STAN Ternent signed a one-year extension to his contract as Burnley manager, and immediately admitted: "My target is to get into the Premiership."

Ternent signed a new deal at the same time as his friend and trusted right hand man Sam Ellis, and he is determined to aim for the top.

"I know that the financial situation makes things difficult at the club and we really need to maintain our first division status," he said.

"But my ambition is for higher than that. Staying up is a realistic target but having finished seventh twice we have to aim for the top half dozen and then to go up.

"I know that injuries and suspensions will play a big part in it but I am sure that the squad is strong enough.

"I have had them together for a long time and this is a tough league, but we can do it. We have done everything we can do other than get in the play-offs and get promotion and that is why we are still looking upwards.

"We are looking to push on and we have got to improve."

Ternent, whose previous contract was due to expire in the summer, confessed that he has stayed at Burnley since moving from Bury in the summer of 1998 despite having been approached in relation to some other jobs in football.

"There have been some phone calls and there have been opportunities to do this, that and the other but I have always said that this is the job for me," he said. "There has been no reason for me to change."

The fact that Ellis has also agreed to sign a new deal is important to Ternent and he explained: "It is a bit like a marriage, and we are very good friends as well as colleagues. We have been together a long time, we have been successful and I see no reason to change it."

He intends to keep his backroom staff together and stressed: "Continuity is very important. I have brought all of the coaching staff in, apart from Terry Pashley who is doing a great job with the kids.

"They all know where I am coming from and they are all working hard for Burnley."

The new deal for both Ternent and Ellis has come as a big boost ahead of this evening's Lancashire derby with Preston North End at Deepdale but the players left training yesterday without knowing that the gaffer was committing himself for another year.

"We didn't want to upset them," he smiled.

Ternent has brought the vast majority of players into the club and he is delighted that he has been able to create a bond between coaches and players that helped them recover from the setback of losing their first four games of the season.

The latest two games have again brought defeats, the 6-5 loss at Grimsby actually coming in his 200th league game in charge at Burnley, but he remains confident that the club is moving in the right direction.

He admitted: "Three points against Preston today and a return to winning ways would be the perfect way to celebrate the new deal."