DAVE Merrington would love the chance to return to Burnley and restore the club to its former glory.

The former Clarets defender is currently the chief scout at Wolves but is a contender for the Turf Moor managerial vacancy.

And he has no doubt about where the club should be heading.

"It's a great club with great supporters," he said. "It's a pity. They deserve to be pushing for a top place and trying to get in the Premiership. They have that sort of support and tradition."

Merrington hasn't managed a club since leaving Southampton two years ago but has kept his ear to the ground while heading Wolves scouting network and would relish a return to management with the club where he started his playing career.

"If that opportunity arose I would definitely consider it. I took the job at Wolves because I was out of work but there are some jobs I would apply for and that (the Burnley post) is one of them.

"It's one of those clubs as your career goes on that remains close to your heart.

"The support is second to none and for a club in a provincial town is probably the best in the country. I have experienced it as a player and a member of staff there."

Whether he gets the chance to experience it again will be down to the board members with a likely input from Peter Shackleton. The proposed takeover headed by Shackleton is moving towards completion and his voice will be heard in the selection procedure.

Merrington played 96 League games for Burnley in the First Division and 126 in all for the club before moving to Bristol City in 1971.

He returned as assistant manager under Jimmy Adamson and then worked with Adamson at Sunderland and Leeds - as did one of his rivals for the Burnley job, Stan Ternent.

Merrington then had a short spell out of the game working in the probation service before joining Southampton where he worked for over 12 years, latterly as manager before he was controversially replaced by Graeme Souness having kept Saints in the Premiership.

At Wolves, Merrington was reunited with Colin Lee who first worked with Merrington at Bristol City as a young striker.

Lee has since forged a reputation as a leading coach with Mark McGhee at Reading, Leicester and Wolves after a short spell managing Watford. He is now believed to be looking for a manager's role and it's likely that if Merrington was considered by the Burnley board he would be keen to operate with Lee.

Ternent remains the favourite to replace Chris Waddle but should a move for the Bury boss not work out, then Merrington's experience and background allied to Lee's coaching pedigree could be seen as a viable alternative to the Clarets' board.

Although both are currently in work at Molineux it's unlikely Wolves would stand in their way should a management opportunity arise. And Merrington has firm ideas about how Burnley should be trying to play their way out of the Second Division.

He added: "Burnley have a traditional style of play. The supporters want quality. They want a winning side but they want to do it with a bit of style. They have been brought up on that and you need to introduce that system right through the club."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.