BURNLEY manager Adrian Heath and assistant John Ward's well laid connections have been instrumental in bringing Bambo and Damian Matthew to Turf Moor.

And Heath today vowed to continue trying to attract top talent to the club as the Clarets set about preparing for a promotion push this season.

Both Bambo and Matthew revealed today that how were strongly influenced when joining the Burnley revolution by Heath and Ward respectively.

Although the Portuguese centre forward has yet to complete a deal to bring him to Burnley from Boavista, he has no hesitation in expressing his desire to move to England.

"I'm very happy to be here and the players have made me feel very welcome," said the Portuguese Under-21 star, with Heath acting as interpreter.

"I know that Adrian has a lot of confidence in me and that was important in me deciding to come here.

"I respect him very much, both as a player and a manager.

"To repay the faith he has shown in me, I aim to do all I can in a Burnley shirt this coming season.

"I am very hungry to come here on a permanent basis.

"The tempo of the game, the directness is something I feel that suits me and I'm looking forward to playing here in England."

The John Ward connection helped to bring Matthew to Turf Moor.

Heath's recently-appointed assistant manager was in charge of Bristol Rovers last season when midfield man Matthew had a spell on loan at Twerton Park.

"He obviously knows what I can do and when Burnley came in for me, I wasn't at all worried about moving North," said the enthusiastic 25-year-old.

"Burnley are a big club.

"It's certainly far different here than at Twerton Park.

"You can see the new ground being built and, potentially, it has all the makings of great things happening.

"We had a hard training session yesterday and I really enjoyed it."

That loan spell with Bristol Rovers could prove to be a significant turning point for Matthew, whose senior appearances at both Chelsea and Crystal Palace were limited.

He certainly thinks so, as he added: "This move could be just the thing to kick-start my career."

Heath is obviously anxious to complete a deal with Boavista for Bambo and is also seeking more players to strengthen his squad.

"It's great and exciting for the club when new players arrive with the ability to do well for us and help us achieve our goals," he said.

"I aim to have a few more players here before the beginning of the new season.

"And I'll be working very hard next week to do that."

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