AN ICONIC image of the legendary Jimmy Mac has become the latest addition to the pantheon of murals springing up around Burnley of the mighty Clarets, ahead of their Premier League return.

Motorists signalled their approval as graffiti artist Paul Jones spent yesterday afternoon creating the masterpiece opposite The Angel pub.

And crowds soon gathered as Mr Jones, the creative mind behind the popular Sean Dyche mural on the former Mitre Hotel, climbed up a ladder at the top of Accrington Road to bring to life an imaginative rendering of the Ulsterman, against a Turf Moor backdrop.

Landlord Mark Davies, who has run the pub with wife Jackie for the past 12 months, said: “People have been driving past and pipping their horns all day. It’s definitely got people interested.

“We saw how the Sean Dyche mural was coming along, when Paul was about halfway through, and we got talking to him about some designs.

“The first thing we thought about was Ian Britton, but we just couldn’t get the design right. Then we saw this image of Jimmy McIlroy and it just worked for us.”

Before starting out Mr Jones, who runs his own studio, Graffia, in Elm Street, said: “I was approached while I was doing the Sean Dyche mural and we talked about a number of different designs before arriving on this one.

“The reaction to the Sean Dyche mural has been great and it got the people at The Angel thinking.”

Alan Beecroft, chairman of Colne Clarets, said: “You wonder where this is going to stop – I remember when we used to play the likes of Glentoran in Belfast with all the murals there.

“Maybe people will start painting the kerbstones as well. I know the artist has done some work with the football club before and I’m sure this will be just as popular.

“I’ve thought before that it they wanted to create some more artwork then they could always use the concrete columns, past the cricket club, along Belvedere Road.”

The Harry Potts Way side of the ground is already decorated by an expansive mural, which also features Jimmy McIlroy, Gary Parkinson, Ian Wright and Ian Britton, in classic poses.