A FORMER professional footballer from Leyland who once played for England celebrated his 70th birthday with a cake and good wishes from his old club, Burnley.

Brian Pilkington, who was 70 yesterday on Wednesday, February 13, was literally born into soccer, hailing from Thurston Road, Leyland, the former home of the town's football team and now the headquarters of the Lancashire Football Association.

The high point of Brian's career was when he scored a goal to help Burnley, known as the Clarets, win the First Division championship in 1960.

The left-winger played more than 350 games for Burnley including European matches - he scored against Hamburg in a match featured live on television. He said: "They did me proud. It was a fantastic day I sat for questions and answers before kick off and they brought a cake for me.

He travelled the world with his ball skills, playing in Spain, Poland and America, and picked up an England cap playing against Northern Ireland in 1954.

The grandfather-of-two had some harsh words to say about modern day footballers.

He said: "Footballers get paid too much these days and I don't think some of them can handle the responsibility. When I was at Burnley I was on about £20 a week."

After retiring from professional football in 1966, Brian became the director of Chorley Football Club a position he still enjoys today, and he was a magistrate for 35 years.