TODAY Burnley celebrates the club's 125th birthday, and what an action-packed century-and-a-quarter it has been.

My memories of first arriving at the club are pretty vague now really.

I'd been to Sunderland first, but developed an injury there and nothing came of that trial. Jimmy Stein, the Scottish scout for Burnley, invited me down for a week, I played two matches, and at the end of it, Harry Potts offered me a contract.

My first wage at Burnley was £8 a week - how times have changed! But back then there was a maximum and minimum wage structure, and the first team players were on £20. At the time I thought I could be a millionaire if I could get into the first team!' It took a while for that to happen - getting in the first team, that is - because I had to serve an apprenticeship, and after arriving in 1958 I made the first team in 1960 and after a wage structure change I was earning £100 a week.

We had a good side in the 60s and there were some good games. Two of the most memorable were the games against Naples.

The first leg at Turf Moor was a terrific game. Here we were, an East Lancashire side taking on the might of Italy. I couldn't believe it, and to beat them 3-0 was a terrific feeling.

There was a lot of trouble after our 0-0 draw in the second leg that ended up being labelled the Battle of Naples'. All hell let loose after that game and we had to be ushered down a passageway to get to the dressing rooms after the referee blew the full-time whistle because fighting broke out with the fans. There were a couple of scuffles with the players.

The police had to clear an area of 500 metres around the stadium for us to get out on the coach and we drove straight from the San Paolo Stadium to the airport and got straight on the plane home.

On the way there we'd flown from Manchester airport on a Vanguard or a Viscount, and we'd had to stop three times to re-fuel. I didn't mind flying, but I remember Harry Thomson couldn't bear it. He used to have a couple of whiskies to settle him down.

But the travelling obviously didn't faze him during the game. In the first five minutes they got a penalty, Jose Altafini took it, but Harry saved it. And it was just one of numerous heroics he produced on a night where he was dubbed a god in a green jersey'.

Although we were blessed with good players in the 60s, we never really won anything. We were always a First Division club, but we finished third in the table three or four times and never won the FA Cup. We were unfortunate, really, because we had players who were good enough. But, come Easter every season, Bob Lord would sell someone to balance the books.

There are games that I remember from after I left Burnley, not least the Orient game.

I sat with probably 15-20 ex-players in the front row of the directors box that day to watch it and was nervous as the game swung to and fro. In the end it was just a matter of waiting for the referee to blow the final whistle. It was a terrific result for the club and town and certainly one of their most significant events in the last 125 years.

I look forward to catching up with some of my old team-mates at the celebration dinner at Turf Moor tonight and reminiscing.