Most Clarets fans who have been around long enough to have seen the very best of Burnley FC post-war, will remember Ray Pointer as one of the deadliest marksmen around in those heady days of the late fifties and early sixties.

Pointer stands second in Burnley's all-time leading goalscoring charts with 116 goals in 223 League games and 133 goals altogether in 270 senior appearances, better than one goal every two games.

However the only man in front of Ray Pointer scored more than half as many League goals again ... and with an even better goals-per-game ratio!

George Beel arrived at Turf Moor in April 1923, after the great FA Cup and League Championship-winning sides had all but broken up, and Burnley were, at best, an average First Division team.
In his time with the Clarets George Beel notched 11 hat-tricks, finished as leading scorer in six of his nine seasons at Turf Moor and was second top-scorer in two others.

His crowning glory came in 1927-28 when he broke the club's scoring record for a single season with 35 goals. Nearly eighty years on, of course, that record still stands.

George William Beel was born in Bracebridge Heath, Lincoln in 1900 and was able to develop his football talents playing in the Army during the latter stages of World War One. Whilst stationed at Blackpool with the Royal Army Medical Corps he played and scored for the Seasiders in the Wartime Leagues during 1917-18. After the War he was invited for a trial by Manchester United but was unable to impress sufficiently at Old Trafford and returned home to join Lincoln City in October 1919.

In his early days as a professional in the lower reaches of the Football League, George Beel began to hone his goalscoring skills. He was on the mark regularly for Lincoln, Merthyr Town and in particular Chesterfield, with 23 goals in 35 games as the Spireites narrowly failed to win promotion from the Third Division North in 1923.

It was inevitable that the top flight clubs would soon be on George Beel's trail and it was Burnley who were quickest off the mark, signing him in April 1923 as soon as Chesterfield's bid for promotion had run out of steam.

George Beel had been signed as the successor to the prolific Joe Anderson who had himself averaged a goal every other game during his Turf Moor career, a period that had included the First Division title in 1920-21. Beel was soon into his stride at the top level and hit 21 goals in League and Cup during his first season, with another 26 in his next two campaigns.

In 1926-27 came his most productive season so far, 27 senior goals as Burnley finished 5th, just four points behind runners-up Huddersfield Town.

There was obviously something in the air during the 1927-28 campaign with the legendary Dixie Dean almost single-handedly winning the League Championship with 60 of Everton's 102 League goals.

For Burnley however it was a season of struggle and but for George Beel's monumental and record-breaking effort of 35 goals, all in the League, the Clarets would have been relegated, a fate they eventually avoided by just a single point.

There were another 32 goals from George Beel in 1928-29 but a modest season in front of goal ended in relegation for Burnley in 1930. He hit 25 in his first season in Division Two but his Turf Moor career was now coming to an end and on 6 February 1932 George Beel made his 337th and final appearance for Burnley FC. Typically he was on the scoresheet with his 187th senior goal.

He returned to play for Lincoln City and his League career finally came to an end in 1933 after a season at Rochdale. He became player/manager of Tunbridge Wells Rangers and later managed Maidstone United, settling in Maidstone for the rest of his days.

In his seventies he was still involved in junior football and was helping to run schoolboy teams until he passed away in December 1980.

George Beel was a veritable goal-scoring machine during a period of relative mediocrity at Turf Moor but remains a comparatively unknown and unsung hero.

He was, without any doubt, a Claret of true vintage.