new world

Chairman reflects on gruelling month choosing new manager

THE BUSINESSMAN inside Barry Kilby has taught him to trust his instincts.

Hiring and firing comes with the territory for someone with the weight of a multi-million pound empire resting squarely on his shoulders.

Yet finding the right man to take charge of Burnley Football Club has been a new experience for the Clarets chairman.

So Kilby relied on the primitive methods used in his daily dealings before finally choosing Steve Cotterill as Burnley manager.

"We had a really impressive list of applicants and virtually all of them put forward a good case for being manager of Burnley Football Club," insisted Kilby, reflecting on a busy month since Stan Ternent's sacking.

"It's a brave new world for me as it's been my first managerial appointment, but it's been a good experience.

"Over the years, I've learned it's good to look people in the eye and really get a feel for them.

"I sat down with Steve and I think it's fair to say he made the short list quite easily. The most impressive thing that shone through was his hunger to succeed. He is still only 39, but he wants to make it to the top.

"In his career he got a little sidetracked by the move to Sunderland and hopefully now we are back on track and he will prove himself as an excellent manager.

"He was maybe driven to Sunderland by ambition and it turned out to be the wrong choice in the end, but he is very much the up-and-coming manager and if you speak to him he will tell you that he has since been waiting for the right opportunity to come along.

"He has certainly had offers, but this is one he believes in 100 per cent."

Kilby's expenses form would make interesting reading after a month spent racing around the nation's motorway network interviewing candidates.

He laughed: "It's certainly been tough travelling up and down the motorway in such a compressed time.

"I've seen the inside of so many hotels and the door to my house has been like a revolving door.

"I'm just glad it's finally sorted and I only hope I can have as good a relationship with Steve as I had in five years with Stan."

Nine men were initially interviewed for the Turf Moor job, which has been handled with the utmost professionalism.

Chairman Kilby, along with his selection panel, managed to keep Cotterill's name under wraps while he emerged as the one outstanding candidate.

Kilby later revealed he had earmarked the former Stoke and Cheltenham boss as a future manager some two years earlier - only now getting the opportunity to make his move.

But he had equal praise for all the losers in a game where there can only ever be one winner.

Kilby said: "What came through strongly throughout the interviewing process is that there is a certain cache in being manager of Burnley Football Club.

"The history, traditions and, I might say, the reputations of the crowd and this being a real footballing town impressed a lot of people.

"Sometimes it's easy to forget that."