CHRIS McCANN was just 12 years and five days old when an Andrew Cole-fuelled Manchester United completed a first ever treble.

On May 26 1999, the Reds re-wrote the history books with an inconceivable comeback to beat Bayern Munich in stoppage time of the Champions League final.

The young McCann, who had dashed back from his own junior final, couldn't contain his excitement when Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer combined to conjure a dramatic late twist at the Nou Camp.

"I remember jumping up and running round the house," said the 20-year-old, who grew up supporting United and idolised Cole.

Now he can call him his team-mate after the 36-year-old this week signed a loan deal until the end of the season from Sunderland.

"I used to watch United all the time," said midfielder McCann, who admitted that, as a child, he could never have envisaged playing alongside Cole.

"Those things are just the stuff of dreams when you're that young, but it's reality now and I'm looking forward to working with him.

"The goals he scored were just brilliant and I'm looking forward to playing with him.

"He is just a quality striker in general. Wherever he has played he's done really, really well and hopefully he can bring the same to this team."

Despite such understandable enthusiasm, he is resisting the temptation to get star-struck.

"It's just like a normal guy coming in, that's the way I look at it. Everyone's just a normal person in the changing room. They're all down to earth guys and I'm sure he'll be no different," continued the Dubliner, who is relishing the impact of increased competition for places can have on a Burnley squad that is just one point off the play-offs.

"There's great competition in the team and he's a good addition.

"We need goalscorers - we need to score goals to get out of this division and if we have healthy competition among the strikers we can keep putting the ball in the back of the net.

"Wade (Elliott) has been in amazing form this season with the ball's he has put in the box, and the goals we've scored from them have been unbelievable. So I'm sure he will fit right into the team and hopefully the crosses will keep coming and he will get a few goals."

But while Cole's record speaks for itself (187 Premier League goals makes him the division's second highest scorer behind Alan Shearer) it does not guarantee him automatic entry into Owen Coyle's starting line-up at West Bromwich Albion tomorrow.

The Burnley manager is set to keep a winning formula together after picking up nine points from the last three games. Robbie Blake has scored in all three games, while two for Ade Akinbiyi has made it three goals in four starts under Coyle. Therefore, Cole must settle for a place on the bench for tomorrow at least.

"It would be amazing to have that quality on the bench to come on and score goals," said McCann. "Ade and Robbie have been doing the business for us, so with the addition of Andy Cole, hopefully we can stick the ball in the net and keep us going up that league.

"The main thing is we want to be there or thereabouts around the top six to the end of the season, if not higher up the league. But we've just got to see how it goes and take it a game at a time.

"Results went really well on Tuesday so we're still up there, but it's another tough game tomorrow. Hopefully we can get a result and keep us up there, but they've just had a defeat so they will be wanting to bounce back so it's not going to be an easy game by any stretch of the imagination.

"Like everyone knows we did really well to win the last two games against them, but this will be a different game and it's always going to be tough away from home to West Brom."

But it isn't just up front where the competition is hotting up as McCann admitted he was pleasantly surprised to go straight back into the team after suspension.

"I didn't expect that with the way the lads have been playing, and when everyone's back (from injury and suspension) it's going to be mad!" he said.

There's a hell of a lot of competition, and especially for me personally for the two slots in the centre of midfield. There's a lot of work to be done. You can't afford to take your foot off the pedal, you've got to keep going and keep working hard and hopefully the manager will reward you with a starting spot."

A recall into the Republic of Ireland Under 21 squad also came out of the blue this week, although he insists his first call-up didn't end as controversially as it was painted at the time of him returning ahead of schedule from the European Championship qualifiers in November.

"Obviously I wanted to play and I didn't just get up and walk out like people thought," said McCann, who has been named in the squad for Tuesday's clash with England U21s at Southampton's St Mary's Stadium. "I didn't walk out of the squad because I wasn't playing. I was frustrated at not getting in the team but it was affecting me because I didn't want to come back to Burnley and be unfit and lose my place. There was a combination of things, but hopefully I'll get back in the squad and forget about it.

"I spoke to the manager and everything was sorted. We've cleared up what we needed to clear up and got some things off our chest and everything's fine now.

"It's such a big game against England, and I'm just happy to be a part of it."