A FITTING memorial to an East Lancashire footballing legend has been installed at his final resting place thanks to Burnley FC.

John Haworth, the secretary-manager who led Burnley FC to their only FA Cup triumph and later the League Championship, has a new granite headstone at Accrington Cemetery.

The Accrington-born administrator is also responsible for the decision to turn the Turf Moor outfit from green strips to their famous claret and blue shirts.

And as the centenary of perhaps his finest hour is commemorated, when the Clarets beat Liverpool 1-0 at Crystal Palace to lift the cup in front of King George V, supporters’ clubs chipped in to provide funding for the new headstone.

His grandchildren Audrey Mears and Derek Haworth were present, alongside a number of Haworth’s great- grandchildren, to see the monument erected at a service led by the Rev David Wiseman, himself a keen Claret.

Club director Barry Kilby said: “At Burnley FC we are very proud of our heritage and we thought it very fitting, at a time of celebration for the club, to provide a permanent memorial to a club legend who brought a huge amount of success to the Clarets all those years ago.”

Haworth died from pneumonia at the age of just 48 in 1924 while still at the helm at Turf Moor. He is buried in the same grave as his uncle, Thomas Shorrock, and his nieces Bertha Hughes and Ellen Shorrock.

Before transforming the Clarets’ fortunes he started out at the Accrington side Meadow Bank, which he merged with then-North East Lancashire Combination outfit Accrington Stanley.

Under his stewardship Stanley rose to become a feared non-league competitor, winning the Lancashire Combination in 1902- 03, before he left for Burnley in 1910.

Revitalising the Second Division side, he brought in German defender Max Seeburg and England centre-forward Bert Freeman.

The record of his title-winning Clarets side in 1920-21, notching up 30 unbeaten matches, would stand for more than 80 years – Arsenal passed it in 2003-04.