STAN TERNENT is the one and only reason why David Johnson is trying to kick-start his career again at Turf Moor.

The striker who cost Nottingham Forest £3million just over a year ago joined the Clarets on a month's loan yesterday and admitted: "I wouldn't have come without him, I have so much respect for the man.

"I worked with him before at Bury. If Stan was at any club it would have been down to him that I would have joined. When he asked if I would like to come to Burnley I jumped at the chance.

"His man management is second to none. At Forest we had Andy Gray and any players who have worked with him say the same. He puts a smile on your face.

"Mike Walsh brought me to Bury but he was not playing me. Stan told me I had to lose some weight and I came back for pre-season fit.

"He'll tell you before the game what he wants and then after the game if you have done it. But when you need a pat on the back he will give you it."

Johnson recently had a successful loan spell at Sheffield Wednesday and he explained: "That was a massive gamble because if it had not come off who would have come in for me.

"But I went on loan and it went well for me. I had been playing on left midfield but I was playing up front and got a couple of goals."

Forest recalled him form that loan spell but Ternent was quickly on the phone to Forest boss Paul Hart to see about signing the player who had done so well for him when he was the boss at Gigg Lane.

"This is a big chance for me," said the 25-year-old. "Forest had their reasons for getting me back and Wednesday could not afford me.

"This is very exciting times for Burnley, for the whole club. It is a big challenge for the players and it is ideal for me. Our fate is in our own hands and this is what it is all about."

The goals that marked his time at Bury and then Ipswich never came at the City Ground and he confessed it was a frustrating time.

"I got myself fit and did everything I could but in my time there I played with six, seven or eight strikers," he said. "They failed to reach the play-offs last year after being relegated, finishing behind Burnley, and I didn't realise how badly off the club was.

"They have been honest with me, saying they can't afford to keep me and I do respect the manager but I had to move on."

Johnson has experienced both play-off pleasure and play-off pain during his time with Ipswich and he is ready to be thrown straight in to action in the Red Rose promotion derby against Preston North End on Sunday.

He explained: "When I went to Wednesday we had a Yorkshire derby against Rotherham at the other end of the table and then we had to play Bradford as well.

"Sunday's match is a really big game for both teams but Burnley are in a position where teams have to come to take points from a game."

After his first training session with his new team mates he had an immediate appreciation of the work that goes on at Gawthorpe.

"My match fitness is quite good because Forest work a lot harder than any club I have known," he said. "They come in every Sunday but Stan has got a good workmanlike team and they work very hard so hard in training here."

Johnson is ready and willing to join in that hard work and with top scorer Gareth Taylor suspended for two games he knows he has to hit the ground running.

But the chance to team up with Ternent, the man who made his career, means this is a challenge he is ready and willing to meet.