David Burnside was groomed to be a footballer by a father who installed floodlights in the back garden in Kingswood, Bristol, so as to assist his winter practice.

The early fruits were seen on TV in October 1957 when, during the interval at a West Bromwich Albion v CDSA (Russia) friendly, Albion’s 17-year-old prodigy demonstrated his ball-juggling skills. This was far from a one-off exhibition: in 1960, David kept the ball in the air through 495 headers in a Sunday Dispatch heading competition. It mattered not that this fell far short of a world record: Burnside had by then developed into a first-team inside-left, who would soon win a couple of Under-23 caps.

It was his flick-on that set up Terry Paine’s goal in a memorable night at The Dell in March 1962, when Turkey’s U-23 side was seen off, 4-1. He was back at The Dell, 18 months later, as a Southampton player for a £18,000 fee, forming a left-wing partnership with the Saints’ other U-23 winger, John Sydenham, and settling into a side that went to the semi-final of the FA Cup. The run included that dramatic 3-3 replay with Nottingham Forest, when Burnside’s late equalizer demonstrated his understanding of how Paine could pick out a cross: if neither George O’Brien were available at the near post nor George Kirby at the far, then David knew to place himself centrally – in what he called “position three” – and wait. And then calmly thread the ball through a crowd of players the way he did that April evening in 1963.

For good measure, he scored twice more in the second replay. Losing in the semi-final was a bitter blow: he longed to play in a Cup Final, even more than he yearned for a full cap. He would realize neither dream, as his career continued at five other League clubs, including a solitary League outing for Bristol City.

He later worked not only with City’s youngsters but, for 17 years, as an FA coach, bringing on the likes of Beckham, Scholes, and Lampard. And he was part of the managerial triumvirate – with Leroy Rosenior and Tony Fawthrop – that took the Robins to a losing Auto Windscreens Shield Final in 2000. David felt that this “pooling” of three men’s strengths “could have been the making of Bristol City” and “could have taken City into the Premiership.”  But, after a spell as their technical adviser under Danny Wilson, David coached at Cheltenham, Team Bath, and Oxford University.

He was planning for a busy 2010: standing in the General Election and completing his autobiography, which he was threatening to call Me And My Bad Attitude. With his story half-written, he was adopted, in October 2009, as the UKIP candidate for the new seat of Filton & Bradley Stoke, just up the road from his Downend home. But he collapsed and died the next day.