MANAGER Owen Coyle has called for Burnley players, and fans, to do the club proud on derby day tomorrow.

Controversial special measures for ferrying Clarets fans to and from Ewood Park have been well-documented, and at times threatened to overshadow football’s oldest derby.

A lifelong Celtic fan, raised in Glasgow, Coyle is no stranger to intense rivalries.

But the Scot is keen to keep Burnley’s reputation as a family club intact, and is encouraging everyone involved to make sure the game passes without incident.

“I'm a football person, I just want to concentrate on football and nothing more and I don't want anybody else getting caught up in that this weekend,” he said.

“There is a fierce loyalty to each of the clubs, there's no doubt about it, but as long as it's not more than that because it's paramount to everything we're doing at this football club.

“We've shown in my tenure we're a family club and I don't want anybody to stray from that.

"And last year as well, I think we were probably everybody's second favourite team, so you don't want to lose that.

"You want to go and acquit yourself well and do it in the right manner.

“There's a way of conducting yourself on and off the football field in terms of how you represent your football club, and I mean that for players, staff and fans alike.

“We're there for a football game; we should be very proud of having two clubs in what are perceived to be small towns playing in the best league in the world. So let's show all the good things.

“Have the banter and the songs - I'll probably get a bit of stick myself - but if it's good natured banter then I think we all go with that.

“But I want Burnley Football Club to be portrayed in the right manner, as a family club.

“I've always felt that's the way a football club should be. I was fortunate that I played at a few clubs that had that type of atmosphere.

“I would hope that anybody who walks through the doors at Burnley Football Club can sense this is a real nice environment, it's a footballing atmosphere and that's the way it should be. For me that's paramount to any development of a football club.”

He added: “Derby or not derby we still carry on the way we always have done.

“Yes, we know how much we and the fans want to win, but we have an obligation to make sure we conduct ourselves in the right manner.”

And Coyle is confident his players can rise to the big occasion.

“My memory of derby games I played in is that they were normally frantic. They started at a very high pace until it settled down and somebody but their foot on the ball and started to control it. But there's no doubt that it will be played at a frantic pace and there'll be a lot of commitment,” he said.

“Commitment should be a given, but we want to see the quality as well on the ball, and I think within both teams we have that.

“Both teams have quality players and I'm pretty sure very good footballers.

“We know Blackburn have a big, physical team as well so we're going to have to stand up to that, and earn the right to go and play. And if we do that it should be a real cracker of a game.

“I believe we've got players who have played in many big occasions last year and this will be big because it's a derby.

“But every game's different, so you have to make sure - individually and collectively - that you're at your best, and if we do that then those past experiences might help them.

"But first and foremost we have to make sure we're in the right mental and physical state to start the game.”