FORMER Burnley FC manager Stan Ternent scarred a family friend for life after headbutting him in a violent attack, a court was told.

Greg Wilson said he was assaulted with such ferocity that his girlfriend's daughter thought he had been stabbed because of all the blood on him, a jury heard.

Ternent, 61, of Cliviger, is alleged to have carried out the attack on the pavilion steps at Burnley Cricket Club after his "victim" made a "cheap remark" to him during the Worsley Cup Final between Burnley and Nelson last year He has pleaded not guilty to assault and causing actual bodily harm.

Mr Wilson told a Lancaster Crown Court jury that his father Harry had been a long-time friend of Ternent, who managed Burnley between 1998 and 2004.

The 27-year-old, of Kiddrow Lane, Burnley, said: "Stan said hello to me and dad. He started poking me in the stomach and said alright fatty?' I was upset and embarrassed by it. I said to my dad I didn't want to speak to him. I was quite hurt."

He told the court he was leaving the club when Ternent shouted his brother's name Alex three times in an attempt to make him return.

He said he was offended by that and said: "My name is not Alex you p***k. He said it was at that point that Ternent headbutted him.

Mr Wilson was taken to Hospital where he received nine stitches to his forehead.

He said he had been left "scarred for life".

"I was scared, I just wanted to get out of there," he said.

He told the court he went to the cricket club on August 6 and had been drinking wine and lager.

He said he was "tipsy" but not drunk.

Prosecuting, Robert Elias, said the defendant lunged at Mr Wilson and said: "This was no accident, this was an act of violence because of a cheap remark by Greg Wilson."

The court was told that when interviewed two days later by police, Ternent expressed regret and said he knew he shouldn't have done it but that he reacted to what was a torrent of abuse.

Mr Elias said Ternent had shown a "propensity for losing his temper and acting in a violent way" in his autobiography Stan The Man: A Hard Life In Football.

Jurors also heard that Mr Wilson's girlfriend Claire was at the gate of the club and heard Ternent's son Chris shouting and saw him having to be held back.

Mr Wilson added: "My partner's daughter Elenor, who is 10, was in the car.

"She thought I had been stabbed because there was so much blood on me. It was a frightening thing for her to witness."

He told the court Ternent apologised and said it was "the worst thing" he had ever done.

He said Ternent employed his father as assistant coach at Bury FC, where he was then in charge, after Harry had been sacked from Burnley by Chris Waddle.

Jurors heard that Mr Wilson's father had won an industrial tribunal following his sacking by Burnley.

But when Ternent took on the job as Burnley manager he was prevented from employing Mr Wilson senior by the club's chairman and board of directors.

Alistair Webster, QC, defending, said it was Mr Wilson who was the one in a "temper" and asked: "Was there an element of resentment of him going to work at Burnley?"

The accusation was denied by Mr Wilson.

Harry Wilson he was with his son when the ex-Burnley boss prodded his son and "pinched his fat".

He said he didn't say anything at the time but shortly after he witnessed Ternent headbutting his son.

(Proceeding).

* See today's Lancashire Telegraph for our full report on the trial.