Sean Dyche reflects on Burnley's year, discusses the latest takeover talk plus the progression of Dwight McNeil and Nick Pope; Burnley vs Fulham was postponed on Saturday due to further positive coronavirus cases at the west London club
Sunday 3 January 2021 12:07, UK
While 2020 may have been unprecedented, Sean Dyche is using the self-named 'positive realities' to reflect on a "bizarre but interesting" year at Burnley.
It's the penultimate day of 2020 when Dyche and I chat on his drive south. Covid-19 has changed life as we know it and football has not escaped the impact, with two Premier League fixtures being postponed in the last few days due to positive tests.
But looking back over the last 12 months, the Burnley manager is in a positive mood and reveals how the first lockdown in March gave him a rare chance to refresh.
"I think 2020 has been very good," he reflected in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports before Sunday's match against Fulham was postponed due to further positive coronavirus cases at the west London club.
"Going into the lockdown period, the players looked after themselves and then we had a very strong nine games to finish with an awful injury situation but the mentality stood us strong. We had a short break then we came into this season and it wasn't a massive surprise to me that we had a tough start with all the injuries that we had, plus minimal funding and recruitment.
"I try and be, not negative, but realistic - I call it positive realities. There's a reality that it was going to be tough for us at the beginning of this season and it turned out to be exactly that. But the positive side was while it was being tough, players were getting fit and I thought we would get stronger.
"We've still got a lot of work to do but if you look at where we've been in the last few months to where we are now, we're certainly a side who are still active, still fighting, still playing and playing to win and that mentality has been important to us.
"On the pitch, I think it's been a good calendar year and off it, there's been a lot of challenges for me as manager. Then beyond that, there's the health of the nation, no one forgets that.
"On a personal level, I live in two places and it was quite refreshing to have a break from football with family like I had. With it all on pause, I didn't have to worry about signing anyone or selling anyone because you couldn't do any of that. I didn't have to worry about winning a game, I didn't have to worry about much apart from getting on the bike, doing a bit of gardening and having a larger shandy.
"So the early part of the year was strangely refreshing in my world. I didn't need to be refreshed, I just found it refreshing and a bit of quality time with the family as well. A bizarre but interesting year and hopefully we can shake it off over time when the health of the nation improves and look back on it as a strange anomaly in our lives."
The year for Burnley has ended with a change in ownership, with American company ALK Capital acquiring a controlling 84 per cent stake in the Premier League club late on Wednesday, a few hours after our conversation.
At the time, Dyche said: "The chairman and board have been taking care of that…I've been taking care of the players and the staff because that's the thing we have to get right. I can't decide the business plan or the financial plan of the club, I can give an opinion - which I do - but at the end of the day, it is what it is.
"My focus stays with the staff and the players and getting stuff on the pitch right because if you do that, usually other things will look after themselves accordingly."
The tough start Dyche alludes to saw Burnley winless in their opening seven Premier League matches, but a recent uptick in form has seen them pull away from the bottom three, now with a gap of five points and a game in hand.
He explained: "There's been a lot of challenges on and off the pitch. We haven't recruited as much as I'd like, which is well documented, so that was a challenge. There wasn't the finances available to recruit where we wanted to recruit.
"On the other hand, we've never had a spate of injuries like it. From coming out of the last lockdown, through the small summer period we had, then we still had injuries when we got back and we've had even more injuries since which, when we carry such a small squad, that's not beneficial.
"At one point, we had seven players who were injured and they were really important players for us and they've proved how important they've been. That's been tricky, then we start to find our feet a little bit and the performances were getting stronger, we turned that into wins and draws. I think everyone will agree, we were pretty harshly done by at Leeds and if we had that one as well, all of a sudden, you're looking very strong again.
"We just couldn't find that first win but we weren't far away. I said in a few interviews that I know how the team operates and that consistency in the performance [wasn't there], there were a few mistakes, not taking our chances. We then started tidying up at both ends of the pitch, we're not scoring freely but we're taking the chances we need to and defending very well, which has been one of our trademarks down the years in the Premier League, and we're finding our balance better.
"We've been in the Premier League for the last six of seven seasons so we're well aware of the trials and pitfalls and we don't get too carried away. But we're looking stronger and if we can get these lads fit, it bodes well for the future because we'll have a fit squad and a team that is active."
Dwight McNeil continues to catch the eye with his Burnley performances and Dyche believes his consistency should single the 21-year-old winger out as one of the Premier League's star youngsters.
"Dwight is maybe under the radar rather than underrated, a lot of people out there do rate him and rightly so. He does a proper shift for the team, physically he is very fit, he's quick, he challenges for the ball, he gets his defensive position right and he can play, without a doubt. He can make one, he can score one and if he carries on progressing how he is, he's a top player but there is still more to come.
"To play that many games in the Premier League from when I put him in, to play back-to-back in 70 games, I think is exceptional - he's only missed a couple of them out. And for a young player to keep the consistency to stay in the team for that long is absolutely fantastic and maybe people take that for granted a little bit.
"If we threw him in for three games and then took him out again people would be saying 'this player in unbelievable' but because you get familiar with them, you almost look over them a little bit. Some of these young players are thrown in under the big lights of the Premier League and have a couple of good games, then they get left out for five so you get these snapshots.
"But he's been delivering for the team consistently for 70 games and I think that's incredible for a young player in the Premier League and in a team that doesn't always find it easy. We have to dig in and fight, it's not like we're dominating every game. I take great value in Dwight and the lad that he is as well."
Nick Pope also remains a consistent figure in Burnley's goal, already keeping six clean sheets this season - joint-fourth highest in the Premier League. He joins a list of talented stoppers to have pulled on the claret jersey, and Dyche has praised the impact each has had on the squad.
He explained: "When I first got to the club, we had Lee Grant, who had an excellent season for us and he went on to Derby. I then bought in Tom Heaton, which was my first ever signing at Burnley and I do remind everyone that the truth was I got slaughtered for bringing him in because he had just been relegated at Bristol City.
"Then lo and behold, I bought in Nick who had just been relegated at Charlton. The thing for me about those two situations, I didn't bring them in because they'd been relegated, but you look when they're playing and if they're active and keep doing the right things, there's a strength in there. I saw it in Tom Heaton and I see it in Nick Pope and he's been brilliant.
"We've had some really experienced goalkeepers. Paul Robinson was terrific around our group, Joe Hart, who had a lot of criticism, was the same so we've had this clutch of goalkeepers who really rub off on each other. Bailey Peacock-Farrell is learning from Nick, and Will Norris is a part of that group too; players who are learning as they go.
"Nick has shown what a good goalkeeper he is and I take a lot of value in him as a person as well, he's a really good bloke and one of our good characters. Every manager wants good character and we've got a lot of them."
Burnley were due to face Fulham on Super Sunday, but the game has been postponed due to Covid-19 cases among their opponents. However, Dyche will not be resting on his laurels when it does come time to play their relegation rivals.
"I remember a few seasons ago, they went up and threw a lot of money in the pot and bought in loads of players and that didn't quite work out for them," he said. "They've gone about it in a different way, bought a couple in but sticking with a lot of what they've done previously.
"They've had a tough start, which can happen - it happened to us - but they're renewing their look at the Premier League, if you like. They've steadied a bit now, they've had four draws in a row, so that's possibly a sign of trying to keep things tighter defensively. I've seen a couple of their games and it certainly looks that way.
"One thing I say, and I believe it, is that everyone deserves to be in the Premier League so you can't take them lightly. It's a very tough division so you have to take everyone seriously and we certainly do, whether they're new to the Premier League or not. That's one massive thing we've learnt is that you have to be ready with your top-level performance every time the whistle blows."
