AS fresh faced teenagers begin the battle to impress Burnley's new management team, there may well be prying eyes in their midst.

Mark Yates intends to make a triumphant return to Turf Moor after a long and winding 13-year journey from home dressing room to home dug-out.

Looking bronzed and energised, not to mention fresh-faced himself, the new Clarets reserve team manager hardly looks a day older than the day he first strode out in claret and blue in 1991 as Frank Casper's last signing.

And now 34, he has not ruled out pulling on his boots once more if he feels it will benefit the Clarets second string and help supplement new manager Steve Cotterill in his quest for success.

Yates said: "Steve and I have had a brief chat about me carrying on playing in some capacity and I will probably bring my boots along with me.

"We still don't know what size of squad we'll have and if I need to play in a reserve game or two and try to help players through on the playing side a couple of times, that might be a possibility.

"But my league days are over after some really great times. I enjoyed all that, but coaching is where I want to be now."

Yates' days as a Burnley player are perhaps best described as fleeting. He made just 13 starts after Casper lured him from Birmingham for £40,000 just two months before Jimmy Mullen was installed as manager - an appointment that duly transformed the club's fortunes.

"I came here with my dad and as soon as I pulled up outside Turf Moor I knew it was the right place to be," recalled Yates.

"It wasn't a wholly successful time for me on a personal level, but it was great to be part of the squad that won the last Fourth Division championship.

"It's something I will always remember and that medal is still there at home reminding me that the success we generated was second to none for a town the size of Burnley."

The attacking midfielder's Clarets debut boded well - a smartly taken goal in the 4-1 win at Doncaster Rovers on the second day of that promotion winning season being instant payback.

But four games later, Yates was relegated to the bench and, following Mullen's arrival, he started just four more league games all season as Burnley romped to the title.

The writing was clearly on the wall, and after spending the majority of the following campaign loaned out to both Kidderminster Harriers and Lincoln City, Yates finally severed all ties with Burnley to sign for Doncaster Rovers the following summer.

From Belle Vue, it was back to Conference outfit Kidderminster before eventually a certain Steve Cotterill persuaded him his future lay at Cheltenham Town.

Cotterill had been busy making a managerial name for himself by transforming the Southern League part-timers into a team with Football League ambition.

After finishing Conference runners-up in 1998, a spot of team tinkering, including making new signing Yates captain, inspired the Robins to go one better and lift the title in 1999 to cap a stunning ascent up the non-league pyramid.

The duo enjoyed similar success in their early days as a professional outfit, hauling Cheltenham into Division Two in 2002 in a season that also saw Yates skipper Cotterill's underdogs to success over Burnley in the FA Cup.

Yates is still revered at Cheltenham for the role he played - rarely the star man who got supporters inching towards the edge of their seats, but always at the heart of the action with a timely tackle or popping up with a goal-line clearance.

Sadly, Cotterill's departure to Stoke that summer, after gaining a reputation as one of the brightest young managers in the game, halted Town's rise through the ranks just as Yates himself was weighing up a future career in coaching.

And unbeknown to him, a reward lay in store several years later, after he successfully secured the coveted UEFA 'A' badge last month.

"I was on my UEFA coarse at Lilleshall and the very next day Steve was on the phone asking me to come and join him at Burnley," grinned Yates.

"There was no hesitation. People say you should play on as long as you can, but opportunities like this don't come around too often so there wasn't even a decision to make.

"When a player gets into his 30s you have to start thinking about your future and around four years ago I decided coaching was the route I would like to take, not knowing what opportunities might arise.

"I am just grateful that a club like this has given me the chance to get into coaching at 34, and it won't be through a lack of effort if I don't succeed."

Yates, whose wife recently gave birth to cap a whirlwind summer, will double up as first team coach in addition to his duties with the reserve team.

And he vowed to hound the players to the peak of fitness in pre-season to cope with the demands of Burnley carrying a much smaller squad than many of their First Division rivals.

He said: "Last season I was playing and there's no doubt it can be a comfortable lifestyle.

"But I am fully prepared to put a lot more hours in now because that is what coaching demands.

"Hopefully the players respond to that. It's going to be hard work because Steve is a very demanding manager who insists on the best from everyone and gets it.

"But football is becoming more and more like athletics. The players are getting stronger and quicker and the demands are so much more now than they were just four or five years ago.

"Players have to go with the flow and work hard, but if you can gain any advantage over the opposition - be that strength, fitness or power - then that has to benefit the team and the club.

"I'm not saying it will be easy because it is a tough division, but with a manager like Steve at the helm things will start rolling and I get the feeling good things can happen.

"It might just take a little time for that to happen and we are under no illusions about the task ahead of us.

"But with someone like Steve we will get there. He is one thorough man who will leave no stone unturned and I just know he will be a success."