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Even with Coventry City currently in the throes of administration, denied a home stadium and with a transfer embargo imposed. "I absolutely love this job," says Pressley.
You're tempted to ask: if there is a youth team around, does a manager such as Pressley even care about a limit on signing new players? True to form the former Falkirk manager has released 19 players from last season and, barring one or two old bods, has filled his team with galloping youngsters from the Coventry nursery teams.
This so-called crisis club started the season with a 10-point penalty deduction and in a similar situation to Hearts, the club with which Pressley is best associated. But rather than remain rooted to the bottom of the table, Coventry have instead rocketed up League One, and would currently be in the play-off spots but for their points disadvantage.
They also have in Pressley a manager who has won four of his last five and is a shoo-in for his league's manager of the month award for October.
How has he done it? You might find some of this familiar . . .
"When I first arrived I looked at the playing squad here and asked myself: 'could these guys buy in to the high-intensity, high-pressing game I want to deliver at Coventry City?'" he says. "In many cases I decided, no, so what I've put in place instead is a small, tight squad which is young and energetic and extremely hungry.
"I got the Coventry job because of my emphasis on youth, and the way I went about things at Falkirk. It is central to my philosophy. I've studied quite a lot of the situations around Europe, and even at some of the great clubs like Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Barcelona and others in Spain, these clubs are built around youth. If you get it right with youth, you get something that money can't buy."
Just think of the temerity of this. Due to the complex wrangles over Coventry's ownership and administration, the football authorities tell Pressley he can only sign a new player in extremely limiting circumstances. Pressley, in response, ships out a whole gang of what he's got, and brings next to nobody new in. Andy Webster is one of only two players he has signed this season.
"In the early stages here I had a lot of off-field politics to contend with, and some of that is still dragging on. But, in terms of my team, I've done a total turnaround: I've shipped 19 players out. I'm now working with a stack of youngsters who were on the periphery, but whom I've promoted.
"Of course you need experience, but the hunger and energy you get from young players is something I value highly. What I have now is a complete buy-in from every player in terms of how I want the team to play."
Pressley cites one player, amid it all, as being "immense" so far. "John Fleck has been outstanding for me. He has been absolutely incredible. He plays in central midfield, but he's not a No.10, he's the playmaker, the quarterback if you like. The question was asked of John, 'how will he do in terms of pressing, in terms of the intensity of our game?' Well I can tell you, he is doing brilliantly."
There were quite a few eyebrows raised when Pressley first went to Coventry eight months ago. The club was lurching towards administration, with its parent company heading to liquidation, and Pressley appeared to be leaping into a fire. But he says he knew what he was about to face.
"I was perfectly aware of what was going on. The politics of it all has dragged on and on, but if you can get results it covers up a whole lot of other ills. The Coventry fans want to see good, exciting, energetic football, and that's what they are getting. Right now I'm getting results and our progress is good."
All this, and Pressley and Coventry have to play every home game at the Sixfields Stadium in Northampton, 34 miles away, due to a rental wrangle with the owners of the Ricoh Arena. Some fans even boycott "home" games due to the saga going on around the club.
"I hope we can find a solution to the stadium issue, because we obviously want to be playing at home," says Pressley. "I just hope a solution can be found. The local press down here is reporting it might be resolved soon, so here's hoping."
None of this, however, has dampened Pressley's appetite for working in England. It is where he wants to stay - a recurring theme among Scottish managers these days - and he makes unfavourable comparisons between his football life north of the border and what he has discovered in the south.
"I'll never decry Scottish football, I love the game in Scotland, but I do find the atmospheres down here far, far better," says Pressley. "Over the last five years or so I found the atmospheres in Scotland to be terrible, and in a real sort of decline.
"Down here you get singing at games, you get drums being beaten. In Scotland I found more and more that people were just turning up and criticising, rather than creating an atmosphere. No drums, no singing. In England, some games are like a carnival. My goal is to be in England for the long haul.
"I plan to be at Coventry for the long haul. A whole bunch of my young players have just signed new contracts, so I feel I owe them. But you never know in football, do you? I'm getting fairly decent press down here right now, but ask me in two months' time and this conversation might be totally different. You can't look too far ahead."
Even with Coventry City currently in the throes of administration, denied a home stadium and with a transfer embargo imposed. "I absolutely love this job," says Pressley.
You're tempted to ask: if there is a youth team around, does a manager such as Pressley even care about a limit on signing new players? True to form the former Falkirk manager has released 19 players from last season and, barring one or two old bods, has filled his team with galloping youngsters from the Coventry nursery teams.
This so-called crisis club started the season with a 10-point penalty deduction and in a similar situation to Hearts, the club with which Pressley is best associated. But rather than remain rooted to the bottom of the table, Coventry have instead rocketed up League One, and would currently be in the play-off spots but for their points disadvantage.
They also have in Pressley a manager who has won four of his last five and is a shoo-in for his league's manager of the month award for October.
How has he done it? You might find some of this familiar . . .
"When I first arrived I looked at the playing squad here and asked myself: 'could these guys buy in to the high-intensity, high-pressing game I want to deliver at Coventry City?'" he says. "In many cases I decided, no, so what I've put in place instead is a small, tight squad which is young and energetic and extremely hungry.
"I got the Coventry job because of my emphasis on youth, and the way I went about things at Falkirk. It is central to my philosophy. I've studied quite a lot of the situations around Europe, and even at some of the great clubs like Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Barcelona and others in Spain, these clubs are built around youth. If you get it right with youth, you get something that money can't buy."
Just think of the temerity of this. Due to the complex wrangles over Coventry's ownership and administration, the football authorities tell Pressley he can only sign a new player in extremely limiting circumstances. Pressley, in response, ships out a whole gang of what he's got, and brings next to nobody new in. Andy Webster is one of only two players he has signed this season.
"In the early stages here I had a lot of off-field politics to contend with, and some of that is still dragging on. But, in terms of my team, I've done a total turnaround: I've shipped 19 players out. I'm now working with a stack of youngsters who were on the periphery, but whom I've promoted.
"Of course you need experience, but the hunger and energy you get from young players is something I value highly. What I have now is a complete buy-in from every player in terms of how I want the team to play."
Pressley cites one player, amid it all, as being "immense" so far. "John Fleck has been outstanding for me. He has been absolutely incredible. He plays in central midfield, but he's not a No.10, he's the playmaker, the quarterback if you like. The question was asked of John, 'how will he do in terms of pressing, in terms of the intensity of our game?' Well I can tell you, he is doing brilliantly."
There were quite a few eyebrows raised when Pressley first went to Coventry eight months ago. The club was lurching towards administration, with its parent company heading to liquidation, and Pressley appeared to be leaping into a fire. But he says he knew what he was about to face.
"I was perfectly aware of what was going on. The politics of it all has dragged on and on, but if you can get results it covers up a whole lot of other ills. The Coventry fans want to see good, exciting, energetic football, and that's what they are getting. Right now I'm getting results and our progress is good."
All this, and Pressley and Coventry have to play every home game at the Sixfields Stadium in Northampton, 34 miles away, due to a rental wrangle with the owners of the Ricoh Arena. Some fans even boycott "home" games due to the saga going on around the club.
"I hope we can find a solution to the stadium issue, because we obviously want to be playing at home," says Pressley. "I just hope a solution can be found. The local press down here is reporting it might be resolved soon, so here's hoping."
None of this, however, has dampened Pressley's appetite for working in England. It is where he wants to stay - a recurring theme among Scottish managers these days - and he makes unfavourable comparisons between his football life north of the border and what he has discovered in the south.
"I'll never decry Scottish football, I love the game in Scotland, but I do find the atmospheres down here far, far better," says Pressley. "Over the last five years or so I found the atmospheres in Scotland to be terrible, and in a real sort of decline.
"Down here you get singing at games, you get drums being beaten. In Scotland I found more and more that people were just turning up and criticising, rather than creating an atmosphere. No drums, no singing. In England, some games are like a carnival. My goal is to be in England for the long haul.
"I plan to be at Coventry for the long haul. A whole bunch of my young players have just signed new contracts, so I feel I owe them. But you never know in football, do you? I'm getting fairly decent press down here right now, but ask me in two months' time and this conversation might be totally different. You can't look too far ahead."
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