Fabio Celestini plays down concerns over his lack of Championship experience

Fabio Celestini has played down concerns over his lack of experience in the Championship and in the English game.

In Burnley’s perilous position in the Championship’s bottom three, many had argued the Clarets needed to hire someone who knows the division well after opting to part ways with Nicky Hayen.

But instead, Burnley have opted to go down a similar route with a relative unknown to the English game in the form of ex-Basel and CSKA Moscow boss Celestini, who took charge of his first game on Saturday with a 0-0 draw against Portsmouth.

But while the second tier may have its own particular profile, Celestini believes the overall requirements remain the same - regardless of the league.

“My experience in football is 11 against 11 and you must win the games. Offensive and defensive,” he explained.

“Your team must be together and you must fight together. That's the first [thing].

“In the Championship, and in Italy, and in Spain, and in Germany, and wherever. It's not so complicated, the football, it's not so complicated.

“Okay, he's always a little bit smiling when he says: “you never train in this country”, but in the end, I know what I must do.

“I need to transmit to my players energy. I need to transmit to work together. That's the first. After 4-4-2, 4-3-3, 3-4-5-6, 6-7-8, that's just blah, blah, blah. Just blah, blah, blah.

“That is the way to try to have a plan, to play together. But if you don't have energy…

“Here [in England], maybe you have more long ball, more fighting spirit to try to win. In other countries, maybe it's something different.

“It's not so difficult to understand that. I don't need one year to understand what is the Championship. I see the game and you see what the Championship is.

“Now, if you don't have spirit, in the Championship, in the Premier League, in other way, you don't win.

“My preoccupation, what is my job in this moment, is to put the player together with us, with everybody, to come on the game and try to fight together first.

“After we can begin to talk about structure, principle, do that, not do that. But that's the first.”