Boy scouting is usually something associated with Baden-Powell, camp fires and gang shows. But for Jack Hixon it is something different. To him boy scouting - or should I say scouting for boys - is a very serious business in a highly competitive field. For Jack is one of the faceless brigade - one of the numerous scouts who flood the North-East looking for schoolboy soccer talent.

Results have put him right at the top of the tree, way above even the best of his competitors. His story, which reads almost like a fairy tale, has become the talk of North-East soccer circles. Why? Because Jack Hixon and his associates Jack Robson and George Murray are the men who for seventeen years plundered the area of its richest talent and shepherded it off to unglamorous Burnley. And to sell Burnley in the face of fierce competition from the glory boys is an almost unbelievable feat.

Hixon's haul reads like a football Who's Who - England international Ralph Coates, Under 23 caps Brian O'Neil and David Thomas, Les Latcham, Arthur Bellamy, David Merrington, Fred Smith, John Murray, Ray Ternent, Stan Ternent and Michael Buxton.

To understand Hixon's success you have to know and understand the man. His credentials on the surface are hardly inspiring. He's a 49 year-old British Railways clerk working at Newcastle's Central Station, a man without any experience as a professional player. But delve underneath and you will find a mixture of shrewdness, business skill and soccer know-how. He is talkative, with a rich turn of phrase, a persuasive tongue and total sincerity in the goods he is selling.

He is patient, always ready to attend to detail if he thinks it is important to the people with whom he is dealing. For example, one schoolboy he was chasing happened to mention during conversation that he particularly liked a certain soccer magazine. Without saying a word Jack arranged to buy it in the city centre, where it was available a day earlier, and personally deliver it to the boy. His battle was virtually won.

These qualities have built up Hixon's reputation over the years since he first moved into the hazardous world of scouting in 1951. By one of those quirks of fate Billy Elliott, the former Burnley and England winger and present Sunderland coach, was serving on the same ship in the Royal Navy. They became pals (Hixon was best man at Elliott's wedding) and after their service Billy helped his mate to become an amateur scout.

Normally scouts fall broadly into two categories - those who can spot good, promising talent in the lower reaches of professional football on which to spend money and those who can spot potential in boys still at school. Hixon falls into the second category. Burnley, with Hixon their master-mind, were to become the scourge of the North-East and a source of constant embarrassment to local clubs Newcastle United, Sunderland and Middlesbrough. It was said that before Hixon left just over two years ago there were more Geordies at Turf Moor than at the three top North-East clubs put together.

Certainly Burnley abounded with them. Even their then manager Harry Potts (Hetton-le-Hole) and his assistant Jimmy Adamson (Ashington) were born in the area. To make matters worse, Burnley's Geordies had a habit of beating Newcastle United and Sunderland. Around eight or nine of Hixon's discoveries played in the First Division together and in 1963 Burnley, top of the Central League, sent eleven North-East born players to Newcastle for a reserve match. That signed programme is one of Jack's treasured possessions.

Ask him to name his greatest-ever capture and he neatly evades the question saying it would be unfair to his other discoveries. But there is no doubt that three players in particular stand out - Brian O'Neil, Ralph Coates and David Thomas. All three signings have vastly different backgrounds.

Coates's is perhaps the most fascinating. Even now Ralph hardly has the accepted build of a top-class athlete. He stands only 5ft. 7� ins, but weighs a hefty 12st. 5� lbs. In his schooldays his physique was even more compact. Only 5ft. 4ins. tall, he had massive shoulders, the suspicion of puppy fat round his waist and huge legs and ankles. It was this impression of a compressed giant that scared off the scouts.

No one was interested - except Hixon.

"Ralph was playing at centre-forward for Lambton and Hetton Boys and despite his build he was very quick off the mark," recalls Hixon. "I studied him closely and he passed on everything - speed, basic skills, heart, the lot. But I couldn't help hedging over his build."

By this time Coates had left school, begun playing for Hetton juniors and was planning a career as a colliery electrician. His father had died a few years previously and his mother was happy enough for young Ralph to enter an N.C.B. school. Ralph, quiet and reserved, secretly longed for a soccer career and when Hixon eventually decided to take the plunge Mrs Coates reluctantly agreed. "But this is your only chance," she emphasised. "If you don't make it at Burnley you come home and work like any other lad." The tragedy was that she, too, died before the Coates magic blossomed fully.

If the field was clear for Ralph it was hardly the same for Brian O'Neil. Every scout worth his salt was after the dynamic little player from Bedlington St Bedes School. Hixon first saw him at the age of 13, a midget playing on the left wing. But that midget became a giant as the game wore on, cracking in a good goal and looking in a class of his own. Jack was so impressed that he turned to the man standing next to him on the windswept touchline and muttered, "That little outside-left's some player. You can keep the rest."

"He's my kid," came the proud reply.

Brian O'Neil, centre, with John Angus

In those days a scout was not allowed to approach a schoolboy either directly or indirectly but from that chance meeting young Brian O'Neil wrote to Hixon asking for coaching, and the master scout was one jump ahead of his main rivals Arsenal, Newcastle United and Sunderland. O'Neil actually went to Arsenal - for one day. After visiting Burnley he travelled to London with his father to visit Highbury, the dream of so many schoolboys.

Brian was met by George Male, the old Arsenal rightback, who showed him the ground and then gave him a ball for a kickabout. At the end of the day Male told him to go back the next morning to meet the manager, George Swindin. Bluntly Brian refused. "I don't like the place. I'm going home now," he told his father. By the time the train was crossing the River Tyne, O'Neil had decided he was signing for Burnley.

That case typifies exactly why Burnley and Hixon scored so regularly over the more-glamorous clubs. A tradition for encouraging youth, wonderful facilities, and (very, very important) the ability to make a youngster feel at home nearly always paid off. When David Thomas made the journey to Turf Moor in 1965 the present system of signing boys on associated schoolboy forms had been adopted. Even at the age of eleven while playing at full-back Thomas looked star quality and Bob Hardisty, the famous Bishop Auckland amateur international, described him as a youngster of "immeasurable potential".

Naturally, there was plenty of competition but Jack Robson, Hixon's aide who works from Darlington, kept the Thomas family warm until the deal was clinched. Manager Harry Potts even motored up from Burnley - an unusual event - to be at the signing in the headmaster's study at Barnard Castle Modern School. Thomas had gone further than both Coates and O'Neil at school. Ralph made Durham Boys and O'Neil played in an England schoolboy trial at Carlisle, but Thomas went the whole way and won full England international honours.

An associated schoolboy form needs three signatures - the boy, his parent or guardian and his headmaster. Often the last one is the most difficult to obtain, especially if the headmaster feels his pupil should further his education, but in this instance Messrs Hixon and Robson had no difficulty.

Although Thomas's headmaster admitted that scholastically David was quite good, he felt so certain that the youngster would make it at soccer that he had to support the move. His faith was rewarded when Thomas developed so quickly that Burnley were able to sell their star winger Willie Morgan to Manchester United for �80,000.

Hixon's haul, all won for a mere signing-on fee, must be worth over half a million pounds to Burnley on the transfer market, yet Jack and his two associates have never received an incentive bonus as a result of this fact. When a player has reached the First Division or even international level there has been no further monetary gain for the men who discovered him. Nor was there a special contract - for seventeen years nothing but loyalty kept Hixon at Turf Moor.

To give some idea of how successful Hixon was here is a thumbnail sketch of the top players he unearthed.

BRIAN O'NEIL: Born 4th January, 1944 at Bedlington. Played for East Northumberland and Northumberland Boys and was left-half in an England schoolboy international trial at Carlisle in February, 1959 when Liverpool's Chris Lawler was centre-half in the other side. Joined Burnley from school the following May. Signed pro 7th January, 1961, first-team debut v West Bromwich 30th April, 1963. Won England Under 23 and Football League honours before joining Southampton for a big fee during the summer.

RALPH COATES: Born 26th April, 1946 at Hetton-le-Hole. Centre-forward with Lambton and Hetton and Durham Boys. Signed apprentice pro on 7th October, 1961 from Hetton Juniors. First Division debut 19th December, 1964 v. Sheffield United. England Under 23 international who won his first full cap against Ireland at Wembley last April.

DAVID THOMAS: Born 5th October, 1950. Played inside-forward for Bishop Auckland and Durham Boys and outside-left for England Boys. Signed associated schoolboy forms on 11th October, 1965 and apprentice pro on 15th August, 1966. In his first three games for Burnley moved from B team to Reserves. First team debut v Everton 13th May, 1967. England Under 23 international.

DAVID MERRINGTON : Born 26th January, 1945 at Barley Mow. Played centre-half for Chester-le-Street and Durham Boys before joining Burnley straight from school on 27th August, 1960. First-team debut v Chelsea in April, 1965.

LES LATCHAM : Born 22nd December, 1942 at Crook. Went to Durham Johnston Grammar School and signed amateur forms for Burnley from Crook Juniors on 24th October, 1959. Turned pro 9th January, 1960. Division debut at outside-left against Manchester United on 13th February, 1965.

ARTHUR BELLAMY: Born 5th April, 1942 at Blackhill. Joined Burnley in February, 1958 from Consett Iron Company juniors and signed pro in May, 1959. First team debut 26th March, 1963, when he scored in 5-2 away win over Manchester City.

FRED SMITH: Born 25th December, 1942 at West Sleekburn. Played for East Northumberland and Northumberland Boys before signing from school in May, 1958. Turned pro on 26th December, 1959. First Division debut at Stoke on 2nd November, 1963. Signed for Portsmouth this summer.

JOHN MURRAY: Born 2nd March, 1948 at Newcastle. Signed from Shieldfield juniors as an outside-right in 1964. First-team debut at Leicester on 5th November, 1966. Transferred to Blackpool for �10,000 just before last season's transfer deadline.

MICHAEL BUXTON: Born 29th May, 1943 at Corbridge. Played outside-left for Sunderland and Durham Boys before joining Burnley ground staff from Dawdon Juniors on 7th April, 1959. Signed pro 3oth May, 1960 and made his first-team debut against Blackburn Rovers on 2nd April, 1963. Since transferred to Halifax Town.

RAY TERNENT: Born 9th September, 1948 at Blyth. A blood relation of Ray Pointer, he played for Blyth and Northumberland Boys before joining Burnley from school on 3rd April, 1964. First-team debut at Southampton 8th April, 1967.

STAN TERNENT: Born 16th June, 1946 at Felling. He is no relation to Ray. Signed apprentice pro from St. Mary's Boys Club on 24th November, 1962 and made his first team debut at Sheffield Wednesday on 6th May, 1967. Now with Carlisle United.

JOHN PRICE: Born 25th October, 1943 at Horden. Signed amateur on 29th October, 1960 and pro on 21st November, 1960 from Horden Juniors. A right-winger, he was later transferred to Stockport County.

All twelve were signed exclusively under the Hixon banner but several other top-class players found their way to Burnley when Charlie Ferguson was working the North-East with Hixon before Charlie joined Sunderland along with manager Alan Brown in the summer of 1957. Players like England international centre-forward Ray Pointer from Cramlington; England Under 23 skipper John Angus from Amble; and Under 23 international inside-forward Jimmy Robson from Pelton accompanied other less distinguished but still prominent players on the trek into Lancashire. It is a roll of honour which rightly puts Jack at the top of the beanstalk. He is the man who can pick out star quality at the most difficult time - long before it has begun coming to the surface.

Hixon admits that nowadays scouts must start looking at boys eleven years old although they cannot be signed until they are thirteen. What is a scout searching for at that age? "Perhaps the most important thing for the modern game is pace,"says Jack. "I don't think you can ever give a man immediate acceleration, you cannot make him "lift" to leave an opponent. Physical make-up, balance, execution - all these things can be worked on. But running power is different.

"You must always study the youngster carefully to find out his margin for improvement over the years but I believe that a lot of the risk has now been taken out of scouting. These days I don't think there is such a thing as a late developer. I believe that every player who makes it now will have at least played a few times for his area side. There must be even the slightest glimmer early on."

Hixon, for so long associated with Burnley, is now working for Derby County after a brief, unhappy stay at Stoke. He is back with a North-East born manager (Brian Clough) who understands and has faith in the area. That is very important to a man looking for diamonds in a minefield.

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