Even as Burnley limped away from a 2-0 defeat to the worst team in the Premier League and failed to close their nine-point gap to Leeds United, few would have really dared to write them off. Nine-and-a-half years under Sean Dyche punching well above their weight will do that to an opinion.
The Clarets are not entertaining, they do not employ big names, they do not pay big money, but they had an identity, they scrapped for everything and six consecutive seasons in the top flight on meagre budgets always made you think Dyche might pull it off again.
Not now. The nonsensical sacking of the 50-year-old they should be building a statue of in Harry Potts Way, has been dismissed by panicked owners who seem to have forgotten the limits this squad is already stretching well beyond.
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This group of players owed so much to what Dyche had done for their careers and it is hard to see how anyone comes into the team and makes an impact with eight matches to play. If survival was already within touching distance, this decision feels like it almost confirms Jesse Marsch’s first full campaign in the top flight.
The Lancashire outfit play three times before Leeds take to the field at Crystal Palace in 10 days, but it’s hard to see how they even contemplate chipping away at the four-point gap to Everton, let alone the nine they need to match the Whites. Burnley could well be about to realise they were a Premier League club because of Dyche alone. As they slip into the Championship their owners might soon realise the error they have made in consigning that overachieving organisation to years in the second tier.
