Nicky Hayen discusses sack pressure and talks with Burnley's board

Nicky Hayen has revealed he remains in regular dialogue with Alan Pace and Burnley’s board as he comes under increasing early season pressure.

Just seven games into the new season, and only two months on from the Belgian’s appointment, question marks are already beginning to arise over Hayen’s position as the club’s head coach.

It follows a miserable start to the campaign which sees the Clarets prop up the Championship table without a win to their name.

It led to Hayen confessing that tomorrow’s game against fellow early strugglers Derby County is a “must-win”.

In the build-up to Saturday’s encounter, Hayen was asked if he’s had any indications from above that this could be his last game in charge.

“Not at the moment,” he replied.

“Still, we have conversations. Again, we're not always talking about this situation. We talked about it a lot, but that [his position] is actually a question for them.

“They didn't tell me this can be my last game. It can be, I don't know.

“But still, we actually have a conversation today [Thursday] and tomorrow [Friday] because I always have this conversation before the game, so they know the game plan a little bit and that's how it actually goes.”

Hayen has, however, admitted he’s under pressure given Burnley’s poor start.

“Of course, if you see the results, you feel the pressure,” he added.

“I'm totally aware a manager always feels the pressure, but it's what I said last week or even weeks before. I always work like it's my last game, so I do the maximum effort to win games. This is the same for the game against Derby.

“So a must-win, why? Because it's an international break. You want to go in that international break not with a really bad feeling, but with a kind of hope.

“I don't say hope, because hope is a different word. You're looking forward to the next game, the Watford game, but this you can only do with a win on Saturday.

“It's what we said, this is the spark that we need to go in that window and work really hard to be 100 per cent fit, fresh and ready to compete to go up again.”