Clarets legend Ralph Coates will be the guest of honour tomorrow night as the two clubs he loves do battle at Turf Moor.

And the 56-year-old admitted: "Don't ask me to choose who I want to win - I can't.

"When the draw was made I could not wait, the team I started my career with against the one that I virtually ended playing with.

"All my happiest football memories came at either Burnley or at Tottenham and I always want them both to do well."

Coates career saw him play in Europe with Burnley, win four England caps and a UEFA Cup triumph with Spurs.

And he also knows all about the League Cup, now sponsored by Worthingtons, as he scored the winner at Wembley for Spurs in 1973 against Norwich City.

Coates began his career with the Clarets, initially joining the groundstaff in 1961 and signing professional forms a couple of years later.

"I remember going into the side at a very young age, 18 or 19, and playing alongside people like Ray Pointer, Brian Miller, Andy Lochhead and Willie Irvine. Playing with people like that gave me a good education at an early age.

"Gradually those older players started to retire and Jimmy Adamson brought through the younger men like Leighton James, Steve Kindon and Dave Thomas. Suddenly from being the youngest player I was the senior pro."

It was after the Clarets were relegated in 1971 that Coates, a full England international, made the move to Spurs, initially reluctantly, where the second glorious chapter of his career began.

"It was a bit of a cloak and dagger affair with Jimmy Adamson arranging for me to meet Spurs boss Bill Nicholson," he explained. "When he told me they wanted to pay £190,000 for me I told him that no player was worth that, at the time it was a crazy amount.

"I had been determined to stay at Burnley and help them come straight back up but the chairman Bob Lord realised the financial implications and so I left, although I was delighted that they got promotion without me. But it was still a very sad for me when I left because I had enjoyed every moment at Burnley."

Life in London was a world apart from what the player from Hetton-le-Hole was used to and he admitted: "I was struck by the difference, leaving a northern mill town for one of the glamour clubs of London. They are two different clubs but both very special to me."

That is why tomorrow night is going to be such a memorable night for Coates and he confessed: "Whenever I come back to Burnley it feels like coming home. The reception I get, from the younger fans as well, is unbelievable.

"But I have no idea how the game will go. I just hope it is a good match, the crowd enjoys it and there is plenty of goals.

"If they get the breaks Burnley can win it - nothing would surprise me with this club."