NO ONE needs to tell Mitchell Thomas what Paul Gascoigne is like - he has seen it all before.

And the experienced Clarets' defender smiled: "He has not done anything outrageous since he got here - but everyone is watching their backs.

"He is still as mad as ever!"

Thomas and Gascoigne were team-mates at Tottenham Hotspur when the former England star was playing arguably the best football of his career.

Tonight they are likely to be sharing the famous claret and blue as Gazza makes his Burnley debut in front of a packed house at Turf Moor.

For Thomas it will be a third successive start after a season of frustration as he has battled for fitness having suffered injury problems.

And he can't wait to be part of the whole occasion that will see his former colleague taking centre stage.

"It is very similar to when Ian Wright came here a couple of years ago," he admitted. "Gazza has come in here and he is still very much down to earth, he is still a tremendous player. There is no doubt that he is a great asset to the squad."

The buzz both in the town and inside the Clarets camp is clear for all to see and has been ever since the news of his arrival started to break over the weekend and the 37-year-old Thomas is far from immune.

"I certainly got a buzz when the talk first started about him coming and I told the lads that he would do really well if he came here," he explained.

"The whole squad was really optimistic when it came out that he was coming here."

But while he has no doubt about the player's ability he is warning the 20,000 spectators who will fill Turf Moor with a wall of sound tonight not to expect too much too soon.

"The fans will expect a lot from him but I know one thing, they will get 110 per cent," he said. "He has got a massive amount of ability because we have seen that in the last couple of days training.

"But his debut will also give a lift to the Bradford City players so we will have to watch out for that. All players want to play against the big names and they don't come any bigger than Gazza. Bradford will be no different to anyone else, they will want to do well against him."

Thomas, who has played for Luton Town, Spurs and West Ham in a top class career, believes that Gazza is the best player he has played with.

"I very much think so," he said. "If he hadn't had all the injuries that he seems to have accumulated and I believe he would still be amongst the best players in the world today.

"I remember how good he was when Spurs got to the FA Cup final in 1991, in fact all the way through that season. He has just come back from the 1990 World Cup where he had been absolutely tremendous and he was great for Tottenham.

"Everyone remembers the goal he scored in the semi-final against Arsenal but there was one against Portsmouth away that was really good as well. It was still a team effort because we had some good players but Gazza was marvellous."

Thomas, a virtual ever present in the last two season at Burnley, has battled back from injury and tasted victory in both his comeback games, at left back against Stockport and alongside Ian Cox in central defence against Preston on Sunday.

"It is very nice to be back," he said. "It is what you train for every day so that you can play on a Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, Friday, whatever day of the week they make you. And it is exciting to be back at such a crucial time of the season and even before Gazza got here the lads have been quite up-beat."

But his arrival has added that touch of magic to the atmosphere and the player is almost as famous for his mischief making as for his superb skills and Thomas laughed: "We have been having a chat down on the training ground recalling a few memories but most of them I could not tell you about."

It is a safe bet that there will soon be some very similar tales to tell in relation to Gazza's career at Turf Moor.