BRIAN Laws was the stand-out candidate to take Burnley forward, according to chairman Barry Kilby and operational director Brendan Flood. And they had the statistics to back it up.

The Clarets chiefs contacted number crunchers Deloitte and Touche as they searched for Owen Coyle’s successor.

Laws emerged as the star performer, and affirmed their beliefs that, out of the 20 they’d spoken to, he was the man for them.

There have been mixed reactions to his appointment from fans, and Flood accepted there would be an element of surprise, but said: “I think there was when Owen was picked. Where did he come from?

“I remember last time Paul Jewell’s name was demanded and we went for Owen Coyle and that wasn’t the name of choice.

“But if you analyse out what Brian Laws has done ... we got a report from Deloitte and looked at the Championship managers in the last three years, what their wage budgets were and what their affective position was at the end of the season.

“Brian Laws was top of that league every time, so his ability to get more out of players with very low wages was a big factor.

“We’re always going to have to manage ourselves well to compete.

“We’re going to have put on a sensible budget, which is still good – these players are very well paid - but we don’t want to be paying £40m-£50m a year in wages. We need to get somebody who can get the maximum out of players and Brian has proven that.”

Flood added: “You can fall in love with people when you meet them. Barry and I met lots of managers and came away thinking they’re nice guys.

"You love the personalities because they’re all motivators, that’s why they are football managers, but actions speak louder than words.

“If you look at the track record and what they’ve actually done relative to the wage budgets ... it’s what you do with what you've got, that’s the key.”