FORMER football star Jim Steele has made his debut as the new landlord of the Black Bear pub in Moreton-in-Marsh High Street.

He was a 15-year-old apprentice electrician playing for a village team in his native Scotland when a boys' club affiliated to Scottish First Division team, Hearts, spotted his talent and signed him up.

Another leading Scottish team, Dundee, signed the Edinburgh-born defender at the age 17. He was in Dundee's first team within a year.

Top English side, Southampton, signed him for £80,000 four years later and he played for the club when it caused one of the biggest football shocks ever by beating Manchester United in the 1976 FA Cup final.

He later played for Glasgow Rangers and retired in 1982 after playing for various clubs in America, where he spent 18 years.

Having run a bar in Washington and with friends running a pub in Southampton, it seemed natural to enter the pub trade when he returned to Britain.

He did holiday-relief management at Naunton's Black Horse pub and ran Naunton Downs Golf Club's bar for seven months before he and wife, Jill, took over at the Black Bear, where many regulars are football fanatics and the bar is festooned with soccer scarves and pennants.

Saying he was looking forward to running the Black Bear, which is owned by the local Donnington Brewery, Mr Steele added: "It's fantastic for me because I've only been in the area a year and I've already been offered a Donnington pub."