BURNLEY chairman Barry Kilby believes the "next generation" of Clarets' stars can take the club to new heights.

Kilby accepts the time is right for boss Stan Ternent to don his hard hat and build new foundations after last season's play-off hopes crumbled to dust.

Ternent is busy drafting new plans to bring in a younger breed this summer after releasing 13 players from the payroll.

And Kilby has every confidence that Ternent's targets can bridge the gap between mid-table and the play-off pack.

Kilby said: "We needed a new broom to sweep clean and an influx of younger players - the next generation if you like.

"That's what we will find happening this summer and I'm quite bullish about it. I think that knowing what Stan already has, and what we are thinking of doing, there could be a nice blend next season.

"We are starting to build a team and I genuinely think if we can get that blend right we could have a good season and be challenging for a play-off place."

Solid club servants such as Steve Davis, Gordon Armstrong and Ian Cox were among the casualties of Ternent's axe-wielding session after finishing 16th in Division One last season.

And Kilby was fully supportive of all his manager's tough decisions.

He added: "We needed a restructuring and the departures were a natural consequence of that.

"One of the reasons we ran out of steam is that we had simply run out of steam! I thought we had quite a good season and it was only after the FA Cup run that it fell away.

"That deflated the club and we just couldn't keep a natural churn of players going through the team.

"The danger signals were there, so we took the decision."