PITCH PERFECT

Twenty years after he had the football world at his feet, Dubliner John Burns explains its collapse and a life in music

THE Irish centre in Nottingham had trad sessions every Monday afternoon during the 1990s and John Burns was a regular visitor. The teenager from Dublin would sit, watch and listen, before eventually learning to play the bodhrán and joining in himself. He grew up with his older brother Thomas, a devotee of Neil Young and Christy Moore, so his good taste was never in doubt. ‘I had a great mentor when it came to music,’ he says.

But that is not what brought him to Nottingham at the end of the summer of ’94. It was football, and Burns was the prodigiously talented midfielder whom Forest had snared from Belvedere hoping he would fill the void left by Roy Keane after his departure to Manchester United.

Burns was only 16 but his progress was swift and he ended the second term of a four-year contract as Forest’s young player of the year as well as collecting the Republic of Ireland Under-18 player of the year award for an impressive double.

‘Looking back now I can say it was one of the best years in my life but at the time I really didn’t appreciate it,’ he admits.

‘I felt so confident in my own ability that I looked at it as a stepping stone in my career. After I won the Ireland award in Dublin I remember just handing it over to my Mam and letting her take it home with her.’

That next step on what looked set to be his journey towards stardom came when Brian Kerr named him vice-captain of a bohemian group of Irish players travelling to Malaysia for the Under-20 World Cup 20 years ago this summer.

Ireland finished the tournament as bronze medal winners but Burns’ involvement lasted less than two games as a broken foot suffered in the second group game against the USA left him on crutches for the remainder of the stay.

‘I thought I would be out for maybe a week but I didn’t come back for six to nine months,’ he recalls. ‘It was such a great stage to able to play on, to show what I could do but it wasn’t meant to be and I won’t be the first or the last person who has a story like that.’

But John Burns still has a unique one to tell and while it includes a slow descent out of the game by the age of 28, his love of music led to a career change and playing in front of thousands of people at Wembley Stadium with a guitar in his hand rather than a ball at his feet.

Even in his own city growing up Burns was viewed as an outsider, at least when he left his home in Loughlinstown on the southside and got the Dart to Connolly Station for training with Belvedere every Tuesday and Thursday night in Fairview Park.

‘It was the best decision I ever made, even if I was scared stiff coming over because I didn’t know if I would get a game in the team.’ His ability as a clever, technical midfielder became clear and Aston Villa were keen, but the feeling wasn’t mutual. ‘I hated it. There were some young lads there at the time, real big time Charlies. Remember Lee Hendrie, he was so small but you always heard him before you saw him.’

Blackburn Rovers, Huddersfield Town and Liverpool showed interest but Burns had his heart set on Forest. Homesickness or feelings of self-doubt never engulfed him.

‘I always knew I was good enough, I never felt I didn’t deserve to be there but I knew going over that I would have to work hard for everything,’ he explains.

‘I knew I had to earn people’s respect over there, too, because I was the only one signed on a fouryear contract so all these eyes were on me and judging me. I was made captain of the youth team and I was loving life.’

When he left for Malaysia in the summer of 1997 Stuart Pearce was first-team manager at Forest and a new four-year contract was waiting to be signed on his return. By the time he did make it back to the City Ground Burns had suffered the broken foot and Pearce was replaced by Dave Bassett, who rescinded the deal on the table.

‘People can make you and break you in the game,’ he admits. And when Burns did eventually make the breakthrough into the firstteam under another new manager – David Platt – two years later, a punctured calf muscle against Wolves stunted his progress yet again after a man-of-thematch display in his full debut at the City Ground a few weeks previously.

‘I felt crushed. I have the tackle on video to this day. I couldn’t even get the trousers of my suit on after the game, my father had come over to watch because he knew I was in the team at that point and there I was with shorts on with my shirt and jacket because my calf was that badly swollen.’

His time at Forest was up when Tony Pulis, then Bristol City boss, offered him a fresh start. ‘When you get that taste of first team football you don’t want to give it up

‘THERE ARE SOME PEOPLE IN THIS GAME WHO CAN MAKE OR BREAK YOU’ ‘I FELT A LOT OF PAIN BUT I AM PROUD, I’M NOT BITTER ABOUT THINGS’

‘THE LAST SIX OR SEVEN YEARS OF MY LIFE HAVE BEEN THE MOST CONTENT’

so I knew I had to go for it,’ he reasons. But Pulis was sacked three months in and, after being frozen out by successor Danny Wilson, Burns returned to Ireland for a loan spell with Shelbourne in his mid-20s.

Having bought a house in Nottingham just three months before he departed, he was eager to return to England and Roddy Collins offered him a route back with Carlisle United.

‘Then the ITV Digital collapse happened and I was beginning to lose my passion for the game.’

So Burns called it quits at the age of 28 and focused his energies on something he did want to pursue – music. He formed ‘The Establishment’ in 2006, managed by former player Dion Dublin, and toured with Ocean Colour Scene, as well as supporting Status Quo.

They played Electric Picnic and then Wembley Stadium. Or, to be more precise, one of the hospitality lounges on the day of the 2011 FA Cup final between Manchester City and Stoke City – managed by Pulis.

‘When you’ve gone through some of the hard times that I did in football it would be hard to not find something within yourself to write about it. So that’s what I did.

‘I felt a lot of pain when writing but that isn’t the same as being bitter. The last six or seven years of my life have been the happiest and most content because I’m settled.’

That is because Burns, now a self- employed mortgage advisor, is married to Hayley and eight months ago welcomed son Thomas into the world – named in honour of his father, as well as his older brother who passed away aged 43 in 2012, but proved so influential all those years ago growing up.

‘I hope he is proud of me because I am proud of him,’ Burns adds. ‘I had 10 years in the game and 10 years in a band. Some lads will come out of football and will be bitter but I have nothing to be bitter about. I’m proud. You have to live your life and experience things, otherwise what’s the point? You make mistakes and learn, you have memories you’ll never forget.’

And just last month he had the chance to relive that summer in Malaysia when Kerr helped organise a reunion for the whole squad in the Gresham Hotel in Dublin. Burns made it, despite his father passing away in the days leading up to it.

‘He was probably looking forward to it more than me and he wouldn’t have wanted me to miss it for the world, he would have absolutely loved hearing all the stories from lads about their lives and what they got up to over the years.’

Burns has a tale or two to tell as well.