WEATHERMAN John Kettley is tipping Steve Cotterill to be a future England manager after guiding the Clarets to the brink of the play-offs.

The Burnley-mad meteorologist is over the moon seeing his beloved Clarets near the top of league and is dreaming of seeing his team in the Premiership.

And he said Cotterill could be the man to make the miracle happen.

He said: "We're doing well at the moment with a very good manager in Steve Cotterill - I think he's a future England manager."

Kettley remembers the halcyon days when the Clarets enjoyed two European campaigns, an FA Cup final and two League Cup semi-finals.

He even bunked off school to see the Clarets play in the 1960s when Burnley were crowned champions of England.

He added: "They were great days. I went to all the home games and as often as I could to the away games. I even bunked off school on occasions.

"I can remember the sixth form at my school hiring a coach to go and watch a League Cup semi-final replay against Swindon.

"The game was played at West Brom's ground and it was like mass truancy of the sixth form. It was next stop Wembley but unfortunately we lost.

"We had one or two near misses like that. For instance, in 1961-62 when we threw away the League title and Ipswich won it and in the same season we lost the FA Cup final to Tottenham.

"But that was a great decade for the club. We went into the doldrums a bit after the mid-sixties and ended up having to sell the likes of Ralph Coates to Spurs and Willie Morgan to Manchester United.

"But one of my sporting highlights was when we stuffed Don Revie's Leeds 5-1."

Another match that stuck in Kettley's mind is the Leyton Orient game at the end of the 1967-68 when the Clarets just avoided relegation to the Conference with a 2-1 win.

"I was on weather forecasting duty for Radio 4 but I never looked at the weather prospects all day and haven't a clue what I said on air," he said.

"I was glued to the radio to hear how Burnley were getting on and it was a massive relief to win 2-1.

"We've come a long way back since those days and Steve Cotterill seems to be getting things right.

"We're only a couple of points off the play-offs and it's a lovely thought that we might get promoted back to the top flight after all these years.

"But I can't see us ever competing for the really big prizes again."