LEGENDARY talent scout Jack Hixon is back on the Turf Moor payroll -- after a break of 33 years.

Hixon, famous nowadays as the man who discovered Alan Shearer, also unearthed a clutch of top players for Burnley during the Clarets' heyday of the 1950s and 60s.

And boss Stan Ternent, one of the players Hixon sent down to Burnley, has now brought him back into the fold as the club's North-East scout.

"The man has an eye for a player when he sees one. He has a proven track record and he's a fantastic judge of a footballer.

"We've got to get some good kids and I can also ask Jack about senior players in that area," said Ternent.

Hixon, back to full health after a recent bout of illness, is delighted to be working for Burnley again having ended his association with Ipswich Town.

He said: "I have always had an affinity to Burnley because I started there and the ties are strengthened by the present management set-up, along with Jimmy Robson and Arthur Bellamy.

"I have always been claret and blue orientated. I have a close allegiance with the club because it was a wonderful time and I just hope and pray they can continue their revival.

"They have revived already, of course, because they are back in the First Division with a manager with ambition and the will to take them there, and the nucleus of a side. "It would always be a good time to come back because of the affinity I have for the place and the people."

Tyneside-based Hixon first started working for Burnley in 1950 under top North-East scout Charlie Ferguson and the pair sent the likes of John Angus, Ian Towers, Jimmy Robson and Ray Pointer to Turf Moor.

When Fergsuon then went to Sunderland with Alan Brown in 1957, Hixon became the Clarets' chief scout in the north and the first of his discoveries to be snapped up by the Clarets was a 17-year-old Bellamy.

"He was my first and he's still brilliant. He was one of those people who made the team and then we came into a purple period with the likes of Brian O'Neil, Ralph Coates, Nipper Latcham and Freddie Smith," added Hixon, who developed a close relationship with manager Harry Potts before moving on to Stoke City in 1967.

Now 79, Hixon watches anything up to six games a week and while his brief will largely be to spot young talent he will also run the rule over established players as and when required.

Three of his discoveries are already on the books at Burnley -- namely Steve Davis, Anthony Shandran and youngster Andrew Leeson -- and the Clarets are now hoping for more from one of the great talent spotters in the game.