Ahead of the six-pointer with Burnley on Saturday, LFW tracked down Clarets fan Ian Brookes to chew the fat over his team’s unlikely rise back into the Premier League.
Was last season's promotion winning campaign as much as a surprise to you and the other Burnley fans as it seemed to be to the rest of the supposedly learned footballing community? Nobody was tipping you pre-season, where did it all go so right?
IB: To say the promotion was a surprise, and the manner in which it was won in terms of finishing second, would be an understatement. We’d laboured to finishing fourteenth conceding 1.3 goals a game the previous season with Sean Dyche taking over from Eddie Howe who returned to Bournemouth for personal reasons, and then lost Charlie Austin four days before the start of the season. I think we expected a mid-table finish to be honest.
However, we sustained a place in the Championship’s top three from September. Two things made the difference: Dyche himself as the leader, creating a togetherness, group mentality and winning mindset; and then the tight knit squad, which kept fit, injury free (until the final run-in) and free from suspensions. Just 18 players started league games.
But besides his leadership qualities and the team, Dyche connected quickly and deeply with the fans — ‘our town, our turf, our team’ was the mantra and it built a stronger connection between the team and the fans as well as a sense of responsibility that the team has for wearing the shirt and representing the town, and the supporters. The season also saw the centenary of our 1914 F A Cup win versus Liverpool, our only cup win to date, and he used the heritage of this - the team is the town, the town is the team.
We took 6,500 to Barnsley and 5,000 to Bolton for evening games and you know what it’s like to be amongst that number of fans. It sounds daft but having won both games 1-0, I had a lump in my throat at full time, it felt that special to be there. Dyche inspired the team, but he also reignited the identity, emotion and culture of being a Burnley fan.
Given how well Eddie Howe is doing at Bournemouth once again, why do you think it didn't go better for him at Turf Moor? What has Sean Dyche changed to get things going as well as they are?
IB: As mentioned above, Eddie does deserve credit for his ability to bring in talent but with such an emphasis on going forward it seemed that defence was sacrificed for attack. At times it was like playground football — next goal wins. The best examples were two Charlie Austin hat-tricks ending in 3-3 draws. Bizarre given that Howe was a good defender and the back four was the same personnel — apart from Tom Heaton in net who was a Dyche acquisition — across the two seasons. At times we just seemed disorganised, lacked tactics and had no game plan. During matches he often stood motionless in the technical area with little apparent engagement or direction to the team on the pitch.
Burnley doesn’t have the climate or beach that Bournemouth has, the town and the people are rugged, real and honest, it has a totally different physical and social environment, and the culture is as far removed from Bournemouth as you can get in the UK I imagine. I think Eddie is a good coach, but he just couldn’t settle, it was the first time he’d moved away from the South Coast. Besides the personal stuff with his family, maybe he couldn’t adjust to the harsh reality of the North of England.
I’m not overly critical, he left us with a legacy that was the core of the promotion team, and I think the parting was done professionally and with mutual respect for his circumstances. I think his next career moved is critical for him given it didn’t work out against high expectations — I think Rangers could do worse than see him as a potential successor to Harry given their relationship.
Dyche added a structure in terms of organisation and playing style to the defence, which we lacked in the season before. On top of this structure he added an ethos of being relentless and pressing teams, even those who were seen as superior — we just kept going, key home games versus Derby, Forest and Wigan were just that; you could see the belief and organisation throughout the side. With these key attributes in place, adding in the partnership which developed between Ings and Vokes and resulted in a combined 50 odd goals, the season always had great promise.
Dyche also uses his management team proactively on match day and they are just as animated and engaged. He works closely on the touchline with his support team, constantly observing, pointing out and engaging with them to highlight areas for improvement. Check them out on Saturday, they are always animated together in the technical area during the game — so he has a team on and off the pitch.
Would you like to have seen Burnley lash out a bit more transfer wise in the summer, spending the TV money and risking it all to stay up, or do you prefer the cautious, sensible approach they've taken?
IB: The town’s culture and ethos is one of humility and a strong work ethic. The harsh reality is it’s a small Lancashire town, population 90,000 and surrounded by hills. Burnley are a founder member of the Football League, but apart from the flirtation of 2009/10 under Horse Face, have been out of the top flight since 1976. An entire generation of Clarets had got more used to playing Charlton rather than Chelsea. We’re debt free and all the board of directors are local businessmen who are fans — there is a stewardship ethos from them, we’re here to look after the club and pass it onto the next generation, creating and enjoying the success we can whilst looking after the club. I think most fans identify with that, it reflects the reality and the culture of the town.
We could bet the ranch, but Leeds and Portsmouth have shown what can happen if it goes wrong financially, and I guess QPR too. No billionaires are going to come up to East Lancashire and frankly I’m not sure most Clarets would want them anyway. However, I trust Dyche to manage the challenge and the budget. We acquired George Boyd for £3m to equal our transfer record, so whilst logic says we need to be a bit bolder and build a bigger squad with more quality, I'm happy with where we’re at. Stability and sustainability will bring success relative to our expectations.
With the calibre of teams in the Premier League and their finances, we’re focusing on developing the infrastructure of the club and its ability to find and develop our own players, which realistically as a strategy has a far better chance of getting and keeping Burnley up in the long term rather than a spending spree that could cripple the club for years to come. In reality you’re not going to get the top-end overseas players coming to Burnley due to its location and climate anyway.
Assess your start to the season for us - the return of Danny Ings really seems to have been a kick-start for you...
IB: The season started with promise. We were 1-0 up against Chelsea which brought back memories of 1-0 against Man Utd in 2009. However the class of Jose Mourinho’s team came through and we all know how that ended. Then came a few 0-0s which helped the points count tick over. Then along came West Brom and a thumping 4-0 loss which showed what can happen if you don't turn up with your head 100% in the game.
Before long we were ten games in without a win and bottom of the table. Things looked a little desolate but I didn’t lose heart. The teams above us were not a million miles away, and Ings had finally scored his first goal and bagged a brace at the Turf for the England U21s. So came Hull and a hard fought first win, the season changes, light is suddenly at the end of the tunnel, the impossible isn't impossible, just tricky. Then an away win at the Britannia and the tricky seems doable.
Ings epitomises the approach that Burnley have under Dyche. He’s our best individual player, probably likely to go either in January or the summer as he’s in the last year of his contract and made it clear he’s not re-signing, but he has a relentless never say die attitude. He chases lost causes without question. I think we’ll say thanks to Danny when he goes for what he helped us achieve, and hopefully a future England player will look back fondly on his time here.
Aside from West Brom, we’ve been competitive so far. I think we’ll be in the scramble in the bottom half of the table, but when Vokes comes back if we can reignite the Vokes-Ings partnership I’m confident there are three weaker teams below us — in fact there could be five or six. I sense the gap between top and bottom is now bigger than ever and in our own mini-league 30 points could see us stay up. Two home draws against Villa and Newcastle, two established Premiership teams, showed we are finding our feet, we’re unbeaten in four games now.
Where is the team strong and where is it weak?
IB: There's no particularly weak area of the team, it’s all relative to the competition and we’ve stuck with last year’s promotion team in the main with just a few additions — Stephen Ward, George Boyd, Matt Taylor, Matt Gilks and Lukas Jutkiewicz, and loaned Michael Keane and Nathaniel Chalobah. With Boyd, Kightly, Wallace and Arfield at our disposal we can feed the strikers. The defence is still strong — including 35 year old Michael Duff who we bought for £35k ten years ago from Cheltenham!
There seems to be a statistic that we concede from headers. This is almost a product of our own downfall. Having such a structured defence makes it difficult for teams to cut through the middle. This means teams go out wide more and more and hit the box with crosses leading to headed goals.
Barring this and a noticeable uplift in pace, skill and guile from those teams with spending power separates us from some of the other teams in the league.
However, just like last year, we don't have depth in the squad, in reality the starting XI comes from a pool of 20.
Any suggestions of who (if anybody) you might be looking at in January yet? Who or what would you like to see come in?
IB: If Ings would sign a new contract that would give everyone a huge lift. I’d like to see us make the loan of Michael Keane a permanent signing, not sure if Chalobah will stay but he’s looked strong when played. A realistic target would be a creative centre midfielder along the lines of a Will Hughes from Derby, who has been outstanding the last few seasons for both his club and the England U21s. Any player that can fulfill a role like this whether loan or permanent transfer would be great. However, the main thing us Burnley fans are looking forward to is the return of Sam Vokes to being back the partnership that reaped such riches last season.
Short, medium and long term aims and hopes for the club...
IB: Short term hope has to be survival, if not then following the model set by West Brom of bouncing between the leagues collecting payments to build finances and eventually become a team which builds itself from perennial struggler to lower to middle table side (guess this covers the medium to long term). This has to be the way to look at this.
The spending power of the other teams is enormous. Losing players who show some form and ability due to the wealth offered elsewhere is a constant concern - just look at previous Burnley players prised away for the big bucks such as Jay Rodriguez to Southampton and your very own Charlie Austin. We think no one at Burnley is on more than £15k a week. That is not to say that we lack ambition to keep the players, just possess realism to know that unfortunately in this modern age of football, money talks.
In terms of the long term — looking five years ahead — then I hope Dyche is still with us. He won’t be sacked if we struggle or do go down. We need to take the cash, build and invest into the organisation infrastructure and avoid the myopia of chasing short-term success and paying wages to short-term mercenaries. Call it a dour Northern trait, but we’ll cut our cloth and look after ourselves, put a bit away for the future, and under Dyche’s leadership build something that is sustainable.
Dyche has made a team out of the talented individuals Howe had brought to the club, with just a few additions to the squad. Six of the promotion team were Howe acquisitions, in this week’s game against Newcastle, nine of last year’s core team played. It would be lovely to show the doubters what can be done — Garth Crooks said we were already relegated after seven games. We’re realistic but ambitious, so longer term I’d like to see us established as a top ten club, but retain the values we have.
Dyche is methodical in his trade, articulate and intelligent in his analysis and communication, respectful to the opposition and has an enthusiasm for research with a learner’s mentality - a powerful combination for an effective manager that will stand us in good stead for the longer term. His press conferences are thoughtful and open, he talks a lot of common sense, and his physical stature belies an obvious intelligence. Of course another club may come in for him which would undoubtedly derail us.
However, three things he said over last season outline his core beliefs, and if we continue with these themes then we’ll be ok for this season and beyond:
- Maximum effort is the minimum requirement
- Be the man that makes the difference
- Be relentless, be limitless
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