FOOTBALL fan Daniel Coates turned three actresses into top players -- and managed to teach them to Bend It Like Beckham.

Soccer coach Daniel, 22, who once played alongside Ewood star David Dunn at Blackburn Rovers School of Excellence, was the man who taught football skills behind the scenes of Top Ten blockbusting movie Bend It like Beckham.

Clarets fan Daniel, of Southern Avenue, Ightenhill, was asked to transform actresses Parminder Nagra and Keira Knightley as well as former All Saint Shaznay Lewis into on-screen soccer stars.

Bend It Like Beckham has been described as one of the funniest movies of the year and follows the fortunes of a young Asian girl who dreams of playing football like Manchester United ace Becks.

It is currently Number One in the charts.

But Daniel said turning three women into budding Beckhams in under six weeks was no mean feat.

He said: "It was a nightmare at first because they were all rubbish, they didn't have a clue and the whole point of the film was to make them look like they really knew what they were doing.

"But as time went on they all seemed to pick up what we had taught them really well to make the scenes look like they were all professionals."

Daniel, who spent three years studying Sports Management at Trinity and All Saints' University, Leeds, and plays for the Lloyds TSB Team in the Burnley Sunday league, used a hard ball that does not bounce to help the girls develop technique and control and mimic tactics used by David Beckham.

Once the girls' skills were at sufficient level, Daniel assisted the film's choreographer Simon Clifford with the football scenes, as each goal, pass and movement had to be carefully plotted and staged.

A specially designed intensive training programme using a smaller, weighted ball which the likes of Pele, Zico, Rivaldo and Ronaldo was also used to increase their skills on the pitch.

As football coach and management consultant for the Leeds-based skills school International Confederation of Futebol de Salao, Daniel has rubbed shoulders with the famous before.

Daniel was asked to be the coach by the film's choreographer, Simon Clifford, who is a founder of the soccer school where Daniel works.

The former Gawthorpe High School pupil said: "We get quite a few stars who use the school including Michael Owen and Robbie Williams, it is all part of the job but it is nice when we do have famous people here."