"There has been a real transformation," he said. "I'm very happy with how things have been going and I was pleased to sign a new contract in the summer. The owners have come in and pretty much done what they said they were going to do, which has been great news for everyone.
"I think they have given the fans back their belief and certainly in terms of the feeling amongst the players and the staff, the atmosphere has been very good. I remember sitting giving interviews 12 months ago with people asking me whether the players were worried about the takeover and so on because of course we didn't know much about the owners at the time.
"We had some hard times around this time a year ago but it's all been positive since the change of ownership. They broke the club's transfer record twice in January, which is just the kind of thing the fans wanted to see and was a real signal of intent. It is a very happy place at the moment."