Chris Boden looks back at the achievements of Sean Dyche after his Turf Moor dismissal

Sage advice from a former Claret, who I spoke to ahead of Burnley's Championship game at Bristol City in October 2012, when it looked like Sean Dyche would be given the reins at Turf Moor.

When you looked at the sides Dyche played for, and his Watford team, which finished 11th in the Championship in his first and only season in charge, you imagined an uncompromising, route one style, a far cry from the 'Premier League-ready' possession football that Eddie Howe was trying to cultivate.

Dyche would explain that his footballing "nirvana" was a mixed brand of football, that perfected by Sir Alex Ferguson's treble-winning Manchester United of 1998/99.

And while we did see a lot of direct football, particularly after his efforts to make Burnley better in possession floundered on the significant knee injuries suffered by Robbie Brady and then Steven Defour around the turn of the year in 2017/18, his brand of football delivered success beyond supporters' wildest dreams.

You have to pinch yourself still when you rhyme off his achievements.

Famously, when interviewed for the post, he asked “Where has all the Premier League money gone?” after the club's previous campaign in the top flight in 2009/10.

And he wouldn't spend a penny in transfer fees until bringing in Ashley Barnes for £400,000 in January 2014.

One of Dyche's first assignments was 'to beat that lot'.

Dyche's seventh game in charge was at home to Blackburn Rovers, who Burnley had failed to beat since 1979.

Jordan Rhodes put Rovers ahead, but his late substitution of Sam Vokes led to an injury time equaliser.

Burnley would also draw with the old enemy later that season, pegged back at the death with 10 men, and the following campaign, but the tide was turning, and the Clarets ended a long wait in March 2014, on the way to promotion.

They won the next three as well, and are currently 12 years unbeaten against Rovers.

Promotion in 2014, behind champions Leicester City, was also unexpected.

The Clarets went into the season having not spent a penny, while being forced to sell Charlie Austin to QPR two days before the campaign started.

With a full pre-season under Dyche behind them, Gaffer's Day and all, the side lost only five games all season to return to the Premier League.

And while they were relegated the following season, it was all done sensibly, with one eye on the infrastructure of the club, with plans to revamp the club's Gawthorpe training ground.

Burnley would return immediately as champions, 23 undefeated.

Now, could the Clarets survive more than a season in the Premier League, at the third attempt?

It was tough, and a first away win of the season arrived in the penultimate game on the road, but that secured safety.

What happened next was beyond belief.

Having gone seventh in October, the Clarets would never drop below that position all season, as they earned a place in the Europa League - Burnley back in continental competition for the first time in 51 years.

The Clarets would fail to make the group stage, handed the toughest draw of each qualifying round, and the league was a struggle, 18th at halfway with 12 points.

But survival was secured with three games to spare, and next season saw a return to the top half of the table, finishing 10th after an impressive end to a Covid-extended campaign.

Dyche would describe 2020/21 as his "most challenging" - staying up by a place and 11 points, having been unable to significantly add to his squad.

Midway through that campaign came ALK Capital's takeover, and, but for that, Dyche, ironically, wouldn't have extended his contract beyond this summer, such was his relationship with outgoing chairman Mike Garlick.

And so to this season, with Burnley playing catch up in the transfer market after a lack of backing since 2018, it looked to have finally caught up with the Clarets, who have won only four of their 30 league games, leaving them four points adrift of safety, and the subsequent sacking of Dyche.

Dyche said in 2018, “I’m well thought of by the board and by the fans, but it changes.

"Eventually my rhetoric will get boring, what we go on about will get boring, and the model of the club will get boring.”

For some fans, his rhetoric had become derided by a number.

A lack of backing, until too late, saw the style of football become a tough watch for many.

And it remains to be seen what the model of the club looks like, especially if Burnley are relegated.

But Dyche's legacy should remain, even if the Clarets fail to avoid the drop.

Garlick said he was Burnley's best manager since the great Harry Potts: “Harry Potts won the ultimate prize, but given the amount of money in the game, and what we’ve achieved so far, he (Dyche)’s got to be in the top two or three, hasn’t he? Certainly in the post-war era.”

He leaves with a £10.6m state of the art training facility, that now houses a Category One Academy, on top of those two promotions, including a Championship title, a return to European football no-one dreamed possible, having spent seven of the last eight seasons in the Premier League.

His mantra of "Legs, Hearts and Minds" adorns the walls at Gawthorpe, the culture he created from day one the glue that binded everything together.

Will the whole thing stick as well as it has without Dyche?