Operational director Brendan Flood believes promotion is vital in Burnley's fight to keep hold of Celtic target Kyle Lafferty.Celtic tabled a £3million bid plus Derek Riordan for the 20-year-old Northern Ireland striker, but the Clarets snubbed the offer ahead of the transfer deadline.

And Flood told the Lancashire Telegraph: "There will be a time when he wants to move on. That's natural for him to do that. But ultimately, if we as a club are in the Premier League it will be difficult for him not to want to stay.

"The easier option would be to sell him and bring Riordan in because a lot of people regard that as reasonable business. But we think he can do really well for us."

Manager Owen Coyle added that he was delighted his board backed him in rejecting the offer from the Scottish champions.

He said: "I'm excited about working with Kyle, but it can be out of your hands. If someone came in and offered £5m, you couldn't turn that down. It would be foolish. As it is, I mentioned to Brendan and the chairman that it was my belief that we should turn the Celtic offer down."

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