WELL, it hardly feels like five minutes, but here we go again.

So much has happened at Turf Moor since Stan Ternent took his well-deserve lap of honour after the Sunderland game in May.

A new manager in place, new players making their meaningful debuts and a brand new era for everyone connected with Burnley Football Club.

Let me start by wishing Steve all the best. He has done a remarkable job to even raise a team in such a short pace of time and I am optimistic we will at least now be competitive over the coming ten months.

And the really pleasing thing is he has the unexpected bonus of a selection problem for tomorrow's curtain-raiser.

Twelve into 11 doesn't go and, taking Brian Jensen and the young professionals out of the way, that means one player is going to find himself unlucky.

Assuming everyone is fit of course - and Steve is likely to keep that well under his hat for fear such information would filter across the Pennines - the back four would appear to pick itself.

Likewise, the two strikers must surely play. If we started out with an away game, then maybe Steve would play things cautiously and string five men across the midfield to help tighten things up.

But with the adrenaline pumping and in front of the Burnley fans, I can't see Steve pulling back on the reins, so 4-4-2 it should be.

And that leaves the midfield conundrum, where someone from the quintet of Roche, Hyde, Grant, Chaplow and Branch seems likely to miss out.

Branch is the really intruiguing player here. His versatility is both a help and a hindrance, leaving him without a regular starting slot to pin down.

But in the absence of a big target man - the one concern I really have at present - he would appear to be only squad player capable of fitting the bill should the manager need to shuffle things around.

Likewise, Roche provides necessary balance in his new right midfield role, so that leaves the middle trio fighting it out.

Who would want the problem of leaving out Tony Grant, Richard Chaplow or Micah Hyde?

But as I said before, it's a measure of the manager's immediate success that he has given himself such a tricky puzzle to solve.

That though, in a nutshell is what football management is all about and why everyone in the stands tomorrow will have their own opinion.

For what it's worth I feel we will do okay this season, finishing in the top half. I wouldn't go any higher than that, given the small squad at Steve's disposal. But we've all accepted that now - him perhaps more than most - and I'm confident that one day, he will get there.

Here's to a good season.