Big Kenny Burns And The Blatant Headbutt

As hard men go former Birmingham City and Nottingham Forest striker-come-defender Kenny Burns is up there with the hardest. At Birmingham Burns was a tough no-nonsense striker (video below) who scored goals and terrorised defenders. In contrast at Nottingham Forest, he became one of the most feared and toughest defenders on the English footballing circuit. Just ask Arsenal’s Richie Powling. Powling fell foul of big Kenny Burns headbutt.

Burns had signed for Nottingham Forest in 1977. A £150,000 gamble from Brian Clough. Burns was renowned for living the high life with alcohol and betting high on his list of go-to vices. By the time he’d left Forest, he’d won two European Cups, a Super Cup (scoring against Barcelona), the league title, the Footballer of the Year award and two Forest Player of the Year awards.

So back to Richie Powling and THAT headbutt. The game was Forest’s only defeat in their first 13 games. At the time they were 1-0 down to a Malcolm Macdonald goal when Arsenal was awarded a free kick. Finally, with Liam Brady lining up his options, the Forest wall stood in wait. In that wall, Arsenal’s Richie Powling stood as a barrier block to the Forest keeper.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2NhFoXT9s8

The Kenny Burns Headbutt

Meanwhile, as the fans awaited the whistle Burns unceremoniously headbutted Powling in the back of the head. Powling lerched forward under the force of the headbutt. Brady’s free kick came to nothing and the game continued.

Straightaway the headbutt incident prompted match commentator Brian Moore to say “There was a bit of something going on there in the wall”

“I Thought I’d Got Away With It”

After the match, Burns commented ‘Actually, I thought I had got away with it. I looked for the linesman, then I looked at the referee and then I put my head on him, I tell people it was a sneeze, but what I didn’t realise is that a television camera was zooming down at me and caught the whole thing’.

As a result, Burns was fined £50 by Clough, more than a third of his £140-a-week wages, but believed it was a worthwhile investment. I’m sure Richie Powling hasn’t forgotten big Kenny Burns headbutt.