Burnley boss Dyche’s fresh slate for pre-season

TRAINING DRILL: Sean Dyche puts his players through their pacesat Gawthorpe

The Clarets are back at Gawthorpe from Tuesday, June 25th in readiness for the forthcoming Championship campaign.

And while most of the players will have had since the end of October to impress Dyche, it’s about what they do going forward which will influence who gets a starting jersey on Saturday, August 3rd.

Dyche said: I think it’s (pre-season) a fresh slate for everyone. We’ve had enough time to get to know most of the players here.

“I think they’ve got a fair feel for what we think’s appropriate for the design of the team, the work ethic of the team, the fitness, the tactical side of things.

“Really I’ll be detailing that down and getting our real stamp on it with a fresh start for everyone in a sense.

“Pre-season’s like that.

“It’s not a literal fresh start when you come into a club from being signed from somewhere else, but even the players who are here, it’s a level playing field, who’s come back in shape, who’s looking good, who’s form is good and who’s ready to go?

“It can open up different chances for different people.”

And he is confident that the work put in place since his arrival, on and off the field, will help the aim of improving on an 11th-place finish this term.

The recruitment department has seen much change since Dyche’s arrival, with Lee Darnbrough joining from West Brom as head of recruitment to oversee transfer business, contract negotiations and performance analysis, and Dyche said: “We want to build on this year.

“We want to build and change things, move things forward on and off the pitch.

“We’ve done a lot of work off the pitch that people can’t see, and I’m pleased that some of that’s shown throughout the season to get us into 11th place.

“There are still things we think we can improve on, and obviously we want to improve out there on the grass because that’s where it counts.

“The more points you get on the board, the happier everyone is.

“There are a lot of things going on, a lot of things that we think can be productive, and we move forward in a positive manner.”