Burnley manager Sean Dyche insists his club treated Brentford with the utmost respect during the transfer of Andre Gray from Griffin Park to Turf Moor.
The deal finally went through on Friday, following weeks of speculation linking Gray with moves to both Hull City and Bristol City.
But while Hull hacked off Bees fans by making their prolonged interest in Gray very public, Dyche believes he went about his pursuit of the striker the right way.
He said: “The phone call was made a long time ago, but we conduct our business in the right manner. I've still got some morals left in me.
“I'm not saying honour, respect and dignity are completely missing from the transfer market now. Those things are still there, but they have been very stretched.
“I have known about Andre since he was a young man at Hinckley and I was at Watford. Maybe I should have made a move for him then, but all I had to spend back then was a few of those tokens you get off the back of crisp packets.
“The fee sounds mad, but it actually represents very good value for us. That's just the way the market is these days."
Gray watched from the sidelines as his new club beat his old side 1-0 at Turf Moor on Saturday.
