Former Turf Moor winger Ashley Hoskin is now relishing his role as Burnley’s development and reserve team coach. But there’s more to this former Clarets star than just football. THERE aren’t many footballers who would count meeting Phil Collins among their career highlights, but Ashley Hoskin is one.

Back in the 1990s the winger might even have forged an unlikely career as the singer's doppelganger.

Instead, he made Collins feel a ‘Groovy Kind of Love’ for Accrington Stanley.

The former Burnley winger had joined the Reds a few years after leaving Turf Moor at the end of his contract, and the resemblance was quickly spotted by a club director, who wrote to the British pop legend and asked if he’d be interested in sponsoring his lookalike for the season for £250.

An intrigued Collins made contact, inviting Hoskin to meet him after a gig at Manchester’s Nynex Arena.

“I was in a line of about 50 or 60 people who had gone to get autographs and photographs, but he picked me out straight away,” said Hoskin.

“He sent a cheque to the club for £450 after that and sponsored me for two seasons!

“We kept in touch for a while through faxes and emails but we’ve lost contact.

“It would be good to hear from him again though.”

Had the similarities been spotted earlier, Collins could easily have been a Burnley fan.

But perhaps the former Genesis drummer-turned-frontman will adopt them as his second club now Hoskin is playing a key role behind the scenes as their reserve team manager and development coach, providing a link from youth team to first team for the club’s first and second year pros.

The 42-year-old knows the value of a good grounding having progressed through the youth team ranks at Manchester City, with the likes of Steve Redmond, Paul Lake and Ian Brightwell, after being spotted playing in a cup final for Huncoat Primer School against St Anne’s.

He was guaranteed an apprenticeship at 14, but when Burnley - the club he had supported since he was just five years old - showed an interest, there really was no contest when Hoskin had to choose.

He headed straight to Turf Moor and made his senior debut less than three years later.

“I’d fulfilled a dream,” said Hoskin, whose brilliant solo effort in a 2-2 draw at Swansea is shown on the big screen before every home game.

is still remembered for a wondergoal he scored in a 2-2 draw against Swansea City.

“I got a text from a friend the other week about that goal. It was 24 years to the day since it happened.

“I don’t know where the time’s gone!”

A previous injury meant Hoskin played less of a role in the most significant game in the club’s history, when they beat the Orient to avoid dropping out of the Football League in 1987. But he was still hero-worshipped.

“The whole day was phenomenal. I left the pitch at the end with just a pair of undies on. All my kit got ripped off me! But it was a small price to pay for that had happened,” said Hoskin, who helped to send Burnley on the road to Wembley the following season with a goal in the semi-final second leg goal in the Sherpa Van Trophy, which the Clarets went on to win.

But a change of management a few months later ultimately led to a change of scenery for the wide man as he didn’t figure in Frank Casper’s plans.

He was reunited with Tommy Hutchison for a brief spell at Swansea, and Brian Flynn at Wrexham for a year, before joining his hometown team, Accrington Stanley, in 1992/93.

“It was the next best thing for me after playing at Burnley,” said Hoskin.

Dropping into non-league, and having started a family with his wife, Sarah, he went work with his dad at Altham Auto Wreckers, “smashing up cars!” to boost his weekly income.

But after he’d hung up his boots, an accident encouraged a return to football in 1998.

“I slipped on a piece of metal and cut my hand really badly. It had just missed a vein, but it still needed 15 stitches,” he said.

“The money was good at work, but it made me question what I was doing and whether I wanted to do it long-term.

“So I went to do my coaching badges.”

But it isn’t just tactics he wants to impart on his youngsters.

Hoskin says a life lesson was the biggest one he learnt while he was at Burnley.

“I’d had a good game one Saturday, but from the training drills it was clear I wasn’t going to be involved in the next game on the Tuesday,” he said.

“I was only 18 and I sulked.

“Brian Miller pulled me to one side, put his arm around me and pointed towards a factory overlooking Gawthorpe.

“He said ‘Every day men clock in at quarter to six, and some of them are there until 8 o’clock at night so they can afford to buy a ticket to watch you play. Keep your chin up, you play football for a living’.

“I never forgot that, and I try to make sure my players keep that dose of realism too.”

So much so that he still puts a shift in at his wife, Sarah’s fresh farm on dairy stall on Accrington Market, where he can be spotted on the odd afternoon sporting a bright pink apron.

He must be a ‘Cheesy Lover’.