WHEN Clarets "super fan" Alan Beecroft told his wife he was going out for "a Chinese" he didn't mean a trip to the local take-away.

Alan, treasurer of Colne Clarets fan club, and his son Simon, packed their claret and blue Burnley strips and jetted off to China to watch England's soccer warm-up for the Euro 96 championships.

While they were walking around the Forbidden City, proudly sporting their Burnley colours, the father-and-son team were spotted by a sports writer for a national newspaper and included in his back page report.

And as the puzzled writer pointed out, they were as far away from Turf Moor, geographically and architecturally, as they could get.

Alan's wife Dawn, herself a committed Burnley fan, said: "He's always wanted to go to Hong Kong so he took the opportunity to do that and see England play in China at the same time. They've taken all sorts of strips with them to wear out there. I suppose it must be a strange sight seeing a Burnley shirt in China."

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