STEVEN Reid returns to West Bromwich Albion tomorrow, confident Burnley can follow his old club’s lead. Now in their fifth consecutive season in the top flight, the Baggies started life in the Premier League in far worse fashion than Burnley have done.

“We got off to a terrible start, we lost 6-0 at Chelsea,” Reid remembers of that first campaign after promotion in 2010.

Burnley faced Chelsea in their opening game and lost too, but only 3-1, and in a manner that gave them encouragement rather than discouragement.

Since then they have conceded only once in four games, even if they are yet to win.

“West Brom is a model that Burnley are going to be looking at,” says the 33-year-old.

“The club had been labelled a yo-yo club, but on the whole it was four years of success and Premier League football in my time there. Hopefully we can do that in the next few years.

“Straight away after losing 6-0 there were going to be doubts in the players’ minds.

“You think it could be the same old story of one season in the Premier League and getting relegated.

“But soon after that we picked up and within another four or five games we were in the top four. We went to the Emirates and won.

“It was a real solid group similar to the one we have here, a lot of British players through the spine of the team.

“It’s important you have that spine of homegrown players who have the knowledge of the club and let those who come in know what it means to the club and the surrounding area as well.

“We’ve had a really solid start here. I think one of the seasons with West Brom we only managed three or four clean sheets in the whole season, so to get three clean sheets out of five is good going.

“Yes, it would be nice to get on the scoresheet as well. But every game we’ve played, we’ve been heavily influential in sections of them.”

Reid knows the influence that manager Sean Dyche has had and is continuing to have on Burnley’s players, particularly the younger ones.

Dyche had the same influence on Reid when they played together at Millwall, right at the start of the Republic of Ireland international’s career.

Together with the likes of Tim Cahill and Lucas Neill, future stars in the Premier League and with Australia, they helped the Lions to the Second Division title in 2001.

Dyche, then an experienced centre half, knew how to keep Millwall’s young stars in check.

“At that time we were successful and the younger lads were getting a lot of plaudits,” Reid says.

“One or two of us were getting plaudits, maybe myself, Tim Cahill, Paul Ifill, Richard Sadlier.

“We were getting linked with moves away and he made sure we all kept our feet on the ground.

“Probably we were getting the odd man of the match rating in the paper on a Sunday but you’d soon know about it on a Monday morning if you tried to get above your station.

“The senior pros were maybe doing one or two things that you wouldn’t get away with in the modern game!

“It was important to have the gaffer there – I can’t call him anything else now or I might get in trouble – and a few other really good senior pros at that time.

“That was a massive learning curve for my character growing up.

“There are one or two players that you are surprised by when they become a manager.

“But from the moment he came in at Millwall you knew that he was going to go on and have a future in coaching and management.”

Reid crossed the East Lancashire divide by joining Burnley this summer, having spent seven years with Blackburn Rovers before his move to West Brom in 2010.

But he had no qualms about signing for the Clarets, after his contract at the Hawthorns came to an end and initial talk of a possible coaching role came to nothing.

“Obviously there is a big rivalry there with Blackburn but when the time came to sign for Burnley, I’ve got to be totally honest it wasn’t a factor,” he said.

“When you find yourself out of contract and an opportunity arises, especially to stay in the Premier League and you’ve been impressed by what a team are doing, it didn’t really cross my mind.

“The reaction from people I know at Blackburn has been positive.

“I’m still good mates with Dunny (David Dunn) and obviously there is a little bit of banter there.

“But he’s at the same stage of his career as well and he fully understands and knows what happens when you find yourself out of contract, and maybe there are not as many opportunities as you thought there was going to be.

“There were other offers and one or two that were interesting but the opportunity to stay in the Premier League was the major thing for me, and the relationship I had with the manager.”

So far Reid’s only involvement has been as a substitute – in the 88th minute against Manchester United and the 90th against Sunderland last weekend.

He could be under consideration to fill in at right back if Kieran Trippier misses out with a groin problem, but if not he is content to remain patient.

“I knew it was going to be difficult to get into the team,” said Reid, glad to have been unrestricted by injuries this season after issues in the past.

“Over the last few years I’ve played at right back at West Brom but obviously Trippier has been on fire for the last year or so now and has been one of the shining lights of the team again so far this season.

“I’m just happy to fill in where needs be. I’m sure there will times this season at right back maybe or central midfield, maybe in the closing minutes of games, the Man United game springs to mind where you do a little job where needs be.

“I knew the situation when I signed.”