SEVE Cotterill has made an impassioned plea for fans to back Burnley to the hilt as he gears up for the final 12 games of the Championship season.

The Clarets boss is convinced the club is still heading in the right direction 20 months into his Turf Moor reign.

Cotterill is even more adamant that Burnley would make bigger strides with an increased fan base and the financial benefits that would enable him to compete with many of his big-spending Championship counterparts.

But the former Sunderland assistant manager has vowed to keep fighting tooth and nail to maintain Burnley's position as a town team still "achieving" alongside the big boys.

Cotterill, who inherited a shell of a squad when he took charge in June 2003, insisted: "Sometimes you are what you are.

"You can over-achieve and people can say that at the moment we are over-achieving.

"Others who don't know the whole story might say we are under-achieving. All I can say, at the moment, is we are achieving.

"When I came here the club had just finished 19th in the Championship and we had eight players.

"The rest were out of contract last year and then we had nine players.

"I know inside my heart that if we had enough money we could be a force, but the bottom line is we haven't.

"Now I can either walk away and you can get someone else to do the job, which I am fine with, or we can carry on scrapping and, at times, playing some good football."

Cotterill added: "I was speaking to a Sunderland fan the other day and I was delighted to hear she was absolutely 100 per cent behind (manager) Mick McCarthy because at this moment in time he is only struggling a little bit because he hasn't quite got enough money, not because he isn't good enough to manage in the Premiership.

"At the end of the day, managers don't change.

"Mick McCarthy hasn't changed since last year and Steve Cotterill hasn't changed from the manager who won six successive games at home earlier this season.

"I think the Chairman and the directors give me everything they can possibly give me, but it is a difficult game out there and we are doing well, to be fair."