IN the first part of a three-day series, ex-Claret David Eyres talks about leaving Burnley against his wishes, friendships on and off the field and how he played for a decade longer than expected.

ARRIVING at Burnley in the summer of 1993, David Eyres instantly felt he had some big boots to fill.

Burnley had boasted some famous left wingers before him – Steve Kindon, Dave Thomas and Leighton James to name a few.

But it wasn’t long before the Scouser was regarded as a fans’ favourite.

His popularity among the Clarets’ faithful was virtually instant as a goal on his debut in a pre-season friendly, against old club Blackpool, announced his arrival.

“The Blackpool fans turned on me and the Burnley fans took to me straight away,” said Eyres.

“The goals helped of course, and I managed to score quite a few early on in my first season. By Christmas I had 18 or 19.

“The fans were brilliant with me. It was as if I couldn’t do a thing wrong in their eyes.

“Even when we were shocking – which we were away from home many times that season – and they had every right to give us stick, they never turned. They stuck with us.”

The bar was set high by winning promotion at the end of his first season. It proved a lot to live up to for 29-goal Eyres after he was struck by pre-season injury.

“I missed the beginning of the season and trying to rush me back set me back even further.

“Throughout my career I never suffered with injuries, but I was out for about five or six weeks with that one.

“Once I did get back in properly I finished leading goalscorer again, but only with 12. When you’re top scorer with 12 that spells trouble for the team, and we were relegated.

“We’d gone from a complete high to a real low in just 12 months.

“We heard some unsavoury stories about things happening to Jimmy and his wife, which was a great shame because he had done absolute wonders for the club, and is still very highly regarded by the fans now.

“But when you hear of things like that you knew he was better off out of football. The lads were devastated when he lost his job.”

Adrian Heath picked up the pieces as player-manager, bringing in John Ward to work alongside him.

“He was an excellent coach and fantastically gifted in terms of managing players, and just what Inchy needed in his first managerial job,” added Eyres.

Heath introduced a new system in a brief reign before joining Howard Kendall at Everton, and both Eyres and Gary Parkinson were voted in the PFA team of the year thanks to their impressive wingback work.

They were the perfect partnership on the field.

“We were told we used to play the longest one-twos ever!” Eyres smiled.

Off the field, their friendship has stood the test of time, and the tests that Parkinson has faced in ill health after a major stroke he suffered last September left him with locked-in syndrome.

From the start Eyres backed his pal to pull through, and as the 43-year-old continues to show small but steady signs of improvement, Eyres’ faith in his recovery is unwavering.

“You have team-mates and you have mates, and Gary is up there with the best of them, if not THE best,” he said.

“When I heard what had happened I couldn’t believe it. If anyone could pull through that you felt Gary would do it.

Having finished just shy of the play-offs, Burnley plumped for another player-manager by bringing in former Sheffield Wednesday, Spurs, Marseille and England winger Chris Waddle, assisted by Glenn Roeder.

Eyres had designs on finishing his career at Turf Moor. But it proved to be the beginning of the end.

“The lads were excited by the appointment, and I got on well with both of them at the start. Waddle even gave me the captaincy,” said the 47-year-old.

“Perhaps one criticism would be that he tried to play too much when his best years were way behind him.

“It didn’t work out, but my relationship with him was fantastic.”

The same could not be said of Roeder in the end.

“For whatever reason he seemed to turn and it wasn’t very pleasant.

“I was brought off in a game against Preston, and though I’d missed a penalty I thought I was still having a good game.

“I threw my dummy out. I know it was wrong but that’s how I reacted.

“Glenn Roeder made his feelings clear after the game and I retaliated. We had a ding-dong, which happens, and once it was over I thought it would be forgotten about. But it wasn’t.

“In October Burnley got an offer from Preston, which I was told had been accepted when I was called into the manager’s office after training one day.

“I didn’t want to leave, but it was as if the decision had been made for me.

“I was 33 and Burnley probably felt they’d had the best years out of me, so it was too good for them to turn down. I had talks with Gary Peters and signed that night. It was done in a flash.”

Eyres was gutted, but got on with it, and did well enough in three years at Deepdale to be classed among the Lilywhites’ legends after helping them clinch the old Division Two title, ranking highest in the Opta statistics that season. His move meant he was reunited with Parkinson too, after the right moved across the county two months beforehand.

He spent more time on the bench the following season, making regular cameo appearances, as David Moyes operated with a three-man midfield.

Frustrated, he asked to go on loan. Moyes refused, but did agree to Oldham’s offer to take over the remainder of a 38-year-old Eyres’ contract.

“Oldham fans probably thought they were signing and old fogey, but once I got in the team I played every game until the end of that season,” he said.

Eyres was voted fans’ player of the year at the end of his first full season, and continued to earn contracts up until 2006.

His last goal, against Scunthorpe, came in his last of 783 games as a professional, before his career came full circle and he returned to non-league football with Hyde, Mossley and Hednesford Town.

“When I turned professional I was prepared to settle for six and seven years at the most in the game. I couldn’t have imagined playing for 18 years as I did,” said the father-of-two.

“Maybe it was the fact I loved my job so much that kept me going, and perhaps having worked night shifts before I became a professional footballer. I didn’t want to go back to that.”

Eyres hung his boots up in 2008, aged 44, but has stayed in touch with the game through his role with the sports management and consultancy firm, Stellar Group, where he has worked for over four years.

He dabbles in the media too, as a Lancashire Telegraph columnist and a co-commentator on the radio.

“I keep myself ticking over though, playing with the lads on Monday nights in Liverpool on the Astroturf, and in Masters’ competitions, but that’s about it now.

“I wanted to carry on, but my legs said ‘enough’s enough’,” he conceded.

“I could play in the games but the recovery was the problem. I wasn’t bionic. I had to stop.”

Click on the links below to read the other instalments of the David Eyres story.