By Martin Harasimowicz and Simon Austin

It's little surprise that Southampton striker Grzegorz Rasiak has played with such relish this season.

The burly forward, who is the joint-leading scorer in the Championship, was glad to see the back of 2005/6.

He's not only a coach for me, but a kind of older friend as well Grzegorz Rasiak on George Burley

The 28-year-old was jettisoned by Tottenham in the summer after making just four starts for them and failing to score a single goal.

And his international fortunes were even worse. He was booed by his own fans during Poland's World Cup warm-up games and played only four minutes during the tournament.

Yet he has managed to rebuild his confidence and reputation following a �2m move to the south coast in May and has scored 17 goals so far this season.

The striker says much of the credit must go to his manager and mentor, George Burley.

606: DEBATE Can Rasiak cut it in the Premiership? BBC Sport's Simon Austin 606: Have your say

It was Burley who first brought the Pole to English football, when he signed him for Derby in 2004, and the Scot moved quickly to bring him to Southampton.

"He's not only a coach for me, but a kind of older friend as well," Rasiak told BBC Sport. "We don't just talk about the game, but about life generally.

"He's a very friendly and open person and he helped me adapt to life in England when I first came here.

"He even wanted to buy me at Hearts when he became coach, but Derby said no. Then, when he saw I wasn't having the best of times at Tottenham, he helped me get out of there.

"At Derby, he built the team's offensive game around me, even though I joined the club after 10 games of the season.

"I used to always know when I would get played in by Paul Peschisolido or receive a cross from the wings."

Rasiak is philosophical about his short spell at Tottenham - he joined them on 31 August 2005 but was loaned to Southampton in February last year and did not return - and has no ill feeling toward Spurs boss Martin Jol.

"I learned a lot there and think I have become a better player," he said.

"Sometimes you just need a little bit of luck. I thought I'd scored a goal on my debut against Liverpool, only for it to be disallowed.

"Mido was in a great form during the time I was there and Robbie Keane and Jermain Defoe are great strikers. So I had to sit on the bench.

"I played well as a substitute against Aston Villa, but then had to sit out the next game. I got a chance from Martin Jol in two other games, but then didn't play quite as well. It's hard to keep good form when you are not playing regularly.

He's not only a coach for me, but a kind of older friend as well Grzegorz Rasiak on George Burley

"In a team with such a long list of well-respected names somebody has to be left out. Pedro Mendes, Noe Pamarot and Sean Davies played even less than I did and then left for Portsmouth.

"Strong competition is normal at a club like that. Now Mido sits on the bench and I've heard he wants to leave."

Rasiak was dubbed "the wooden Ronaldo" by Tottenham fans, because he shares the powerful physical attributes of the Brazilian, but not his technical gifts.

He has also been a target for disgruntled Poland supporters for the last few seasons.

The lowest point came in a friendly against Colombia in Chorzow on 31 May, when his every touch was booed by large sections of the home crowd.

"It all started during a World Cup qualifier against England in September 2005. We were unlucky to lose 2-1 and I became a villain," Rasiak says.

"Actually I didn't play that badly - in fact Derby made the decision to buy me after watching the game - but the fans targeted me.

Burley's Southampton are in the Championship play-off places

"It hurt, but what could I do? I said to myself 'you can only go out on the pitch every single week and try to score goals'. That's what I did and what I will continue to do.

"They booed me, as usual, during the warm-up before the game against Portugal last October. But then I played well, setting up one of the goals in a 2-1 win, and when I came off they gave me a standing ovation.

"It was as nice as it was unexpected. Hopefully the problems are history now."

Rasiak is now focussing on firing Southampton back to the Premiership.

"Southampton has a long tradition of being a Premiership club and it definitely belongs at that level," he says.

"This might even turn out to be the best season of my career. I'm not only scoring but setting goals for my team-mates as well.

"I used to be the top scorer at Derby though (where he scored 17 goals in 2004/5), but we lost in the play-offs and didn't advance to the Premiership, so it didn't count for much.