The Burnley view with Up The Clarets

It has been quite the season again for Burnley as Up The Clarets explain before the final game of the campaign at Turf Moor. Each year, the Turf Moor faithful hope to avoid relegation and each year, Sean Dyche and his players far exceed those expectations.

2019-20 has brought a second top 10 finish in three years. A point against Brighton will secure Burnley’s best ever total in the Premier League and a clean sheet for the outstanding Nick Pope would earn him the Golden Glove for most shutouts.

All of this has been achieved with one of the smallest budgets in the division. When Tony Bloom speaks about his ambition to turn Brighton into an established club in the upper reaches of the top flight table, he could do a lot worse than look at Burnley and copy exactly what they have done.

How is it all possible? And with rumours swirling about Dyche’s future, how long can it last? Tony Scholes from Burnley fan site Up The Clarets gave us the run down.

Burnley seem to have enjoyed another successful season with a top 10 finish already guaranteed – how do Up The Clarets rate the campaign?
I think if you’d asked me to answer this question with a one word answer then I’d have probably chosen special. We know we are a small club in this league but we continue to defy the odds.

Back in August, if I’d been asked for my hopes for the season, I’d have probably said that a season where we were never really dragged into the relegation battle. Probably the closest we’ve been to that was in mid-January, when we dropped to within three points of the bottom three and sat just below Brighton on goal difference.

Since then, one defeat, and that at Manchester City, left us almost in with a chance of getting into Europe again. For a club with no benefactor, having to generate every single penny we get, it is a tremendous achievement just to be in the Premier League.

To be getting a second top half finish in three seasons is remarkable. I was brought up in the glory days of the 1960s, but I have to pinch myself at what we are achieving now.

Who have been Burnley’s best players? Have there been any disappointments?
Under Sean Dyche we are always a very organised side and so it’s probably always the case that for the best players it is the defence you look to.

Quite why Nick Pope, James Tarkowski and Ben Mee are not England regulars, only Gareth Southgate will ever know. These three players have stood out all season although they are not the only ones, and there has to be a special mention for Dwight McNeil who came into the side after Christmas 2018 and has played in every game since, starting all but one. He’s just 20 and getting better and better.

Speaking of Sean Dyche, plenty of rumours seem to have been swirling recently regarding his future. Can you shed any light on what is going on there?
Sean is frustrated I think that the purse strings aren’t being loosened. Like any manager, he wants to strengthen but comes up against the same financial problems all the time.

It is pretty obvious that there is a problem between him and the chairman. I hope the chairman is a good enough businessman to understand this business – Burnley Football Club – is currently flourishing because of Sean Dyche.

Presuming you keep Dyche, what are your hopes for next season? Could Burnley push for Europe again?
My hopes for next season will always remain the same, to avoid getting into a relegation battle, but who knows? Dyche has taken us to places I didn’t think possible. It’s getting tougher though with more clubs getting bigger investment.

It seems like a lifetime ago now, but what did you make of our 1-1 draw at the Amex back in September?
That 1-1 draw between Brighton and Burnley is a long time ago! It was our third away game of the season and at times I can hardly believe we are still in the same season.

What do I remember? I think we started really well, were much the better side but didn’t score a goal to get our noses in front. The second half was totally different.

Brighton were on top, did get a goal and we looked as though we were beaten until Jeff Hendrick scored a really good goal in stoppage time.

In the previous away game we’d been done by a shocking penalty decision in stoppage time and drew 1-1. This time we were probably a little bit fortunate to get a point.

Some things that I recall clearly was it being a day of train cancellations and delays and us only just getting back to London Euston in time for our train back to Manchester.

And while on the train from Brighton to London we were watching Norwich v Manchester City, the game Norwich won. It made me think Norwich might have a good season. Shows how much I know about football I suppose!

Are there any weaknesses in Burnley which Brighton could look to exploit at Turf Moor on Sunday?
Our biggest problem right now is players being unavailable either through injury or contract situations. We will be without Matt Lowton, Ben Mee, Jack Cork and Ashley Barnes with injury while all of Joe Hart, Aaron Lennon and Jeff Hendrick have now left the club.

We’ve others just coming back to fitness in Jόhann Berg Guðmundsson, Robbie Brady and Chris Wood while we await news as to whether Charlie Taylor will be fit after missing the game at Norwich.

One thing is for certain, you won’t recognise many names on our bench, most of our fans don’t, there will be a good number on there who have never played in our first team.

Having said that, this patched up team of ours have given us absolutely everything. Even with so many missing, it was these players who claimed the only point won by a visiting team to Anfield this season.

Finally, what is the Up The Clarets prediction for Burnley v Brighton please?
I’ll go for a 1-0 win, we are getting plenty of those. Should we get a point then it will be a record number of points for us in the Premier League and should we keep a clean sheet then Nick Pope, surely the best English goalkeeper right now, will win the golden glove.

And then, this long, long and very strange season will come to an end with us both playing in next season’s Premier League.

Thanks to Tony for answering our questions ahead of the final game of the season. You can read his take on goings on at Burnley over on Up The Clarets as well as following on Twitter.