And John Sullivan today revealed he had also bought a title for his Derbyshire-based son Paul to make him the Lord of Kildrummy.

Mr Sullivan is thought to have spent up to £1million on the titles, which come with five acres of land near Balmoral, but insisted he had no intention of using the title of Baron.

He instead plans to pass it to his other son, Christopher, an IT consultant in Aberdeen.

The property developer is a director of the firm that bought the freehold of Turf Moor from the Clarets last year, helping to wipe the club's debts, with chairman Barry Kilby.

And he said he splashed out on the 11th Century honour to stop it falling into foreign hands. The 62-year-old said he hopes to retire to Scotland once he finds an estate to buy.

Mr Sullivan, who lives in Lytham St Annes, has now applied for a coat of arms in Scotland. Mr Sullivan said: "I don't intend to use the titles, Ive only done this to keep it in the country and pass it on to the family.

''I love that part of the world and have friends in the area. Annette and I are often up in Scotland and when I heard the titles were for sale I thought 'why not'.

"It is something for future posterity that will hopefully be enjoyed by generations.

"I'm now looking for an estate of a few hundred acres. Just something that catches my eye, looks nice but not too grand."

Mr Sullivan joined the Burnley board last May after several years of being linked with the club. He made his money developing commercial properties in East Lancashire and abroad.

Brian Hamilton, of Scottish Barony Titles which handled the sale, said Mr Sullivan was designing his own coat of arms. He added: 'I'm not sure he would be allowed a football but he could very well incorporate a bit of Burnley town's coat of arms."

Scotland's oldest feudal title, it has royal connections and was the name used by a great-gandson of Queen Victoria, Captain Alexander Ramsay of Mar, who was born at Clarence House in London, once home to the Queen Mother.

He died in 2000, aged 80. Mr Sullivan bought also another 15 acres of land and a derelict croft from the Ramsay estate.

The land and titles were once part of the 100,000-acre Mar Lodge estate near Balmoral, largely sold off to cover death duties.

Ramsay, a childhood friend of the Queen, ordered his remaining estate be put into a trust.