FOOTBALL union boss Gordon Taylor has stepped off the bench' to save an East Lancashire conference after Education Secretary Ruth Kelly pulled out.

Under-fire Ms Kelly was lined up as guest speaker at the annual Education Service at Blackburn Cathedral today, but had to cancel to attend a Labour Party conference.

But Blackburn Diocese, which covers the whole of East Lancashire, was able to save its yearly spotlight on the work it does within education across the county when Mr Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA), made a few tactical changes to his diary and agreed to speak instead.

More than 500 guests from across the North West were expected at today's event, ranging from pupils to local authority officials.

And delighted organisers said Mr Taylor, whose playing career included a spell at Blackburn Rovers in the 1970s, would prove more than an adequate substitute for the Education Secretary.

Canon Peter Ballard, Blackburn Diocesan director of education, said: "I am delighted, and extremely grateful, that Gordon Taylor has been willing to rearrange his diary to be with us at short notice. I suspect that as far as the young people are concerned, meeting Gordon and hearing about his life and the world of football will be at least if not more memorable than meeting and hearing the Secretary of State for Education."

Mr Taylor lives in Wiswell, near Clitheroe.