New Burnley FC boss wants ‘evolution, not revolution’

The 41-year-old was confirmed as Eddie Howe’s successor on Tuesday afternoon - after taking charge of his first training session at Gawthorpe that morning.

The former Watford manager drove back down south on Wednesday before returning yesterday for training, and an afternoon unveiling to the press.

And after witnessing his new charges go down 4-0 at Championship leaders Cardiff City on Saturday, he knows he has his work cut out to shore up the leakiest defence in the division.

But he is also excited at the prospect of working with the Championship’s top-scoring team, and the country’s most prolific marksman in Charlie Austin.

Dyche, who led Watford to 11th place in the division last season - two places higher than Burnley - said: “We want to stamp our own authority on things and give the players food for thought, but not change radically.

“This is a club in some kind of transition after a spell in the Premier League, but it is clearly a club that wants to build and move forward and I desperately want to be a part of that and make sure that we do that.”

Dyche was interviewed last week by Championship rivals Crystal Palace, but was offered the job at Turf Moor towards the weekend, before the paperwork was completed earlier this week.

And he explained: “It didn’t take me any time at all to accept the role, despite popular misconceptions.

“I wasn’t at home having the weekend to think about it.

“I decided instantly and we got on with things as quickly as we could, but things still need to be put into place contractually.

“I was at Cardiff on Saturday to have a look at that and it was finally great to get out with the players on Tuesday.

“It feels fantastic to be invited to be the manager of a great club.”

Dyche was a commanding centre back who started his career at Nottingham Forest under Brian Clough, before enjoying spells with Chesterfield, Bristol City, Millwall, Watford and Northampton Town.

And after returning to Watford as youth team coach in 2007, he worked briefly under Brendan Rodgers at Vicarage Road before being promoted to assistant manager under Malky Mackay in 2009.

He succeeded Mackay as manager in 2011, after the Scot’s departure to Cardiff, turning down the opportunity to join him in the Welsh capital.

Dyche steered Watford to safety in upper mid-table last term, before being harshly cast aside by new owners the Pozzo family, who installed Gianfranco Zola as their new boss in July.

He has recently spent time with the England Under 21 set-up, under former Forest teammate Stuart Pearce.

And Dyche is eager to get back to what he loves doing - getting on the training ground.

He faces the quandary of maintaining Burnley’s attacking prowess, while keeping them out at the other end, and he said: “We love the way the team attacks and we will definitely be using that to our advantage.

“But it’s fair to say I think it needs shoring up a bit and the framework the team uses needs tightening slightly, so we will be looking to effect that and hopefully continue to score a lot of goals.

“That’s the aim.”