Burnley have sacked manager Sean Dyche with eight matches of the season remaining in a desperate attempt to secure their Premier League status.
Dyche was the Premier League’s longest-serving manager and had kept Burnley in the top flight for the past five seasons despite operating on one of the league’s smallest budgets. Yet with the team third from bottom and four points adrift of Everton, who Burnley beat last week, the club’s owner, ALK Capital, has sacked the manager, who signed a new four-year contract eight months ago.
The 50-year-old’s longtime assistant Ian Woan, first-team coach Steve Stone and goalkeeping coach Billy Mercer, who has been at Turf Moor for 12 years and oversaw the development of Nick Pope and Tom Heaton to England honours, have also been relieved of their duties. Announcing the shock decision, the chairman, Alan Pace, said the process of appointing Dyche’s successor was under way. The under-23s coach, Mike Jackson, assisted by the academy director Paul Jenkins, under-23s goalkeeping coach Connor King and club captain Ben Mee will take charge of the team at West Ham on Sunday. Jackson will hold a press conference on Saturday.
After Sean Dyche's sacking by Burnley, Jürgen Klopp (pictured) becomes the English top tier's longest-serving manager. Pep Guardiola, whose Manchester City side face Liverpool at Wembley in Saturday's FA Cup semi-final, is now second in the list. Half of the managers in the Premier League have now been in charge at their clubs for less than a year.
Dyche had previously headed the list with a tenure of nine years, five months at Burnley.
1 Jürgen Klopp (Liverpool) – 6yrs, 6mths
2 Pep Guardiola (Man City) – 5yrs, 9mths
3 Thomas Frank (Brentford) – 3yrs, 6mths*
4 Ralph Hasenhüttl (Southampton) – 3yrs, 4mths
5 Brendan Rodgers (Leicester) – 3yrs, 1mth
6 Graham Potter (Brighton) – 2yrs, 10mths
7 Mikel Arteta (Arsenal) – 2yrs, 3mths
8 David Moyes (West Ham) – 2yrs, 3mths
9 Thomas Tuchel (Chelsea) – 1yr, 2mths
10 Bruno Lage (Wolves) – 310 days
11 Patrick Vieira (Crystal Palace) – 285 days
12 Antonio Conte (Tottenham) – 164 days
13 Eddie Howe (Newcastle) – 158 days
14 Steven Gerrard (Aston Villa) – 155 days
15 Dean Smith (Norwich) – 151 days
16 Ralf Rangnick (Man Utd) – 133 days
17 Roy Hodgson (Watford) – 80 days
18 Frank Lampard (Everton) – 74 days
19 Jesse Marsch (Leeds) – 46 days
Figures correct as of 15 April 2022
*Frank was appointed by Brentford on 16 Oct 2018 while the club were in the Championship – he has currently spent 321 days as a Premier League manager
Pace said in his statement: “Firstly, we would like to place on record our sincere thanks to Sean and his staff for their achievements at the club over the last decade. During his time at Turf Moor, Sean has been a credit both on and off the pitch, respected by players, staff, supporters, and the wider football community.
“However, results this season have been disappointing and, while this was an incredibly difficult decision, with eight crucial games of the campaign remaining, we feel a change is needed to give the squad the best possible chance of retaining its Premier League status.”
Burnley have won only four league matches this season and lost five of their past six, including a 2-0 defeat at bottom club Norwich last Sunday that prompted the owners’ decision. Investment in Dyche’s squad has been frugal by Premier League standards, with the former manager having a net spend of £21m over the past five years. In January he was forced to sell his leading striker Chris Wood when relegation rivals Newcastle activated a £25m release clause. Burnley spent £12m on a replacement, Wout Weghorst, but the Netherlands international has scored one goal since his deadline-day arrival from Wolfsburg.
Dyche, who succeeded Eddie Howe as Burnley manager in October 2012, guided the club to two promotions from the Championship, two top-half finishes in the Premier League and into Europe for the first time in 51 years. Burnley have also transformed their training ground and academy during Dyche’s tenure, regarded as one of the most successful in the club’s 140-year history.
The former Chesterfield, Millwall and Watford defender said his goodbyes to stunned players shortly after being informed of his sacking on Friday morning. The mantle of longest-serving manager in the Premier League passes to Jürgen Klopp, who took charge of Liverpool in October 2015.
Burnley were under the ownership of the local businessmen Mike Garlick and John Banaszkiewicz for the majority of Dyche’s reign but the US consortium ALK Capital acquired an 84% stake in December 2020. The £170m takeover used Burnley’s own money and placed debt on a once debt-free club.
- Download the Guardian app from the iOS App Store on iPhones or the Google Play store on Android phones by searching for 'The Guardian'.
- If you already have the Guardian app, make sure you’re on the most recent version.
- In the Guardian app, tap the yellow button at the bottom right, then go to Settings (the gear icon), then Notifications.
- Turn on sport notifications.
After Sunday Burnley play Southampton, Wolves, Watford, Aston Villa twice, Tottenham and Newcastle. The decision to sack the manager who established Burnley as a Premier League concern was greeted with widespread incredulity.
Watford’s manager, Roy Hodgson, said: “An enormous surprise. I must say of all the people in the league, he would have been one of the ones most likely to survive anything like this.” His Brentford counterpart, Thomas Frank, commented: “I don’t know what happened behind the scenes. Sean Dyche and his coaching staff have done an unbelievable job – they should build a statue of him outside Turf Moor.”
Gary Neville tweeted congratulations to Dyche, “for doing one of the great managerial jobs in Premier League history. He had a bantamweight budget and yet punched hard against the heavyweights for years.”
