BORN-AGAIN midfielder Paul Cook has sent out a message to Clarets fans - you can help us get into the Premiership.

Cook was the target for the Turf Moor boo boys last season when he suffered a dip in form.

But now he's a fixture in the Clarets starting line-up again, his form has been such that Stan Ternent handed him the captain's armband in the absence of Steve Davis.

Now he's asking the Clarets fans to cheer them on up the league.

"Fans are entitled to an opinion," he said. "People pay their money to go and I respect the opinions of those who go.

"People don't often realise that you don't need a standing ovation when you are being substituted to tell you haven't been playing well.

"The players do feel frustrated when things aren't going well - just as the fans do.

"But we need the fans fully behind us for that 90 minutes to give us a real lift.

"Then maybe the time for dissecting the performances is after the game."

Cook may lead the Clarets out at Coventry tomorrow if Davis is left on the bench.

He spent 18 months at Highfield Road and says: "I enjoyed my time there and there are one or two players still there. But tomorrow is just about doing my best for Burnley and trying to get three points."

It's Cook's second taste of the captaincy, he was briefly skipper at Wolves, and he is delighted to have been chosen.

"It's a great honour to be captain of a club like Burnley," he said. "It's an added bonus, but we have 11 lads on the pitch who are working hard for each other.

"Everyone at the club is pulling in the same direction and when you get that sort of thing the club will improve."