AMERICAN Lee Hoos has set his sights high after being named Burnley’s new chief executive, and targeted a return to the Premier League.

The 50-year-old is set to get to work at Turf Moor next Tuesday, but has already outlined big ambitions for his new club.

“That’s the goal of everyone at Burnley, to get the club back up there,” said Hoos, a former chief executive of both Southampton and Leicester and previous board member of Fulham. “We’ve proved it can happen once.”

Paul Fletcher’s replacement has been impressed by what he has seen so far. Espec-ially manager Eddie Howe.

“I’d watched him at Bournemouth and I remember thinking at the time it was a great appointment by Burnley,” said Hoos, who hails from Baltimore, Maryland.

“He is a great manager.”

Hoos feels Burnley is a great club. And although he is not a born and bred Claret, he is prepared to embrace all that the club stands for.

“I don’t play games with people and pretend I’m something I’m not. If somebody quizzes me on the history of the club I wouldn’t begin to pretend that I know all the answers,” said Hoos. “I will be honest with people. I am here to do a job.

“It is similar to when I went to Fulham. Beforehand it was all Fulham fans on the board, but it’s just about people pulling in the same direction.”

He added: “I am aware that Burnley is a local club with many fans on the board and working there. But even though I am coming in as an ‘outsider’, this is not my first job.

“When I first started in football here as an executive level it was a culture shock and people probably wondered what a ‘Yank’ knew about football!

“But in the football world I’d like to think I’ve proved myself. I’ve worked at three clubs now and gained lots of experience.”

Although Hoos was hands-on in the Leicester takeover by a Thai-led consortium, he says he is not here to oversee a similar venture.

“I don’t believe my remit is to find investors for the club,” he said.

“It’s about evolution rather than revolution.”

Instead, Hoos will have a greater involvement with manager Howe and player negotiations, where former colleagues feel his best skills have been honed.

Described as a ‘people person’ and a ‘great networker’, Hoos was headed-hunted while working for United Parcel Service in the States, where he heading up the company’s legal and operational departments, and did not need much persuading when he was asked to join the Harrods team in London.

“I was like a kid in a sweet shop,” he admitted.

His role at the famous upmarket department store was twinned with senior management duties at Fulham for the first 18 months, before he went full-time at Craven Cottage, where he worked for a total of eight years.

“Mohamed Al-Fayed was a great guy to work for,” said Hoos. “We had a five-year plan to get into the Premier League and we achieved it.

“A few changes were made at Fulham and a job came up at Southampton. I lived nearby so it was quite handy for me.”

But it was a turbulent time at St Mary’s, with the chairmanship changing hands at least four times in a 12 month period.

Hoos stuck with it for two years before answering Milan Mandaric’s call at Leicester.

Again, the club was going through a period of difficulty and uncertainty after just being relegated from the Championship.

But Hoos is credited with steadying the ship.

He was instrumental in the appointment of Nigel Pearson as Ian Holloway’s successor – a decision which ultimately transformed the club’s fortunes.

The pair had first met at Southampton, when Pearson was caretaker manager after George Burley left to take charge of Scotland.

Leicester needed stability, and both Hoos and Pearson brought that in the first two years as the Foxes returned to the Championship at the first attempt.

Having previously worked at big city clubs, Hoos is ready for a change of scenery, and is relocating from Wiltshire to the north west.

He isn’t anticipating a quieter life, though, despite now being at a small town club.

“It has been a topsy-turvy season but you have to expect that in this league, but all the foundations are in place. That’s one of the huge attractions of Burnley,” said Hoos, a fan of American football side Baltimore Ravens.

“I will be doing everything I can to help out and I’m delighted to be at such a great club.

“If you look at the size of the town and the crowds it attracts, it’s a well supported club and they are very demanding fans.

“But I am prepared for that and we all want nothing but success here.”