In the third of his three-part life story, Burnley favourite David Eyres talks about the relationship he had with Clarets boss Jimmy Mullen.

“WHEN a manager signs you once, it’s a compliment,” said David Eyres. “When he signs you again you know he really likes you as a player.”

The bond between Jimmy Mullen and Eyres was so strong it spanned two Lancashire clubs — Blackpool and Burnley.

When Mullen was sacked by the Seasiders, life on the coast carried on for winger Eyres.

In fact, new Blackpool boss Graham Carr gave him another two-year contract.

But when Mullen took charge of Burnley and was given the funds to recruit, he had no hesitation in going back for his Scouse star in the summer of 1993, paying £90,000 at a tribunal.

“The fact that Jimmy was the manager was probably one of the main reasons why I went to Turf Moor.

“But when I’d played against Burnley for Blackpool I remembered how passionate the fans were and that was encouraging as well,” Eyres recalled.

“It was a bigger club and the manager had brought in a couple of new faces and there was a chance we could get promoted.

“For that to come to fruition in my first season there was incredible.

“I can’t thank Jimmy enough for bringing me into professional football in the first place, and then taking me to Burnley.”

So it’s hard to imagine Eyres ever regretting his decision to quit a full-time job at Ford’s Halewood car plant and part-time football to take a pay-cut to fulfil his long-held ambition to turn professional — although perhaps not as much as he regretted turning down Liverpool as a 21-year-old.

“They offered me a trial after I’d played against them for Morecambe in a Lancashire League game, but I stupidly said no because I was an Everton fan,” he said.

Finally, at the age of 25, and following a 40-goal season with non-league side Rhyl, he had been given a second chance.

He had caught the eye of Oldham Athletic manager Joe Royle as well as Mullen, but the then Blackpool manager Mullen was more active in his pursuit and Eyres signed a two-year deal with the Tangerines.

Professionally, things were looking up. Domestic life was blissful too as Eyres married his long-term girlfriend, Tracy, in July 1989.

But the wedding fell in the middle of pre-season training, and although Blackpool had given him permission to go on honeymoon, his two-week break made life hard when he returned to Bloomfield Road.

“It took me a while to get up to fitness and on a par with the rest of the lads after missing a chunk of training,” he said.

“And with the banter, maybe I was taking my team-mates the wrong way and didn’t get it when I first started out.

“Jimmy was pushing me and winding me up to get a reaction.

“I couldn’t understand it. I was very close to packing it in,” he confessed.

“One Friday morning in training we formed a circle to pass the ball around and I was the one in the middle, trying to get it off them.

“I got nutmegged and the lads were giving it the ‘oles’. I was close to snapping and went to the edge of the circle.

“Jimmy told me to get back in the middle and I told him where to go.

“He told me to go in and get changed. It like a scene from the film Kes as I trudged back to the dressing room.

“I didn’t know whether to get a shower, go home and not come back, but in the end I just sat there and waited for the manager.

“Before he could say anything I said ‘Gaffer, I apologise. I don’t know what came over me. I accept any punishment and it won’t happen again.’ “He shook my hand and said ‘That’s the reaction I’ve been looking for from you since you’ve been here.’ “And from then on we got on really well and it changed me completely.

“I woke up to the environment I was in. I must have thought that being new to full-time football they would make it as easy as possible for me.

"But I never looked back after that day.”

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