ANDRE Gray insists he has ‘no hard feelings’ with Burnley despite receiving a mixed reception on his Turf Moor return.

The former Clarets striker was a 79th minute substitute for Watford on Saturday but his introduction was met with a chorus of boos before a smattering of applause broke out.

It was a disappointing return for the striker who left the club for £18million in the summer but Gray said he still has plenty of friends at Burnley and is delighted to see the Clarets doing so well, claiming the ‘sky if the limit’ for what they can achieve this season.

“It was very mixed! That’s part and parcel of football,” he said of the reception he received.

“Maybe some people didn’t want me to go and whatever. But it’s part of it. I accept it, still clapped them when I went off because I had a great time here, they were great with me when I was here. There are no hard feelings.

“I left here with friends in every corner. I didn’t leave on any bad terms with anybody.

“Everybody knows it’s part of football. People move on, some people stay, and I’ve moved on and me and Sean had a great relationship. We still talk and hopefully that will continue.”

Scott Arfield’s goal was enough to hand Burnley a 1-0 win over Gray’s Watford and the success saw the Clarets take a firm grip of seventh, maintaining a five-point cushion to Leicester City and a six-point lead over Watford.

Dyche’s side are level on points with Tottenham, one behind Arsenal and two behind Liverpool, and Gray believes they deserved their lofty position in the league table.

“The table doesn’t lie. It’s 16 games in now and they’re seventh,” he said. “But Burnley will never get spoken about until the end of the season and, if they’re still there then, maybe they will.

“It’s a shame that will happen but it’s better for the team if they keep going under the radar and keep putting in the performances they have this season because the sky’s the limit.

“It’s 16 games into the season, not four or five where they’ve had a great run. They’ve been consistent. People are not going to like coming here and people are not going to like playing against them and that’s shown already.

“People write them off every year.

“They wrote them off when I first signed in the Championship then we went and won the league; then last year we were favourites to go down until that final whistle blew on the last game of the season. That’s just how it is.”

“They’ll all know in the dressing room what they’re capable of. I think everyone will start to believe sooner or later.”

Gray spent two years working with Dyche at Burnley and is now under the guidance of another highly-rated young manager in Marco Silva.

The 26-year-old believes his current and former boss are both destined for the top.

“They’re both honest and they’ve both got the same sort of morals when it comes to managing,” Gray said.

“Obviously they’ve got different philosophies but I think every manager has got different philosophies. The table doesn’t lie and what they’re doing with the group of players they’ve got is proving they’re good managers, Everybody speaks highly of both of them.”