He made a total of 405 appearances in the Football League for West Bromwich Albion, Southampton, Crystal Palace, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Plymouth Argyle, Bristol City and Colcester United.
His father was so keen to see David develop his football skills that he installed floodlights in his back garden to enable his son to practice in the evenings.
He soon acquired nationwide fame for his incredible ball-juggling abilities when, in October 1957, during the half-time in a televised friendly match against Russian team CDSA Moscow he performed his tricks to entertain the crowd.
[4] During his time at The Hawthorns, West Bromwich were relatively successful, generally ending the season in the upper half of the First Division table, including reaching fourth spot in 1959–60.
Burnside immediately became a fixture in the Saints side, alongside Terry Paine and John Sydenham on the wings and Kirby and George O'Brien in attack.
After excelling as both inside-forward and deep-lying centre-forward, he was voted "Player of the Year" by Home Park fans in the 1968–69 campaign, in which he scored nine goals in 42 Third Division games.
Burnside was an important member of the Argyle squad as the Pilgrims drifted along in the middle of the Third Division, but it is probable that he would have been even more effective if he did not have to cope with a daily commute from his Bristol home.
In October 1979, he started working for the Football Association as a regional coach in the West country, before becoming part of the international set-up in 1983, having known England manager Bobby Robson since his time at The Hawthorns.
In their short time as caretaker managers, Fawthrop and Burnside guided the Robins to a Wembley appearance in the Football League Trophy Final, losing 2–1 to Stoke City.
After handing the manager's post to Leroy Rosenior in summer 2000, Burnside continued to assist Bristol City as technical advisor, before a spell working with Bobby Gould as football co-ordinator at Cheltenham Town, which ended in October 2003.