John Angus, not only spent his entire senior career with Burnley, a career that spanned three decades, but also left the game completely when his playing days at Turf Moor came to an end.

After playing for his school team in Amble as a centre-half, Angus was switched to right-back by Amble Boys Club. He soon caught the eye of one of Burnley's shrewdest scouts in the north-east, Charlie Ferguson, who brought him to Turf Moor as an amateur in 1954. Although Angus was homesick at first and returned home, he was soon back in the fold and was signed as a professional on his seventeenth birthday in 1955.

John Angus was unable to break through into even the Clarets reserve side at first but then, within a week of his Central League debut in September 1956, he was drafted into the first team at right-back in an emergency following injuries to key defenders. His full-back partner was the inexperienced David Smith, the pair playing their part in a 2-1 victory against Everton at Turf Moor, Smith hitting the deciding goal and Angus dealing efficiently with his immediate opponent, renowned International winger Tommy Eglington, 'The Eire Express'.

It was a sign of things to come for this coolest, most unflappable of young men. Although he vied with David Smith for a time to become Harold Rudman's successor in the number two shirt, John Angus was always going to emerge as the long-term choice and, by 1958, he was a regular, and was to remain so for a very long time.

He had already collected his first England Youth Cap in 1957 and in May 1959 made the first of seven Under 23 International appearances against West Germany in Bochum, playing alongside Jimmy Robson. In reality however, Angus was not one for the International scene and should have won many more than his one full cap in 1961. His only appearance out of position at left-back, against Austria in Vienna was described by England manager Walter Winterbottom as one of the finest debuts he had seen.

By then, of course, John Angus had played his part in Burnley Football Club's finest hour for nearly forty years, the League Championship triumph in 1960. He missed only one game during the momentous campaign and his ice-cool temperament, superb balance and tight ball control are now legendary. Clarets fans of that era will have many abiding memories of Angus gaining control of the ball in his own six yard area and playing his way confidently out of trouble before turning defence into attack by finding his man with a sweetly hit right foot pass.

He played his part in a season of near misses in 1961/62 and continued to impress as the sixties unfolded and the Championship team began to break up. Remarkably he hadnít scored a single goal in his League career until a First Division game at Highbury in October 1964. In the days before substitutes, he was moved up front after an injury and scored twice in a 3-2 defeat.

During the late sixties he was no longer an automatic choice as his number two shirt began to be coveted by a number of young pretenders, notably Freddie Smith. Even after turning 30, however, Angus was still able to give the youngsters a run for their money, and as the decade turned, he was still the man in possession.

After Burnleyís relegation in 1971, Angus decided, with his usual immaculate timing, that enough was enough and he retired in 1972. He returned to live and work in his native Northumberland where he was able to improve still further his already excellent golf game.