When I first went in at Burnley I thought it was misaligned. The feeling of the fans was, ‘We should be back in the Premier League,’ but the feeling in the Boardroom was, ‘We should be cutting everything.’
Different Boards will have different views; different fanbases will have different views. The Board wanted the club to be solvent, that was a big thing, because they’d had years of financial problems.
I always felt the fans deserved the truth, but you’ve still got to do it in a way that’s very positive. Internally I’m trying to manage the contracts and manage players out of the club, but externally show that we’re being positive, so it was quite a tough period.
I remember doing my first big press conference and I said, ‘I can’t guarantee amazing football, but I can guarantee you will have a group of people who will give everything and there will be sweat on the shirt.’
Burnley is a very working-class town. They’ve had so many harsh times. I thought, ‘What would you expect as a Burnley fan?’ I would expect someone who would wear that shirt and give everything to win a game. The minimum requirement is maximum effort.