In the second part of our exclusive five-day series, Manchester United assistant manager Mike Phelan tells of his upbringing in East Lancashire and the time he signed for the Clarets, his boyhood heroes.

MIKE Phelan laid down the path taken by Jay Rodriguez some years ago. From Barrowford Celtic to Burnley and on to England honours.

Like Rodriguez, the Burnley striker now in England’s under 21 squad, his career had begun in much more humble circumstances.

Born in Nelson in 1962, both Phelan and brother Marcus developed a love for sport from an early age.

They would go on to play cricket for Nelson and Colne and both earned places in the youth system at Burnley Football Club.

Marcus, a goalkeeper, eventually concentrated on cricket and had a distinguished career in the Lancashire League.

For Mike, it was only ever going to be football, from the days when his band of enthusiastic friends inspired the formation of Barrowford Celtic.

“I lived in Nelson but I went to school in Barrowford, purely because my parents worked there,” said Phelan, who now lives in Barrowford and undertakes the arduous commute to Manchester United’s Carrington training ground each day in his job as Sir Alex Ferguson’s assistant manager.

“They worked in an old textile mill in Barrowford, so when your parents are doing shift work for a living – 2 till 10, 6 till 2, nights and all that – me and my brother fitted in between shifts.

“We went to school then we would go to my grandma’s in Barrowford and stay there until the shift finished, then we went home.

“But it was a happy time and I got to play football. When it came to sport we were never short of opportunity.

“My brother was probably a better cricketer than me but I was more focused on football.

“I was one of about 11 who started off with Barrowford Celtic – it was 10 of us and a girl.

“It all began when we were in Barrowford as kids. We used to have a kickabout and then we formed a little team and we used to play other little streets in the neighbourhood.

“Then one of the parents of the one of the kids decided to try to make it a bit more of a team and it went on.

“As a couple of years passed by it became Barrowford Celtic. I played for the school, town team, county and Barrowford Celtic, and then moved at 14 to being a schoolboy at Burnley.

“That was terrific because Burnley was always the football team I supported. I went there with my dad and my uncles from a very early age.

“I would stand in old Bee Hole End, the open end. I wasn’t tough enough to go in the Longside in those days!

“So it was right for me to go to Burnley and it was great being a local lad.

“At the time there were 15 apprentices. Twelve of them were maybe from the north east, two from Ireland and me from Nelson.”

In 1981, within the space of a week he was given his Burnley debut by Brian Miller as a substitute in a Third Division loss at Chesterfield, became an England youth international and made his first start for the Clarets at home to Exeter.

“I ended up going in there and playing with Martin Dobson, who was a Burnley player for my age,” said Phelan, who was capable both as a midfielder and a full back.

“He had been there, gone to Everton and come back. I was playing alongside someone who I had admired as a kid.

“The day just passed me by in a way. You play, you have a quick look at the newspaper to see how well people think you’ve done and then you move on. You never get a debut again.

“It was a case then of trying to work hard enough to stay in. Luckily I did.”

Burnley won the Third Division the next season but went straight back down the year after.

Then came a season under the management of the controversial John Bond before his Clarets career came to a sad end with relegation to the fourth tier under John Benson in 1985. He moved to Second Division Norwich that summer for £70,000.

“It wouldn’t have been difficult to play in the Fourth Division, no,” said Phelan, who scored 13 goals in 220 appearances for the club.

“But I just knew at the time that the progress I was making could have been hindered by dropping down another division.

“I was happy where I was, though, and unless something came along to change my way of thinking, I was staying put.

“I tasted defeat with Burnley, being relegated, but I also tasted the success of winning the league.

“John Bond came in as manager and I had a good relationship with him, although there were issues that kept cropping up with the fans. I think it was a personality thing more than anything.

“He was a big city manager, quite flamboyant and coming to a small town club, which was probably more intense in some respects than working at Man City because Burnley Football Club is Burnley. Everyone lived in the pocket of Burnley Football Club.

“But from my point of view he brought in players like Tommy Hutchison, Kevin Reeves, Gerry Gow, Steve Daley and Dennis Tueart.

"These were all big, big players.

“I was a young player in with a group who had played at the highest level. You learn a lot from these players.”