“Coming here, working with a guy who genuinely has the football club at heart, we get on really well. He tells me how it is, good, bad or indifferent. He doesn’t hide behind any trees. I like that. I respect him for what he’s done for this club. I respect it is a business as well. We can’t go and spend £45m on a player but he has never once turned me down to go and get a player. If I said to him ‘can I go and get him in’, he’ll say right ‘OK, find out what it is’. If it’s too dear, he’ll say ‘listen it’s too dear’. But if he thinks it’s right, he’ll go and do it. I’ve always respected the restraints on him as well. The two of us over the years have built that trust."