EAST Lancashire in general, and Burnley in particular, have had more than their fair share of bad economic news recently.

So it is good to report a truly positive, innovative development that will help the town, and the region, become a centre of expert-ise and create worthwhile new jobs, too.

The University and College of Football Business at Turf Moor is the first institution of its kind. It’s surprising that, considering the huge amounts of money involved in professional football in Britain and around the world, that no-one has come up with such a scheme before.

It’s a business which needs people with all kinds of specialist skills, just like any other big industry. The centre will offer several honours degrees in different aspects of the management of a successful club.

It has the expertise of local professionals like Gordon Taylor and Paul Fletcher and there are few areas of the country with so many top-flight league clubs within a 50-mile radius.

Thanks to the international appeal of the sport, we could soon have a centre of worldwide repute in our midst.