WHEN Michael Duff turned 37 earlier this month he shared celebrations in the dressing room with Michael Keane, 15 years younger and the man who had taken his place in the team following his injury.

After Duff then spent six weeks battling back from a calf injury that was only supposed to keep him out for two, you might think Burnley’s senior statesman was beginning to feel his age.

MORE TOP STORIES:

But the Belfast-born defender, now in his 11th season at Turf Moor, is having none of it.

He believes he has benefited from the fitness and recovery regime introduced by Sean Dyche and his head of sports science and Mark Howard, and has no plans to hang up those boots just yet.

Duff, whose next appearance will be his 350th for the club, is enjoying this season as much as he has ever enjoyed his time in East Lancashire, wants his playing career to last as long as it possibly can.

“I’m enjoying my football now,” he said. “This year has been as good as any.

“If you can’t enjoy your football when you’re in this league then there’s no point playing.

“I’d like to keep playing as far as I think I can do and the stats are backing up my thoughts. It’s not airy-fairy wishy-washy stuff, it’s facts that are backing it up.

“People often say play as long as you can so that’s what I’ll try and do.

“I think players are playing a lot longer generally now, just because there’s that that much science involved now.

“You used to just turn up, train and go home but there’s a lot more to it now.”

Dyche has picked an unchanged team for the last eight Premier League matches, and a lot has been made of the fitness of the squad this season, having outrun the opposition in all 22 league fixtures.

Duff believes the whole squad has benefited, and that the post-game stats for all players no mean less is made of a player’s age when reaches his mid-30s.

“I think everyone has benefited from it,” said the Northern Ireland international.

“It’s modern football now. There’s a lot made of it, you’re a professional footballer, it’s not just coming in training, you get the weekend off and you still have to look after yourself.

“You won’t play in this team if you’re not fit.

“There’s no hiding place because they get the data from every game you get big packs, total distance covered, sprints, walking, recovery time from sprints and things like that.

“There’s that much science in the game now that there’s no hiding place. That’s why age is literally just a number now.

“If you’re stats aren’t backing up your performances with distance covered and things like that it doesn’t matter if you’re 21 of 51, if you’re not running far enough you’re not running far enough.

“That’s where sometimes it maybe benefits me. The gaffer is big on science and food and nutrition and all things like that.”

A lot of footballers may fear age creeping up on them, but Duff, who made 337 appearances for Cheltenham before his £30,000 move to Burnley in 2004, has noticed one benefit.

“People have spoken about my age since I was 30,” he said. “As soon as I got to 30 I realised I can’t have a bad game now, because it won’t be because I had a bad game it will be because I’m 37. That’s just something you deal with.

“People just want to write you off as soon as you get to 31, 32, but I’m comfortable with that. I’m not Peter Pan and I’m not stupid to think I can go on forever, but at the moment I feel fit.”

Duff is the Clarets’ longest serving player by some distance, and is the only survivor from the squad that contested Burnley’s last Premier League campaign in 2009/10.

That season started well, as four of their first eight league games under Owen Coyle were won, but the manager’s departure in early January rocked the squad.

Brian Laws replaced Coyle, but his side lost 14 of the remaining 18 league games as Burnley collapsed to an instant return to the Championship.

After 22 games this season the Clarets have the same number of points (20) as they did at this stage of the 09/10 campaign.

But five years ago they took just 10 points from here on in, finishing 18th, five points adrift of safety.

“I think the change of manager meant it was hard for anyone coming in really,” said Duff. “It was a tight-knit squad and obviously the manager leaving ripped the heartbeat out of that.

“I’d like to think that won’t happen this year in that I don’t think we’ll fall off a cliff like we did a little bit the last time.”

Unlike a lot of managerial changes for teams towards the bottom of the league, Coyle’s departure from Turf Moor was his choice, and Duff believes that’s what made it tougher to adapt when Laws came in.

“It wasn’t result dependent that changed the manager,” added Duff. “He left for his own reasons and there wasn’t much the lads could do about it, but it was disappointing.

“That’s why it was hard for Brian Laws coming in.

“The team were doing well and it ripped this hole out of it a little bit because we were doing everything we had to and everything we could, then when a new manager comes in with new ideas when we were doing well sometimes it’s not easy to change things, which is ultimately what happened.”

Duff has noticed a difference between this Clarets squad and the one he was a part of five years ago, and it’s a trait he believes will make a big difference in the final few acts of the season.

“I think there’s more resolve,” he explained. “The way we perform in every game. I think we were a bit more hit and miss in that team.”

Duff might be the most experienced player in the squad, but others, such as Steven Reid and David Jones, have vital experience of Premier League run-ins when you are fighting for survival.

Duff is happy to help where he can with any of the younger squad members, but insists there is a belief amongst everyone involved that they can secure a second season in the top flight.

“I’ll try and help if I can,” he said. “Experience is a nice way of putting it.

“We’ve got a few lads who have been in and around it a lot. This is only my second year in this league so it’s as new to me as it is anyone else really.

“There’s a belief within the squad, and the whole building really, that we can achieve something.”