WHEN Burnley are in the tunnel at Pittodrie ready to return to European action, it’s unlikely there will be any screams of encouragement to match the type dished out to Ian Woan's Nottingham Forest teammates by Stuart Pearce 23 years ago.

The Clarets assistant boss was part of the Forest side that enjoyed a run to the UEFA Cup quarter-finals in 1995/96 and he can remember Pearce’s own unique brand of motivation minutes before one fixture with Auxerre in France.

The patriotic left-back screamed ‘we’re English’, with some added colourful language, at his teammates in the Stade Abbe-Deschamps, inspiring Forest to a backs-to-the-wall 1-0 win.

But leadership has changed in the years since Pearce was the main man in the City Ground dressing room, although this Clarets squad still has plenty of its own strong characters.

“They’re an exceptional group, the best I’ve ever worked or played with, for characters and good people,” Woan said of the Burnley squad.

“Tom Heaton leads by his attitude but there isn’t one standout alpha male – ‘I’m the man, I run the gaff’. There’s a lot of parity and honesty, just genuine people who want to do well.

“We had Pearce, Des Walker. Mentally tough, solid guys. Pearcy ran that dressing room.”

Europe might be a new challenge to most of the squad, but Woan could tell them stories of one of the highlights of his career in that run over two decades ago, which featured wins over Malmo, Auxerre and Lyon before a last-eight defeat to a star-studded Bayern Munich side.

Unfortunately, as Woan admits, most of the Clarets squad aren’t old enough to remember it, not that the former Forest winger will ever forget it.

It was Woan who got the ball rolling, scoring a crucial away goal in Sweden in a 2-1 defeat to Malmo, with the 1-0 win at the City Ground enough to secure safe passage through to the second round.

It was on the way back from the first game that the European bug bit.

“Coming back on the plane from Malmo, we’d lost 2-1, and it was all so new and I thought I really wanted more of it,” said Woan.

“The memories of that year and the run are so fantastic.

“Playing against Bayern Munich in the Olympic Stadium? Some of the players they had back in the day. We had a few internationals but the rest of us were just solid.”

The Bayern side contained the likes of Oliver Kahn, Markus Babbel, Christian Ziege, Mehmet Scholl, Lothar Matthaus, Jean-Pierre Papin and Jurgen Klinsmann.

Before then though, Forest had to come through further tough assignments.

They kept four clean sheets in the two ties against their French opponents, although that may have been more down to luck than judgement.

“We kept four clean sheets on that run and I still have no clue how,” laughs Woan.

“I’d cleared like three off the line, Mark Crossley was pulling saves from nowhere. I’m walking off the pitch (in Auxerre) like ‘how the hell have we just got away with this?’

“I just remember those games at Auxerre and Lyon being so backs to the wall. You couldn’t get near anyone.”

This was the era when the UEFA Cup was in its pomp. It was knockout football from the start and the quarter-final line-up that season shows the strength of the competition.

Alongside Forest and Bayern were AC Milan, Bordeaux, Barcelona, PSV Eindhoven, Slavia Prague and Roma.

For Forest, drawing the German giants was the worst possible outcome.

But, much like this Burnley side now, there was no sense of fear for Forest, managed by Frank Clark, despite being heavy underdogs.

“There was a genuine belief that we’d go toe-to-toe. We didn’t fear anyone,” Woan said of the first leg at Munich’s Olympic Stadium.

“We knew we were up against it but we were a solid group. They just had better players.

“You want to go and play those games, don’t you? If you fear it you’re in the wrong sport. I look back now and think that was amazing.”

Forest lost 2-1 in Germany but after a bright start at the City Ground they were gradually picked apart on the break, with Ziege, Thomas Strunz and Papin adding to a Klinsmann double in a 5-1 win.

For Burnley, fixtures of that gravitas are a couple of qualifying rounds away, at least.

It will be Sean Dyche and Woan trying to mastermind a run deep into the competition though, with no sense around the club that the Europa League is a headache they could do without.

The two are close friends as well as having that work relationship, regularly attending gigs to ‘clear the head’, as Woan points it, while they also share a flat in the Ribble Valley during the week.

“It’s like the Young Ones,” Woan jokes of the set-up with the man he’s known since coming together at Forest in 1990.

“A couch, a big screen, two beds – done. That’s it. No frills.”

Box sets tend to be the order of the day when they’re not talking about football, with Blacklist the current favourite.

“It’s not two lads thrown together. I know who the boss is though. It’s more relaxed than you’d imagine,” said Woan.

So does he still call him gaffer when they get back to the living quarters? “Absolutely no chance! I can’t tell you what I call him!

“I know exactly where the line is and there’s no compromise. We’re mates in the flat but when we’re at work I know he’s the gaffer.”

Tonight, Dyche and Woan take the Clarets back into Europe and the latter gets the feeling that this squad are going to enjoy it.

“It coincided with my best run (of form) for Forest. It ranks highly. Those different stadiums and different cultures, equipping yourself against contrasting styles,” he added.

“That’s why we’re all so excited here. Steve Stone actually works for us now on the recruitment side and we were talking about it the other day.

“He went on to get international honours but that experience is making us tell the lads ‘you’re going to love it’.”