Cheshire basketball legend Mike Burton has returned to work as assistant coach to John Lavery with the Phoenix next season – and the pair expect to form a formidable partnership.

“I don’t think it will be a case of good cop, bad cop,” said Burton when asked to sum up the duo’s coaching style.

“I think it’ll be two bad cops!” joked head coach Lavery, who moved quickly to appoint Burton as his number two just a couple of weeks after taking on the top job.

Both men know the club well.

Former England international Lavery was a member of the team which won the English championship in 1991 and he also had a season has head coach, in 2011-12.

Burton’s association with the club stretches back 25 years and he held a variety of posts – from head coach to assistant boss and director – during the most successful times in the team’s history, when they were the best in Britain.

He stepped down as head coach and director in 2007 but has remained involved in basketball since, coaching the Cheshire Panthers junior teams.

The retired PE teacher, who lives in Ellesmere Port, also had a spell working as number two to Paul Smith in 2009 and found himself joining the fight to help save the club last season when its future was cast into doubt.

Fans and local businesses rallied to save the Cheshire Jets franchise, which was rebranded and given a name more appropriate for a club rising from the ashes – the Phoenix.

The prospects for the 2013-14 campaign look a lot brighter.

“If we get it right, I think we can get back to the top again – winning trophies,” said Burton, who will relinquish his coaching duties with the Panthers next season while remaining on the junior club’s committee. “I’m looking forward to working with John again.

“We’re not in it just to make up the numbers. We don’t want to be finishing where we did last season (outside the play-offs). We want to compete with the top teams and enjoy it.”

Lavery took the Jets – as they were then known – to the semi-finals of the BBL play-offs in his only season in charge. He did not have a full-time assistant and is looking forward to being able to draw on Burton’s vast expertise when the new campaign gets under way.

Lavery, who played under Burton during his time with Cheshire and Manchester, said: “This time it’s going to be a lot of different because Mike’s going to be there a lot of the time and we can bounce ideas off each other. With Mike’s experience, it’s only going to benefit the team.

“I played for Mike for many years. His knowledge of basketball is second to none. He made me the basketball player I was.”

Burton said it was a ‘no-brainer’ to get involved with the club again after it ran into financial difficulties last season.

He added: “John and myself have both got a lot of passion for the game.

“I’ve been an assistant coach many, many times to a lot of good coaches. I was at Manchester for three years and had three American coaches.

“I know the role pretty well. You’ve got to be whatever the coach needs you to be. If he needs me to be calm, cool and collected, I’ll find that role. It’s an interesting role.

“My total concern is to support John and support the team and bring back some success for the franchise.

“This club has always been close to my heart.”