JASON Jones admits he feels priviledged to be handed a contract by Clitheroe.

The 22-year-old midfielder has become only the third player since Carlo Nash was sold to Crystal Palace for around £40,000 in 1996 to be offered the chance to sign up for the Blues.

The promising central midfield man is currently Clitheroe's only contracted player, and after missing out on promotion to the UniBond First Division and losing to Mossley in the final of the Worthington Challenge Trophy, Jones believes the club can overcome their disappointments from last season to clinch the treble this term - lifting the league title, the FA Vase and the Worthington Challenge Trophy.

"I believe we will win the league easily this season. There's no doubt we were good enough to win it last season but we had a couple of poor results which cost us and in the end we missed out by four points," Jones said.

"Against Abbey Hey, we hit the post, the crossbar - everything except the back of the net, and against Mossley in the league we had a really understrength side. But that's football.

"The cup was also a big disappointment. We were all under par that night. I don't know if it was the occasion which got to us or not but we all looked at each other afterwards and just knew we hadn't played to our potential.

"But we are a young side and this is our fourth season with the majority of us still together, the team spirit is the best I've known since I've been playing and I think we've got a good chance of winning the treble this season."

Jones, who has been with the Shawbridge outfit since he was 16, has signed a one-year contract with a one-year option for the club the following season.

And Clitheroe chairman Dave Burgess was delighted the midfield starlet, who was voted players' player and supporters' player of the season at the end of the last campaign, put pen to paper.

"We're really pleased he has signed," he said.

"He's done very well for us and deserves what he is getting. We know he has got possibilities to progress, and hopefully he'll do that with us.

"But we're not daft - we know other teams have been watching him. At the moment he wants to stay at Clitheroe but we're covering all the angles in case someone from the Conference or a higher league comes in for him and he fancies moving up without us."

Jones added: "The club think I've got potential to move on to better things and hopefully I can do that with Clitheroe and do something in the UniBond League next season.

"We've got a few players with Conference experience such as Lee Cryer, Neil Spencer and Barrie Hart, so there's no reason why we can't move on."