Mike Garlick urges Burnley fans to be patient

Garlick feels the Clarets have a solid platform from which to move forward on the pitch, after Sean Dyche steered Burnley to an 11th-place finish.

While the Clarets lacked the attacking flair seen earlier in the season, Dyche made the side more miserly at the back.

Garlick, however, accepts the manager requires time to turn the side into contenders: “If you look at the record since Sean came on board, defensively, it’s improved massively.

“You always start from the back when you build a team, and work your way through trying to strengthen other areas. Good things take time to build. He has got to be here for quite a while in order to do that. You’ve got to be patient and work with him and try to give him the best opportunities we can.

“It’s no just about signing players but about moulding and buildings team. It’s about building a culture and a belief.

“It doesn’t always happen straight away. It improves over time, little by little.”

And he hopes to push on from 11th next season: “We said at the start of the season we wanted to improve on last season, and we have.

“Next year we want to try to better that, but we’ll probably have to have a stronger team - overall we need to strengthen.”

• The Burnley Express has launched a FREE football app which is now available to download on iPhone and Android devices.