Source: FOOTYMAD
Steven was top choice
Trevor Steven played just two full seasons for Burnley before moving on to Everton, Rangers and Marseille but those two years were enough for him to be voted Burnley's best player of the 1980s. The voting poll ended last night and Steven was the clear winner of the fifteen players listed. taking top place with a 27.3% share of the vote. He made his debut in the first qualifying season, 1980/81, coming on as a substitute in a 4-2 home win against Huddersfield late in the season, but he established himself in the team early in the 1981/82 season as the Clarets overcame a poor start to win the league, losing only 2 of the last 38 games. Steven was a star in the making and was a shining light during the cup runs of the following season. However, relegation back to the third division brought an end to his Burnley career and he was sold to Everton in the summer of 1983 whilst still just 19 years of age. One of his team mates from those two seasons, Billy Hamilton, came second. He was the big favourite of the Turf Moor crowd during his four and a half years at Burnley. In the four seasons of the 1980s he netted no less than 51 league goals of which 39 came at the Turf. He left a season after Steven, moving to newly promoted Oxford United after turning down the offer of a new contract at Burnley. The only two other players to hit double figures were two players who will almost certainly figure highly in the 1970s, Martin Dobson and Leighton James. Dobbo was with the Clarets in the first three and a half years of this decade before moving on to Bury as player manager whilst Taffy returned in the summer of 1986 and played for the club for another three years. They couldn't be separated with both of them claiming 13.1% of the vote each. The result of the vote, in full, is below. Player of the 1980s 27.3% - Trevor Steven20.2% - Billy Hamilton13.1% - Martin Dobson & Leighton James6.2% - Roger Eli3.5% - Steve P Davis2.7% - Micky Phelan2.4% - Ian Britton, Andy Farrell & Brian Laws2.2% - Alan Stevenson1.8% - Vince Overson1.1% - Tommy Hutchison & Kevin Reeves0.9% - Neil Grewcock
