'I was frustrated': Scott Parker makes frank Burnley admission about early season criticism

Now promotion to the Premier League has been achieved, Parker has been able to reflect on the ups and downs of Burnley’s remarkable campaign.

While the Clarets have remained stunningly consistent for the entirety of the campaign, losing just twice all season, they did hit a sticky patch around October time.

At one stage, Burnley drew five of eight games, scoring just four times. It resulted in some criticism of Parker’s methods, given his prior reputation for conservative, handbrake-on football.

Those dissenting voices have since disappeared, with Burnley steadily improving as the season wears on. So much so, if the Clarets win both of their remaining games they will finish the season on 100 points.

Reflecting on Burnley’s journey this season, Parker said: “I came here with, first and foremost, looking at a group of players on a bit of paper. I didn't know their characters.

“But I looked at a group of players and a squad list on a bit of paper and I believed that we could get promoted. That was the sole aim.

“The story, what's been created, there has been a journey and it's a perfect story, really.

Because to get to this point, there's always blips and there's ups and downs and there's times when there was frustration. The fanbase was frustrated. I was frustrated. The players were frustrated at the start of the season.

“Attacking-wise, we weren’t great and we needed to improve that. But I think it's an incredible story for me to tell this group that that is everything. Because there is no smooth road in what we do, and what anyone does. There are always blips. It's how you come out of the other side of that, how you react to that every single time.

“That's why I'm so proud of this group and that's probably why at times I'm emotional about this group. Because I've seen them, I've lived with them. I see them every single day. I see the moments when we were all down, or certainly searching for things.

“But constantly, their reaction has always been eyes and ears and looking to try and engage and work out how we can improve while the heat was coming on and then outside noises were coming.

“Certainly in the world we live in now, they're even more so. These players are living every day on their mobile phones and they can see things that probably have an influence.

“But they were rock solid as they came out the other side of it.”

Parker’s tenure got off to a rocky start towards the back end of the summer transfer window, when a number of key first-team players signalled their desire to leave. It resulted in a huge squad turnover, with 17 players arriving and a further 21 leaving.

Things came to an ugly head at Sunderland away, when Parker vented his frustration about the situation after suffering a 1-0 defeat at the Stadium of Light.

When asked if he could have imagined how Burnley’s season would have turned out, Parker commented: “I always imagined it. I always had belief.

“But, yes, for sure, there were some tough times. Players leaving, players didn't want to be here, exiting the door 12 hours or not wanting to be at the football club 12 hours before a game.

“These were the scenarios that we were going through and we needed to react quickly to that.

“Players coming in, wholesale changes. We needed to unite a group of men together, which was our sole mission this year, to do what we've done.

“To do that, there was a lot of hard work. There was some adversity. There were some bumps.

“There was some criticism too, but it's all part of the journey, and that criticism probably brought us stronger together. It was probably a blessing, to be quite honest with you, looking back, and it's got us to this point.”