TWELVE months ago Gerry Harrison's future at Turf Moor hung by a thread.

Transfer-listed by former manager Jimmy Mullen for what he described as a "poor attitude in pre-season training " the exit door beckoned for Harrison.

A year later the Clarets utility star is the focal point of a new Clarets defensive system and with his football career feeling the rejuvenating effects of Adrian Heath's new regime.

"Football is all about confidence and whether a manager has a belief in you," observed Harrison.

"When I was placed on the transfer list last season that just made me more determined to prove myself.

"However, Adrian Heath and John Ward have restored my belief. In a way, they've given me a second chance.

"I've more responsibility in the team and, subsequently, I feel I'm a better player because of it. The manager and John Ward are very positive people and that has rubbed off on the whole squad.

"They talk to me all the time about my game and areas that I can improve in. I'm a more dedicated footballer because of it. I'm still only a young player and I'm learning the game. But at least I know now that unless I play badly I won't be dropped.

"There is fierce competition for places, I'm conscious of that. There are players waiting on the sidelines ready to take the shirt off your back. "However, I'm in a new position in the team and I'd like to think it is a role I can hold down.

"I'm just a lot more relaxed as a footballer now.

"I genuinely believe there is something happening at Burnley.

"There is a terrific buzz about the place, which just wasn't there for a lot of last season. There is more commitment and belief this time.

"Tuesday's defeat, I think, was just a hiccup. We've just got to believe in ourselves."

Tomorrow Harrison - who pledged his future to Burnley by signing a two-year contract during the tour to Northern Ireland - returns to Millwall.

It is the club where cut his teeth as a schoolboy in the 80s and just a goal-kick away from his Norwood home.

He believes he was genuinely misunderstood as a young professional and during his formative years at Watford, Bristol City, Cardiff and Hereford.

"I'm quite a laid-back character and, although some of my previous managers at other clubs didn't think I gave a damn about the game, football means an awful lot to me. I just don't think they understood me.

"I'm very determined to prove a lot of people wrong who perhaps didn't have faith in me. I'm fiercely determined to do that."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.