IAN Wright revealed winning promotion with Burnley was the best way to finish his professional career.

The former Arsenal and England ace, who was star guest at the Clarets' 125th anniversary celebration dinner last night, admitted he was contemplating retiring in early 2000 until he answered the call from former Burnley manager Stan Ternent.

He said: "Stan has been such an influential figure in my career, from the early days as a professional, so when he asked me to come here I thought it would be fitting.

"He said he had some good players and they had a really good chance of promotion, so I thought it would be a great way to finish my career with Stan.

"It was really good, there was a really good atmosphere in the dressing room and I'm so glad it ended the way it did."

Clarets legend Andy Lochhead was among a host of former players who were guests of honour at the event.

And the former striker has many fond memories of his time at Turf Moor. "It's hard to pinpoint a favourite goal, but two of my best times were scoring five goals - and I did it twice, against Chelsea and Bournemouth," he said.

Burnley's complete Football League playing record is 4,392 matches played, 1,696 won, 1,633 lost and 1,063 drawn. In the process, they have acquired 4,884 League points.

Chairman of the Football League, Lord Brian Mawhinney, was another special guest at the celebration dinner. And he said it was an honour to be involved in the club's celebrations.

"It's a great occasion because Burnley, of course, were one of the founder members of the Football League," he said.

"In a sense it's the celebration of the start of the League.

"Burnley have been one of the big clubs and have been champions in their time."

And the Irishman said it was fitting, for him, that the club had such strong links with the Emerald Isle.

"I was born and grew up in Northern Ireland and Jimmy McIlroy was one of my absolute heroes when I was growing up," said Lord Mawhinney of the Burnley legend.

"Different clubs have scouting networks in different areas and clearly Northern Ireland has been close to the heart of those who have been running Burnley over the years," he added, referring, in particular, to Clarets teenager and Northern Ireland international Kyle Lafferty.

"The club's got a proud record and it's a delight to be here."

Comedian Mick Miller provided the entertainment for the night, host Andy Hodgson led an auction, while a video depicting key events in Burnley's history - narrated by Sky Sports commentator Martin Tyler - was a major highlight of the evening.