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If you want to find reasons to believe Sunderland can climb out of the Premier League relegation zone, there is one sitting in a booth at the Academy of Light on a bright Tuesday morning.

By his own admission, the start to Kevin Danso’s Sunderland career has not been perfect.

But the fact that he is here, talking and prepared to accept “accountability”, suggests there is substance to the club’s belief that the squad has enough quality to turn around its fortunes.

Danso had been given an opportunity to postpone the interview.

After Sunderland’s defeat at Coventry City left them bottom of the table, he was offered the chance to rearrange.

But he wanted to front up and discuss the mood in the camp, with Regis Le Bris having received a resounding vote of confidence from the Sunderland hierarchy during the week.

“Accountability is really important to me, so I’m not shying away from anything,” he tells The i Paper.

“I think it speaks volumes when someone takes accountability and then works hard to make it better.

“In this situation, when you’re going through a tough period, it’s very easy to hide behind other things that are going on and make excuses, but it’s never been me. I want to push from the front, I want to lead and I want to find solutions.”

Danso is an engaging character and a natural leader.

He may only be a loan signing from Tottenham Hotspur, although that will become a permanent, long-term deal if Sunderland retain their Premier League status this season, but Florent Ghisolfi and Le Bris sold him the prospect of becoming a dressing-room leader during their transfer discussions in the summer.

That helps explain his frustration at allowing a promising start to life at Sunderland to unravel with what he admits was a “needless” red card at Bournemouth.

Danso accepts he was trying to be “too cute” and “too pretty” in a dangerous area, but insists he has learned from the experience.

He immediately apologised to his teammates in the dressing room after the final whistle. His apology was accepted.

“Sunderland fans haven’t seen the best of me in any way yet,” he says.

“They’ve probably seen a few glimpses of it over a few games, but it’s not quite there yet. It will come, though. It definitely will, I promise that.

“I’m experienced enough, so it should happen a bit quicker. There are some things out of my control and some things in my control, but I’m just focusing on the things I can control, giving the best version of myself and definitely delivering better performances than I did at Bournemouth.”

Sunderland fans should be rooting for him. He is exactly the sort of character you want at your football club.

Named the PFA’s Community Champion of the Year last season, Danso is a passionate supporter of food banks and volunteered at the Tottenham branch. He is also an advocate for north London homelessness charity The Passage.

Danso wants to get involved in similar causes on Wearside, describing Sunderland as one of the friendliest places he has ever visited.

He is in the process of finding a house and plans to explore more of the coastline once he is settled.

But one thing will remain constant: his belief that footballers should give something back to their communities.

“Wherever I go, wherever the game takes me, I want to give a little bit back,” he says.

“When I was younger – I’m religious – I used to pray to God and say, ‘Please make me a professional footballer and I’ll give back’.

“So I have never forgotten that promise. It’s in my heart. I’m in a fortunate situation, even if it feels like things are going against us on the pitch.

“Sometimes those tough times can ground you a bit, but I’ll never stop doing that. I’ll never shy away from it. I will be looking into the food banks round here. I will do something. I want to give something back.”

His belief in the project sold to him in the summer remains undimmed.

“The club is huge and has an abundance of history,” he says.

[Jermain] Defoe, [Darren] Bent, John Mensah – being of Ghanaian heritage, that’s very important – this club is huge. What they achieved last season was huge and when they approached me, it was a project I wanted to be a big part of.

“Even just the fan culture here is brilliant. They stick behind their team, they are incredibly loyal and the atmosphere in the stadium is amazing. It is the kind of club you dream of playing for, where your fans are behind you.”

A major reason Sunderland are continuing to back Le Bris is the apparent unity within the dressing room.

As one insider put it this week: “Sometimes it just feels broken, but this isn’t anything like that”.

Danso revealed the players have held meetings to discuss their own responsibility for turning the situation around.

“We’ve got good characters, but we need to look inwards,” he says.

“We’re 100 per cent behind Regis. We respect him, we like him as a coach and now it’s down to us to repay him.”

He is drawing on lessons learned last season at his parent club.

“It sounds strange, but that was the experience of a lifetime. You learn a lot from it,” he says.

“Between us, we never thought we’d go down, but the reality was it was getting closer and that brought huge pressure. We had to find a way amongst ourselves as players.”

Read more

• News: How Sunderland plan to save Regis Le Bris – with January signings ahead
• Analysis: Four reasons behind Sunderland’s slump – and the club’s stance on Le Bris

The situation on Wearside is similar, and that process begins with an eagerly anticipated home match against Dinamo Zagreb, the first of a significant week for the Black Cats.

Danso believes Sunderland can “absolutely” compete to win the competition he lifted with Tottenham two years ago, but accepts that Premier League survival must remain the priority.

Chelsea then visit on Sunday, with Sunderland in need of a positive result.

“It’s about getting over that hump, all of us finding the extra five per cent to improve results,” he says.

“We can flick that switch.” 

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If you ask any neutral about Crystal Palace, it’s likely Adam Wharton will be a figure of debate.

The former Blackburn man has become known as one of the Premier League’s most aesthetically pleasing midfield operators – but this season, something feels a little off.

The most obvious reason is the general performance of the team this term compared to the campaigns which have preceded it.

Lack of support

When Wharton first joined, Palace still had Michael Olise, Eberechi Eze, Marc Guehi and Daniel Munoz. All have moved onto pastures new.

An individual player should be able to stand on his own two feet and perform well, regardless of the quality of those around them. But in Wharton’s case, it’s a case of having teammates who operate on the same wavelength when it comes to anticipation, movement and finding pockets of space in the final third.

At his best, the 22-year-old will receive the ball on the half-turn, with a yard or two of space in the central third of the field, before immediately looking up the pitch for an opportunity to advance play.

There are few better at identifying and finding a teammate in one of those pockets and whipping a ball into them at pace. The problem is that if those patterns aren’t emerging, his passing can appear overly ambitious and erratic.

Timber’s role

In Palace’s current set-up under Pierre Sage, Wharton occupies one of two central midfield positions, Many of this season’s games have seen him paired with new signing Quinten Timber. The twin brother of Arsenal man Jurrien arrived on a long-term deal from Marseille at the end of the summer transfer window.

Timber’s all-action displays have won him plenty of admirers, but the chaos-factor he brings seems to have hindered Wharton’s game. Wharton’s best side comes out when there is a sense of calm alongside him, not necessarily a Jack Russell flying into challenges.

Wharton is forward-thinking and while he is not averse to putting in a sliding tackle, the defensive side of his game has never been particularly convincing.

An overrun midfield

There isn’t a world in which Wharton is ever dropped from the side. He wore the captain’s armband in recent weeks when Dean Henderson was absent). But it begs the question of whether Sage could have got more points in recent league outings by using a more robust midfield duo.

The game against Hoffenheim in the Europa League should sit perfectly in Wharton’s wheelhouse. The Bundesliga side have lost two on the bounce and are in the midst of an injury crisis. Palace should dictate a decent chunk of the play, allowing Wharton to thrive as a string-pulling puppet-master.

Read more

• Crystal Palace: How Pierre Sage is fighting for his job
• HLTCO: Crystal Palace have left me with a nagging worry

The task then shifts dramatically when Liverpool roll into town. Even though Andoni Iraola’s side will have just returned from an away game against Fenerbahce, it would be foolish to assume that Wharton will be able to operate with the same amount of time or possession against the Reds.

Liverpool will look to swarm the middle of the park and overwhelm a Palace team in desperate need of at least a point to avoid going into the international break as part of the bottom three.

Palace will be acutely aware that Wharton could play at one of the world’s biggest clubs – but will likewise be wondering whether his attributes work in a team who are likely to be fighting in the trenches for Premier League survival.

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This season we’re doing football journalism differently. Join The i Paper Sport channel on WhatsApp here to vote for the club Daniel Storey should cover this week on The Journeyman

TURF MOOR — I’m walking through the Turf Moor concourse at half-time to try to make a cup of tea account for wearing one too few layers, when the stadium announcer’s voice rings out over the tannoy.

A lilting Burnley accent tells supporters that some primary school-age cousins are meeting at Turf Moor for the first time. One half of the family has travelled over from Australia for the privilege. “Isn’t that amazing?” is the rhetorical question, uttered in a cheery radio presenter tone. It is a happy story of how football connects people.

Two or three big coats down from me, a gruff voice speaks. It is not directed at anyone in particular, simply uttered into the ether. “Poor bastards. It’ll be the first and last time they come here.” Welcome to Burnley in 2026.

Before kick-off, the big screen plays a video of the good times: promotion triumph, bruising the noses of the rich in the Premier League, Sean Dyche roaring in celebration.

It is supposed to stir up the locals, but right now it is doing the opposite. Look at what you had. Now spend 90-odd minutes watching what you have got.

Burnley promptly draw 0-0 against Portsmouth, which feels so utterly fitting that I want to laugh. The home team dominate but create far too few clear chances and stuff up the ones they do create. The referee comes in for serious flak, apparently for the crime of not kicking the ball in the net for them.

This is the first match of a new manager’s tenure: Fabio Celestini is the next sacrificial lamb. At the full-time whistle there are widespread boos (eventually replaced by applause for effort when the players lap the pitch). It is Celestini’s birthday. Any more pathos and Turf Moor would sink under the weight.

Burnley have not won a home league game for almost 13 months, far and away the longest run in English professional football. The surprise is not that everyone is so angry and dejected at Turf Moor, but that there is still any evidence of belief at all.

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Nowhere in the country do you get a better vista from your seat in the stand. It is just a shame that they spend most of their time wishing they were back outside.

Mostly the match left me, even as a neutral, deeply frustrated at the painful lack of identity in Burnley’s team. That was always their strength in the Premier League: everybody knowing what everyone else’s job was, everybody knowing the plan. It is the only way to punch above your weight.

Here, you have a new goalkeeper signed from Brest who clearly wants to take risks and play short passes, but defenders who frequently get stuck when playing the short triangles.

You have a lightweight central midfielder who seems to enjoy having the ball but then gets muscled off it. You have Jamie Vardy desperate for quick service and then two wingers who want two minutes of possession every time they get it.

Nicky Hayen lost his job last week because his team was bad at just about everything, but he was also let down by a relegated club who had all the advantages that brought and wasted them. He was only in place because other targets turned Burnley down. He had a squad that seemed unfit for so many purposes and still does.

Identities don’t just happen. They must be forged, curated and sculpted over time. Burnley lurched from Scott Parker to Hayen to Celestini.

They have a new chief football officer, Diego Lopez, to oversee football operations because chairman Alan Pace says they need someone with “a strong knowledge of European markets”, despite that recruitment strategy failing to work for three years.

The chief executive resigned a year into his job because of difficulty working with Pace, sources told The i Paper.

Speaking of Pace, that is where this story really gets messy. In December 2020, Burnley were taken over by ALK Capital. The deal was a leveraged buyout which, in simple terms, means that it was funded by borrowing secured against Burnley’s own assets.

There is a reason that Premier League clubs subsequently voted to ban leveraged buyouts. They are a disgrace.

A club that had previously had no debt was, overnight, plunged into it. According to the most recent accounts, that debt is now north of £130m.

Burnley, a club in the bottom three of the Championship, have the fourth highest external debt figure in England behind Tottenham, Everton and Manchester United. Two of those have massive new stadiums – the other has the Glazer family.

That level of debt can cripple a club. The interest alone is reported to be around £20m per year, or £390,000 a week. And, again at the last count, Burnley were already spending 115 per cent of their revenue on staff wages even before you factor in the debt.

Any Burnley supporter who isn’t worried isn’t concentrating hard enough.

You will never convince me that leveraged buyouts are anything other than catastrophic for a football club’s security, but on a basic level they create greater onus on owners to be communicative and transparent.

You have to work harder to convince supporters of your value. You shorten your own fuse. You must get fewer things wrong.

Related: this week, Burnley’s parent ownership company Velocity Capital (UK) Holdings was issued with a strike-off notice for failing to submit accounts. Because the company holds shares and voting rights for Burnley, the Independent Football Regulator and EFL are now involved.

Burnley say that the issue will be sorted soon (and it probably will), but the point is that it sends a rotten message to already concerned supporters.

Celestini and Lopez are the last roll of the dice for a club that is facing systemic crisis. The manager did a fine job at Basel, but less so at CSKA Moscow.

Is that the right preparation for Championship management? Was there not a clear argument for the dependable option, lower-margin football that got the job done in this division before? Or have so many managers turned down this job over the last six months that an ideal option doesn’t exist?

For now, the locals are only restless. If Burnley’s fortunes don’t improve soon, the finances will take over and then you really will see anger. That is the real story here. On-pitch incompetence is merely a distraction, a symptom of a club pushed deep into uncertainty by its own owners.

Because I am wrong – there is an identity at Burnley again. Debt is the identity. It is all the fans I speak to are thinking about.

It defines their mood. It is the reason for the “Pace Out” banners that supporters battled with stewards to display last month and the reason for the chants against the owner on Saturday. He has taken a club to the point of calamity because that was always inevitable when you own their precious club through saddling it financially.

And that is the great indignation. It is not that Burnley are bad, although obviously that is frustrating. It is that Burnley lost their chance to be bad for a bit without sirens ringing. It should be the right of every football club to go through lean times without it causing existential doubt over the future.

More from The Journeyman

• Barnsley: The youngest team in England are a sign of a broken club
• AFC Rushden & Diamonds: The football club that died, revived and then pulled off its greatest day

Here, another bad season on the pitch, the loss of parachute payments, Everton winning their appeal against the compensation award – any or all of it spells trouble.

Burnley are living on the edge. They were pushed there six years ago, when a group of people loaded debt onto something that existed for far longer, and far more happily, without it.

Everything started there. The poor management, poor communication and poor strategy since have only made it worse. God knows where this goes next.

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A prominent Manchester United supporter group is planning to stage its most visible protest yet against the club’s ownership during tonight’s Champions League clash with Roma at Old Trafford.

Pre-match protests have become commonplace as supporters continue to vent their anger at Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the Glazer family. The overriding feeling, however, is that the marches have failed to get the message across.

The i Paper has been told that one prominent fan group has taken matters into their own hands and are planning to release thousands of green and gold balloons – the club’s original colours – from the iconic Stretford End as the Champions League music plays out ahead of kick-off. It will symbolise 21 years of decay under the Glazer family ownership.

Other protests are also planned around other parts of the stadium, which could include more disruption to the match.

The supporter groups involved did not want to be named and they have kept the plans off social media until close to kick-off. That is partly to keep the protests among matchgoing fans after a divide between Old Trafford regulars and “e-reds” – online supporters.

There were plans to bring a banner into the stadium to accompany the protest reading: “No new stadium, we want new owners”, but it cannot be displayed as Uefa were “unable to sanction the banner in time”.

Supporters from the fan groups will also unfollow the club on social media channels, before coordinating a boycott of products and sponsors associated with United.

The club are already on red alert with Roma in town. The fixture has a history of violence and United are determined to stop away supporters acquiring access to the home end. Club sources insist tickets were only allocated to fans who were on the United database prior to the draw taking place.

Protesting fans insist they want to unite all supporters under a common goal of forcing a change in ownership.

One major difference in opinion is that some online fan accounts, often faceless ones, are calling for supporters to “empty Old Trafford”, leaving United to play in front of an empty stadium.

Read more

• Man Utd: Michael Carrick’s reign has turned into a cruel humiliation ritual
• Kevin Garside: Jim Ratcliffe has been exposed as a chancer who will never fix Man Utd

Matchgoers do not feel that method would work, as the club could easily stop supporters coming back. The i Paper understands one plan being mooted is for fans from one particular section of the Stretford End to leave during a match, leaving a large patch of the stand empty.

Old Trafford regulars want their voices heard. Protests on the street are not picked up by all the TV cameras – but taking a stand in the middle of a match is seen as an act the club cannot ignore.

A similar protest is planned for the weekend, depending on how the Roma demonstration goes.

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West Ham might have sacked Nuno Espirito Santo in January, when their winless run stretched to 10 games. He might have gone in May, when that pitiful surrender at Newcastle all but condemned them to the second tier. Relegation could have sealed his fate a week later.

At the fourth time of asking, Nuno leaves with West Ham having won fewer than half their Championship games. That is a damning statistic for a side expected to walk the league.

Six months ago, Nuno was hauled before club bosses to fight for his future and somehow pulled it off. The hierarchy were sufficiently impressed that he was trusted to lead their summer overhaul after losing Crysensio Summerville, Mateus Fernandes and El Hadji Malick Diouf.

A break from Brady and Sullivan

Tuesday was the day Nuno finally ran out of answers. There was no explaining away the dire performances in back-to-back home defeats to Southampton and West Brom that have left the promotion favourites eighth, outside the play-offs. A number of players were understood to be unhappy and bewildered by his tactics, a charge which has followed him from job to job.

There are obvious pros and obvious cons to appointing Scott Parker in his place. Nuno’s football was uninspiring in the Premier League and relegation did not change that – even as the biggest club in the division. You imagine Parker will take West Ham up, and probably with a brand of football that is not eye-catchingly different to Nuno’s.

There is merit in leaving the “what next” for now. Parker was loved as a player, respected as a Championship manager and has a relationship with the sporting director, Mark Noble.

The biggest reason for optimism, though, is that West Ham have done what West Ham never do. Graham Potter and Julen Lopetegui lingered on long after it was clear they would be sacked.

David Sullivan and Karren Brady managed to appoint eight permanent managers in 15 years and still fail to act with any purpose when required. For all the talk of West Ham as a big club – particularly at this level – it is a long time since they have acted like one.

They have spent years vacillating and stalling on managers. If is one thing more unforgivable than the abject player recruitment of the past decade and a half, it might just be that.

Parker’s to-do list

Karim Virani, the acting chief executive, has moved in on Nuno with two thirds of the season left to play. Parker’s to-do list is long: West Ham have conceded first in eight of the last 15 games in all competitions. They have conceded 10 goals in the first 20 minutes of matches this season.

He will have a decision to make on leaving Mads Hermansen in goal and how to address a midfield that is being overrun for 45 minutes every week because neither Arne Engels nor Divine Mukasa provide any defensive cover.

Read more

• Championship: Derby County’s form is the least of their worries
• Daniel Storey: West Ham’s future is uncomfortably fragile

He has summer signings overseen by Nils Koppen that have not been consistent, or in the case of Adama Boiro have barely been used at all. West Ham are actually in the top five Championship sides for fewest shots conceded and yet only Millwall have let in so many goals in the top half.

West Ham are not without leaders but both Potter and Nuno fell into the trap of discarding their most experienced players. Tomas Soucek has made one start in the Championship. Within moments of West Ham posting news of Nuno’s departure it had been liked by Edson Alvarez.

Under the previous ownership there was a near-total absence of leadership from above too. Sullivan oversaw 16 years of decay before Daniel Kretinsky’s takeover and West Ham were in serious danger of wasting one more. This will not be viewed as a sign Kretinsky has got everything right – only that West Ham are not coasting anymore.

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Newcastle 0-1 Everton (Ramsey sent off 90+8 | Barry 49′)

Newcastle United were booed off at St James’ Park for the second successive game.

Let’s be honest – it wasn’t that visceral. Being jeered off implies real anger but what we saw at Newcastle United on Monday night was apathy – and that is much more worrying.

It’s five years since St James’ Park felt as flat as it did against Everton. That was before a takeover that transformed Newcastle United, turning them for a few seasons into a side who would give anyone a bloody nose, especially on Tyneside. But what we witnessed on Monday was a club regressing rapidly and a public not buying what the head coach is selling.

That, as much as the run of four defeats in five games, should be setting alarm bells flashing on the black and white dashboard. It’s not just the back-to-back home losses that are turning people off, it’s Matthias Jaissle’s entire style of football that is coming under increased scrutiny. To put it bluntly – the public are far from convinced, and that’s becoming an unwelcome problem for a hierarchy that are “all in” on a manager they paid more than £9m to extricate from his contract at Al-Ahli.

Yet again it was painful to watch Newcastle attempt to put his “vertical football” philosophy into practice against Everton. This is a team low on confidence and in the first knockings of a big rebuild. But it is a damning indictment that the system they are being asked to play seems to be diminishing them.

Jaissle is vexed by the lack of a natural “six” in his squad, despite Newcastle spending hundreds of millions on midfielders. But his answer against Everton was to play a “double six”, Nico Gonzalez and Joelinton asked to bring the ball from deep and get Newcastle up the pitch quickly.

It had worked well in training, we were told, where optimism was high that there would be a response to last week’s damaging Carabao Cup defeat to the same opponents. But it disintegrated quickly, Newcastle once again setting up in a system that left huge gaps in key areas that Everton were happy to exploit.

It was alarming how quickly things curdled. Long, aimless punts have become a feature in recent weeks and they were played with alarming regularity here – with an accuracy rate of 22 per cent. It’s a record that would make Neil Warnock blush.

Jaissle said afterwards that it wasn’t his plan. He talked in the post-match press conference of the players lacking the bravery to do what they’d spoken about all week and how the performance was unrecognisable from what they’d worked on. But diagnosing the problems is one thing – coming up with a solution for them is another thing entirely. So far the jury is very much out on that one.

Where do Newcastle go from here? The message from the top is that there will be no panic. But the run of games after Saturday’s must-win at Fulham is tortuous – Arsenal at St James’ Park, high-flying Brighton on the South Coast before a midweek visit from Manchester United that might well be under the charge of Eddie Howe by then.

Oh – and then comes a Tyne-Wear derby against Sunderland that already looks like a potential red letter day for the Newcastle manager.

It is unchartered territory for PIF, whose ownership has largely followed an upward trajectory. There has been bouts of mediocrity – last season’s slump under Howe caused disquiet – but their patience is yet to be tested. It is interesting that Jacobo Solis, PIF’s head of European investments and a key Newcastle board member, has remained on Tyneside to carry out meetings over recent days.

There is no desire to rip things up and start again but these are uncomfortable moments for the architects of “Newcastle 2.0”. Sporting director Ross Wilson oversaw a significant rebuild in the summer but most of his big recruitment picks aren’t being utilised by Jaissle. Aladji Bamba – first-team ready, according to sources in the summer – is miles away while Bazoumana Toure got three minutes. They cost a combined £76m.

Read more

• Exclusive: Newcastle squad hold talks with Matthias Jaissle over tactical concerns
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Wilson loaded all his chips on Jaissle, speaking glowingly in September about their initial meetings. They believe he is an elite coach in waiting and for the sporting director this has to work. But there needs to be some robust conversations this week because sooner or later something has to give.

If he wants his team to have more control the criminally under-utilised Sean Steur will surely start at Fulham but the system needs to be tweaked too. Daniel Farke did it last year and turned his Leeds career around. Jaissle needs to follow suit and make Newcastle resemble a Premier League team again.

He said he would “analyse everything” when I asked if he would now tweak things and sacrifice bits of his “vertical football” style. If he is to escape this bout of Tyneside turbulence, he has no other choice.

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Oli McBurnie feared his chance to terrorise Premier League defences again and end a five-year exile from Scotland duty had gone for good.

He was wrong on both counts, as it turns out, and Hull City are now reaping the benefits of a remarkable renaissance which has fuelled hopes of survival.

McBurnie’s 19 goals fired Sergej Jakirovic’s men to an unlikely promotion last season, with his dramatic late strike securing a 1-0 victory over Middlesbrough in the Championship play-off final.

It was not enough, however, to earn the 30-year-old striker a place in Steve Clarke’s World Cup squad.

New head coach Sebastien Pocognoli, by contrast, selected McBurnie and started him in all four of Scotland’s recent Nations League matches.

McBurnie, who has scored twice in his last two top-flight appearances, tells The i Paper: “There were definitely times when I thought that dream was over – both playing for Scotland again and getting back to the Premier League.

“Five years is a long time but certain things happen and it shows that one good season, and a change of manager, can change everything and you’re back in the fold.

“There were also times when I thought a recall might have come sooner.

“It never did, but being recognised and called up for your country and playing at the top level is what you want to be doing.

“He [Pocognoli] FaceTime’d me asking if I was free and I was just sat at home with the missus and kids.

“He said he’d been watching me and spoke of his plans for me, so it was hard to keep the smile off my face!

“My family were delighted and came up to watch the games at Hampden because everything I do is for my kids.

“I never thought they’d get to see that but they have so that’s been great.

“I was really impressed with the gaffer and learnt a lot – I probably should have had a couple of goals.

“But he started me in all four games and, whatever happens now, I’ll always be grateful for the opportunity to represent my country again.”

McBurnie joined the Tigers on a free transfer in August 2025 after spending the previous season in La Liga with Las Palmas.

The former Sheffield United frontman has flourished under the charismatic Jakirovic, adding: “The gaffer’s man-management is brilliant.

“He knows how to speak to you in every situation, whether that be on the pitch or sometimes it’s not even about football.

“He might just bring you into his office for a chat to crack a joke.

“He’s not a dictator in terms of it being his way or the highway.

“Of course he will go into a match with a gameplan but if it’s not working he’s not afraid to throw it out the window and completely change everything.

“As a group, that suits us and me as a player as well.

“I can play in a couple of different ways but ultimately he’s given me the freedom to go out and play how I want to play by getting into positions to score a goal.

“I’m enjoying dropping in and getting on the ball a bit more and helping make us hard to beat.”

Confounding the critics is fuelling Hull’s push for survival, with McBurnie explaining: “It was probably the easy thing to say that we were going to be the worst Premier League team ever.

“Within our dressing room we’ve always had belief because we deserve to be here.

“Getting off to a good start was vital for us and that’s exactly what we did by beating Man United and Coventry in our first two games.

“We’re happy with where we’re at and we just need to maintain our momentum because we haven’t achieved anything yet.”

Read more

• Big read: The unlikely rise of a Hull City cult hero
• Rival watch: How Sunderland plan to save Regis Le Bris – with January signings ahead

Hull are built on togetherness and McBurnie is certainly not afraid to put his body on the line.

He cracked a rib during the recent 2-2 home draw with Brentford, which left him coughing up blood, and is also nursing a broken finger.

McBurnie adds: “It was a challenge with Aaron Hickey, who I played with for Scotland – and I hope he didn’t actually mean to do it!

“But he caught me right in the solar plexus and, having cracked a rib last year in the Championship, I’ve done it again.

“I told the doc ‘I’m coughing up blood’ but he said ‘it’s alright’, so I just cracked on.

“I broke a finger a couple of weeks earlier against Everton – it snapped in half during a tackle.

“All the boys in the dressing room are cut from the same cloth and since I came here we’ve played through injuries and with injections.”

Reflecting on his journey with Hull and his return to the Scotland fold, McBurnie smiles: “It just shows that you should never stop believing.”

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