MARK Winstanley has agreed a new deal at Burnley which he hopes will see him return to First Division football with the Clarets.

The first contract Winstanley signed at Turf Moor was as a Division One player following Burnley's promotion and his move from Bolton Wanderers in 1994.

And the experienced defender believes that his second two-year deal, following a season on week-to-week terms, could see him back on a similar stage.

He said: "With the organisation we will have now and with hard work hopefully we will progress into a higher league.

"The new management does have a lot to do with it. Everyone has seen what they have done at Bury and I feel with the set of players we have here they could do the same."

Winstanley was left out in the cold from September to the turn of the year under Chris Waddle last season before forcing his way back into the side and becoming a permanent fixture in the successful fight against the drop.

That earned him a contract offer from Waddle which he will sign this week to confirm his place in the Ternent regime. He added: "Everybody starts back on July 7 on an even keel. Everybody has got to fight for a place and everybody will have to fight to stay in that place as well.

"Everybody knows now that as well as good football we are going to have to work hard consistently.

"We proved we can do it by beating everyone in the top six except Bristol Rovers but we have got to have consistency and I'm sure the manager and Sam Ellis will make sure we have that."

Winstanley operated at left-back during the run-in although as a natural central defender would prefer to move back inside.

However he added: "I would like to play centre-back but I would play in any position as long as I am playing."

With Ternent likely to operate with three central defenders in line with the successful policy he adopted at Bury then it will be interesting to see which personnel he employs.

As things stand he has a choice of Winstanley, Neil Moore, Chris Brass, Steve Blatherwick, Lee Howey and Gerry Harrison - if he stays - to fill the central berths.

And it would be no great surprise to see Ternent sign another defender before the season starts with a specialist left-back top of the list.

Ternent will bed his new side in during pre-season and he has completed his line-up of warm-up matches for the first team with a date at Vauxhall Conference side Morecambe on Tuesday, July 28.

Meanwhile, the Clarets report that they are on target to match last season's figure of 6,000 season tickets.

But fans wishing to buy tickets at the discounted rate have only until 1pm this coming Saturday to do so. Full standard prices will then be introduced from Monday.

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