Clarets chairman Barry Kilby was ready to cast his eye over a sold-out Turf Moor today, admitting that the euphoria currently surrounding the club is beyond his wildest dreams.

Today's derby clash with Preston North End was guaranteed to bring in a second successive gate of over 20,000 following Ian Wright's debut against Wigan a fortnight ago.

And the response of the Burnley public to Wright's arrival and a sustained promotion challenge has re-affirmed Kilby's belief that the Clarets can prosper at a higher level.

"It's not a pipe dream to think that we can fill Turf Moor. I doubt many other teams in our division or the one above could have done that," said Kilby.

Today's crowd of 22,250 was set to generate the highest ever gate receipts for a game at Turf Moor and the chairman added: "We have got record everything and we're all delighted.

"The Ian Wright gamble, commercially speaking, has paid off beyond anything we could have expected.

"We thought we would have put a thousand or more on but it's fabulous to see that sort of support is there, underlying that Burnley is a football town."

Cash at the turnstiles alone will have more than paid Wright's wages for the remainder of his contract between now and the end of the season. And with supporters flocking to Turf Moor, the club is raking it in through sales of merchandise and refreshments.

The money has also helped offset the recent cost of buying Ian Cox and put manager Stan Ternent in a better position if he wishes to strengthen his squad further ahead of the transfer deadline later this month.

Wright's arrival has lit the blue touch paper to a simmering promotion campaign and having chatted with the former Arsenal and England striker, Kilby believes the appreciation is mutual.

"The way the fans have responded to him has been a fabulous fillip for him after what happened at Celtic.

"We are all hoping that he will put one in the net but his contribution all-round has been good and I'm sure goals will come," said Kilby, whose club will be just two points behind Preston tonight if Wright was able to inspire Burnley to victory this afternoon.

Meanwhile, Alan Lee is on course to help Burnley's promotion push after being given the all-clear to step up his training almost two months ahead of schedule.

The young striker has made a remarkable recovery from a cartilage operation on his left knee and could be in contention for a place in Stan Ternent's first-team plans for the final few weeks of the campaign.

Lee sustained the injury in December and wasn't originally expected to return until next season.

But his rehabilitation has gone smoothly and a visit to the specialist this week gave him the green light to make his comeback.

Ever the optimist, even the player himself was pleasantly surprised with the verdict after tests showed the knee to be virtually as strong as before the injury.

He is expected to spend the next week or so working with physio Ian Liversedge to strengthen up the muscles around the knee and will then link up again with the first-team squad.

"He's going to be about another month or so and we are quite pleased with that," confirmed boss Stan Ternent.

"He's ahead of schedule provided he doesn't have any setbacks.

"We might arrange some games or he'll play in the reserves because he'll need two or three matches to get match-fit.

"But the main thing is that he's made a full recovery."

Even allowing for a month's build-up on the training ground and in the Pontins League, Lee could be available for the last four or five games of the regular season.

If the Clarets end up in the play-offs he could have an ever bigger role to play and at the cutting edge of the campaign, Ternent will be pleased to have another potential goalscorer at his disposal. "We signed him to lead the line and we need him back," said the boss, who paid £100,000 for the Republic of Ireland under-21 international last summer.

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