DAVID Hopkin laughs at the reminder that he was once described as a “bit of a nutter” by former managerial partner Mark Burchill.

The man who took him to Livingston initially as his assistant admitted to feeling scared when they first met.

City’s new boss, who enjoyed huge success in West Lothian, insists he is hard but fair.

“That’s the perception of me because of the way I played football,” he said when reminded of Burchill’s first impression.

“I’ve got high standards as a coach. I want players to realise how hard you have to work if you want a career.

“I started out at Morton as a young boy and moved to Chelsea at 22.

“I keep telling boys if you believe in yourself and work hard, you’ve always got a chance with the amount of scouts that come to games. That’s a clear message to give younger players.”

The prospect of working with a squad with so many unproven youngsters does not worry Hopkin. In fact, it’s a challenge that excites him – and he feels his track record proves it.

Hopkin added: “I think I’ve been coaching long enough now to know how to get the younger players through.

“You’ve got to give them the mentality they are not playing academy football, they are playing with men and people who’ve got mortgages. They need to know their responsibilities.

“Over the last two years at Livingston, we probably had an under-23s team with a couple of older players.

“I don’t think anybody would have believed it if you’d said in two years’ time they’d be playing Premier League football.

“And they’ve started the season very well because I’ve left a good structure behind – 90 per cent of the squad that I built is still there.”

Hopkin has built up for his debut in the dug-out at Blackpool by getting into the players with double training sessions on Tuesday and yesterday. It’s a taste of the regime to come.

“They are starting to believe that I can coach,” he said. “They are starting to see a difference and a wee bit of structure defensively and offensively.

“It’s just about building that up over the next six weeks to get them up to speed. After that, I’ll be relentless with them.

“Players will respond as long as you like people. If you’re doing it for the sake of doing it, it becomes a chore.

“If you’re doing it with a clear message, players will buy into it – especially the younger ones.

“It’s about them grasping the concept of what I’m trying to do. We’re all in it together.

“I’ve told the players in no uncertain terms that we need to make sure everybody is defending. When we’re attacking, everybody has to be set up to know what we’ve got to do.

“It will come. We’ve got some fantastic players and we’ve got some young ones.”

Over 1,000 fans will head to Bloomfield Road with more conviction than the last trip to the west coast at Fleetwood a week ago.

Hopkin is urging them to back City all the way – and promises to give them a proper team in return.

“We need to get together and they need to stick with us. We’ll build a team they can be proud to come and watch.

“If anything’s going a wee bit negative, the fans have to get behind us and I’m sure they will.”