EX-CLARET Damien Matthew could find himself stuck between a rock and a hard place next Wednesday.

The former midfielder’s professional career began at Chelsea in 1989, and he spent five years with the club he grew up supporting.

But he counts his two seasons at Turf Moor among the happiest times of his footballing days.

“I had a great time at Burnley,” said Matthew, who was signed by Adrian Heath in 1996 and left just after the end of the Chris Waddle era.

“Even though we weren’t at the heights, when we survived relegation (in 1998) that’s something we still talk about now.

“It’s strange how it happened because Chris Waddle’s management team was fantastic – Glenn Roeder, who’s at Norwich now, and Gordan Cowans, who is involved with the youth team at Aston Villa.

“We just didn’t quite click as players, until towards the end when we saved the club from going down.

“But I felt the team had a good opportunity to push on under previous Adrian Heath, and his assistant John Ward, because we had a very good working relationship.”

It is in football management that Matthew seems destined to tread his next path.

And he couldn’t have picked two better role models from which to learn his trade.

The 38-year-old cut his coaching teeth in the Chelsea Academy, under the leadership of Claudio Ranieri, and later Jose Mourinho, before moving across London to Charlton Athletic.

“I spent six years back at Chelsea when I retired from playing,” said Matthew, who hung up his boots a year after leaving Turf Moor.

“Claudio Ranieri was my first manager. He was a great character and everyone can see how well he has done at Juventus, and I was very privileged to work with him.

“I worked under Jose Mourinho from afar. The Academy and first team aren’t separate entities as such, but you have your own identity.

“To work with and look up to him, though, was a fantastic education.”

But the arrival of billionaire Roman Abramovich prompted a sea-change in Chelsea’s youth development, as the club chose to flip open the chequebook to strengthen the squad rather than fast-track their Academy’s finest prospects.

“One of the main reasons I left Chelsea was the opportunity to see youngsters progress into the first team,” he said.

“It was a real opportunity of pushing kids through that enticed me to Charlton.

“I’ve been in two fantastic environments working in youth and it’s been a really good education.

“One day, no doubt, I’ll want to test myself and go higher up the ladder and be a manager myself perhaps.”