Career
He played as a left-back. Burke began his career at Bolton Wanderers in 1977, making his league debut as an 18-year-old on September 2, 1978, in a 2-2 draw at Birmingham. He remained at Burnden Park for four years, making 69 league appearances and scoring one goal.
In 1981 he moved across the Pennines to join Huddersfield Town.
He went on to make almost 200 appearances for the West Yorkshire club He signed for Steve Coppell"s in 1987.
Burke returned to his first club, Bolton, later in 1990 and made over 100 further appearances for the club, including winning promotion to Division One (formerly the Second Division) in 1993. In 1994 he joined Blackpool, who had just appointed Sam Allardyce as their manager.
Allardyce was a former teammate of Burke"s in his first spell at Bolton in the late 1970s.
After two years with the Seasiders, Burke retired as a player.