‘I didn’t make excuses then and I’m not going to now.’
Sean Dyche has broken his silence on being sacked by Burnley, suggesting that he was surprised by the timing of the decision but understands that he had not won enough matches.
The 50-year-old was sacked by the Clarets in April after nine and a half years in charge. Since he left the club, Burnley have taken 10 points from their past five games under caretaker Mike Jackson.
The Clarets currently find themselves outside of the relegation zone on goal difference with a game in hand on Leeds United.
Dyche admits that Burnley ‘didn’t win enough games.’
Speaking on the Second Captains podcast, as per the Mirror, Dyche said it would be a “big achievement” if Burnley remain in the Premier League.
"I made a really innocent comment in that game, which I spoke to Frank Lampard about by the way – directly. And people forget that."
– Sean Dyche explains his post-match comments about Frank Lampard's Everton to @RichieSadlier.
Exclusively on https://t.co/uxcODKouWE tomorrow🖤 pic.twitter.com/ozPgklz82z
— Second Captains (@SecondCaptains) May 11, 2022
He said: “We didn’t win enough games. There are always extenuating circumstances to most people’s story in football, mine included, but I didn’t win enough games. My job as manager, regardless of how that team looks, is to get the team to win enough that is deemed successful enough.
“In Burnley’s case, let’s face it, that’s historically been to stay in the Premier League. That’s a big achievement and still will be if they can do it in these remaining games and probably will be for a long time.
“Yes, there’s a lot going on, change of ownership, contract situations, injuries, covid, all of that. But whatever the challenge is I’ve always thought let’s crack on. We’ve done it with our backs against the wall before. I didn’t make excuses then and I’m not going to now. I wouldn’t hide behind the simple fact that we didn’t win enough games.”
‘The timing was a question mark for me.’ – Dyche
When asked if he had seen his sacking coming, the former Watford boss admitted that he was left surprised by the timing of the decision. He was dismissed just 48 hours before a clash against West Ham United.
“There’s a different vibe, a certain instinct when you’ve been in the game a long time and you think there’s a change of feel,” Dyche added.
“The only surprise, if you looked at the season’s fixtures you were coming into a block of games where you go, ‘OK, they are winnable games’.
“It doesn’t mean you’ll win them but they were winnable … I looked at them games and thought we’d be fine. You could argue Tottenham away is still tough. The rest you thought, OK, and by the time it comes around the only question mark was I spoke kindly to Alan, who’s a good guy by the way and said: ‘You know Alan, I’m just amazed by the timing.’ It’s the Friday and we lost on the Sunday.
“That was probably more of a surprise, the timing, not whether it could happen. Of course it could happen. I’d said for many years that you’ve got to win games. If you don’t win games, you don’t stay in the job. It’s as simple as that. The timing was a question mark for me but the fact it came my way, I don’t have magic dust.”
Dyche took charge of 425 matches as Burnley manager, winning 152, drawing 114, and losing 159.
Related links:
- ‘What a joke’ – Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville slam Burnley decision to sack Sean Dyche.
- Sean Dyche sacked by Burnley after nine years in charge.
- Irish Abroad: Nathan Collins sees red in Burnley defeat.
