Burnley Elder was the very last piece in
Harry Potts Championship jigsaw, signing aged 17 in January 1959 for £5,000 from Irish League club Glentoran. He spent the remainder of the 1958–59 season in the Burnley reserves, remaining there when the 1959–60 season began. By the eighth game of that season he made his first team debut against Preston and the great
Tom Finney. Despite a 1–0 defeat Elder played well enough to retain his place and played in all but one of the remaining games that season. Elder played in Burnley's European Cup campaign the following season and then in the FA Cup Final Wembley side of 1962. He forged a formidable full back partnership with John Angus
Stoke City Elder made an unfortunate start to his Stoke career as in pre-season training for
1967–68 it took him until the end of October to make his debut and failed to reach the heights he set at
Turf Moor and is considered to be one of
Tony Waddington's worst signings. He played 44 games in
1968–69 and over the next four seasons he made 27 appearances and was released by the club after playing exactly 100 matches. ==International career==