League – known as Blue Square Premier at the time – proved more enjoyable at the Arena though Davey had suddenly quit in June and headed for Hereford.
Mark Cooper replaced him and brought in a number of players in an attempt to win promotion back to the Football League.
Centre-back Danny Hone played the first half of the season on loan from Lincoln, and when he departed in from Crawley came Adam Quinn. But he had played in the FA Trophy earlier in the season so was unable to be selected when Darlington faced Bath City at the Arena in the second round.
So Cooper handed Burn a chance, his first appearance of the season, alongside Ian Miller for what turned out to be a low-key encounter in front of a 926 attendance. The Echo reported: “Incidents were hard to come by, which probably suited young Blyth-born Quakers defender Dan Burn, who enjoyed an impressive outing as he stood in for the cup-tied Adam Quinn.
“The gangly centre-back performed admirably by showing composure on the ball and strength in his challenges. The 18-year-old had the first shot on target, letting one fly rather optimistically from 35 yards.”
SELECTED ON MERIT
Darlington 6 Eastbourne Borough 1
February 12, 2011
Marc Bridge-Wilkinson took the headlines by scoring hat-trick, but the selection of Burn was telling.
Having previously been selected in the Bath match due to Quinn’s ineligibility, the league fixture with Eastbourne saw Burn for the first time keep his place on merit. He had played a week earlier when Darlington won 3-0 at Telford in the Trophy, and his assured presence at the centre of defence alongside Miller meant Cooper stuck with Burn against Eastbourne, leaving 28-year-old new signing Quinn on the bench.
Cooper explained: “I thought Dan was outstanding at Telford. I’ve been given a bit of stick for chopping and changing but I feel the kid’s a good player.
“If you play well you stay in the team and that’s how it should be. Just because he’s 18 that shouldn’t mean that if he comes into the team and plays well he’ll be straight back out. If he plays well he stay in. He didn’t look 18, he looked 28.”
SEMI SHOWDOWN
Gateshead 0 Darlington 0
March 19, 2011
The win against Bath in front of a sub-1,000 crowd had been Burn’s entrance to regular first-team football, but the stakes were much higher in the semi-final with a place at Wembley at stake.
The fireworks had been seven days earlier, a 3-2 Darlington win having been 2-0 down in the first leg of the Trophy semi-final.
‘Don’t concede and Darlington are in the Trophy final,’ was the message at Gateshead and the objective was achieved at the International Stadium where the attendance topped 5,000, including 2,449 from Darlington.
Just before the break, Gateshead’s Phil Turnbull was stopped by Burn’s magnificent sliding tackle as he was about to deliver a cross. And centre-back partner Miller did his bit too, executing a fine tackle to prevent Jon Shaw from levelling the tie.
Post-match, Cooper said: “Apart from our two centre-backs and Hatchy we weren’t very good in the first half, but five or six of them stepped up their game in the second half.”
It had been a major test of the teenager’s character and he’d passed with flying colours.
‘HE’S BEEN BRILLIANT’
Darlington 0 Altrincham 1
March 26, 2011
One week on from Darlington’s delight at Gateshead came After the Lord Mayor’s Show, but what Cooper said afterwards was telling.
Effusive in his appraisal of Burn, the manager suggested the youngster should be in the Premier League, and it turned out he would never play at the Arena again.
“ I don’t think he will be at the club this time next year,” predicted Copper, aware that representatives of Manchester United and Everton had been in attendance.
“If I was a Premier League manager I’d sign him straight away. He’s 6ft 6in, he’s a left footed centre back and they don’t grow on trees.
“He headed it; he was composed, he brought the ball out of defence and he tackled.
“When he does eventually leave Darlington and goes on to bigger and better things I hope he’ll be looked after so he can fulfil his potential.
“When someone’s that big, they stand out. He looks awkward and freakishly big, but when you see him on the ball he has that habit of dropping balls into the forwards with the right pace on it. He can step into midfield and he can glide into it.
“I spoke to (youth team manager) Craig Liddle about him and he liked him and was always pushing him. And when the chance arose to put him in the team, we put him in. He’s been brilliant.”
Burn did make another three appearances, but all were away from home, and a 2-1 defeat at Newport would be his 19th and last for Quakers.
The terms of his transfer to Fulham prevented him from featuring in the Trophy final against Mansfield at Wembley, but he more than made up for that disappointment with his performance last Sunday in the Carabao Cup final.
