The forgotten Portsmouth loanee making landmarks in the Premier League with Burnley

The Burnley defender made his 50th league start for the club in Saturday’s 1-0 Premier League defeat to Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side.

It took 10-and-a-half years to reach that tally for the Clarets, having been at Turf Moor since January 2010.

That lengthy stay also included a spell at Pompey, although no doubt few of the Fratton faithful will recall it.

No offence intended to Long, it’s easily done considering it arrived in the calamitous 2012-13 campaign – and spanned a month.

Recruited by Michael Appleton on an emergency loan from Burnley, that League One relegation season would result in a staggering 54 players used.

Among them was Long, who has gone on to make 13 appearances for the Republic of Ireland.

Signed in August 2012, in time to face Bournemouth in the league opener, the centre-half went on to make six appearances.

That contained a dismissal at Carlisle for two bookable offences during an encounter the Blues lost 4-2 – his third outing for the club.

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Substitutes Ashley Harris and Conor Clifford netted for Appleton’s men that same afternoon in a result which left them 20th in League One. It was a sign of things to come.

Having sat out a one-match suspension, Long returned to the side for a 3-0 win at Crawley, in which Purbrook’s Harris again scored after entering from the bench.

Long partnered Gabor Gyepes in the centre of defence for the televised contest, but would feature just once more.

Following a 2-1 loss to Walsall at Fratton Park, the Irishman was laid low by a back problem.

It hastened his Pompey exit ahead of his scheduled one-month stay – and he would never return to the south coast.

There would be similarly brief loan spells at Barnsley and MK Dons, yet he has remained entrenched in Burnley’s squad.

Now aged 30, he has totalled 76 appearances and three goals – yet Saturday represented his 50th league start.

Although there were six outings for Pompey. Not that many will remember.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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