Scott Parker press conference: Burnley boss on managerial pressure and relegation woes

After a rare Saturday without a game last week, the Clarets resume their league struggles with a home clash against Bournemouth on Saturday.

Without a league win at Turf Moor since October, Parker’s side find themselves staring down the barrel of Premier League relegation after winning just one of their last 20 fixtures.

A flat, well below-par display at Everton last time out prompted fresh criticism from supporters, with Burnley now nine points adrift of safety with only nine games remaining.

Parker discussed that pressure, while also discussing where it’s gone wrong for his team this season, their lack of consistency and how he understands fans’ frustration.

Here’s what he had to say:

Dealing with pressure

“I hold accountability first and foremost and I understand that. There's some accountability that I take full responsibility for.

“There's other accountability that I don't see solely me and I try and rationalise that in my head, really.

“One of my main values is the learning and the growth of players and as teams. There's one constant here.

“While, of course, there's loads of elements where we've not won enough games this year and we've fallen short and we've not been good enough in certain moments, there's other things that you try and hold onto massively.

“Those things you hold onto are things that are developing human beings, young players, developing them to make them better players and make them better for this experience and developing teams as well.

“So, in real short-sightedness, you can see that, you know what, this year may be a failure or it has been a failure to this point and that's true.

“That's very true because, of course, we wouldn't want to be in this situation that we're currently in and we wanted to have won more games than we've not.

“But the bigger picture is always for me and the bigger picture, longer term, is what do you hold onto as some core, core values and then core values are exactly that.

“A young group of men at this present moment in time, which my job and my duty is, as well as to win games to protect myself, of course, in this world that we live in, is also I have a responsibility to these young men.

“They're starting off, some of them in their career, going through different phases of their career that I need to help and support them.

“Now, if that means that I have to be sacrificed for that or if I fail along that way, then that's fine. As long as I do what I believe is right at this moment in time, is make these people better and make this team better for the long run, really.

“Grit, resilience, again, another core value of mine that will put us in good stead and like I said, we had success last year and at this present moment in time, that's not been the case.

“But for sure, we'll be learning from this and there'll be growth from this and you'll see a better team, you'll see better individuals.

“While in the short term, that's probably doesn’t come with success. But just because you're not always successful doesn't mean you can't be successful. That success will come, absolutely, no doubt.

“The reason that will come is because there are values here and there are core values here and there's a culture here that lies deep, deep rooted. And for that, I know that we'll be okay. “Like I said, I reiterate, okay, there's some bumps and like I said, that success may not be at the weekend, it may not be two weeks' time, it may not be at the end of the season.

“But what I do know is, is the culture here, the environment we set here and how we go about things is one that we'll be stronger for.

“I'm very comfortable in saying that. I'm not scared of saying that. I understand the backlash that may come from that. I understand the way that people may perceive what I'm saying.

“But like I said, I've been involved in football a long, long time, a long, long time and success at times is very few and far between and there's many more jabs you get along the way. It's how you react to them.

“Fundamentally, it's what you create at your football club culturally and your values will get you through that.”

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Are those core values enough though?

“Well, of course it's not enough. No, of course it isn't.

“We spend every single minute, staff, players, me included, every single minute of every day that ticks by wanting to get a result. But like I said, sometimes there's many, many variables.

“If I was to ask you now, why is it we didn't get a result against Liverpool? Why is it we didn't get a result against whoever...there'll be loads of different things we can come up with: the lack of quality, we didn't put our chances away, the physicality of the other team or what they've spent and what we've spent, loads and loads of different things.

“But there's something that you have to hold onto or there's something you have to create and you have to develop.

“So while of course the challenge at this moment in time is, can we be competitive in certain moments where we've let ourselves short?

“We've been hugely competitive in certain moments and then at other times we've just fallen off.

“Now, what are the reasons for that? Is that this division, at this moment in time, with such a young squad, to maintain the level of what you need to bring to every single game, is that just a little bit too much for us at this present moment in time?

“Because as quickly as I say that, you'd say to me: ‘yeah, but we have been competitive’. We've just come out the back of three games only a month ago. We've been hugely competitive for 45 minutes against Brentford, where we scored five goals in the Premier League.

“Why is it we can't consistently do that? And I understand those questions. I totally, totally get the and they're the constant questions you're asking yourself and that's the constant questions I'm asking myself. My job is to try and fix that as quick as I can.”

Lack of consistency

“That's the key word: consistency.

“I fall back onto what I said. There's something, what I know, we can be consistent in and what we can be consistent in is what we stand for, how we react to certain things, how we react to adversity, what are we as a group.

“No matter if we're successful with 100 points, only conceding 16 goals and getting promoted out of the championship, coming into this division and we're not successful, you need to fall back constantly on something and what you need to fall back on is exactly what you know is in your control.

“There isn’t that consistency, the word consistency in that is not there. That is just a bog standard. This is what we are, this is who we are, and this is how we go about things.

“Now, the level of consistency in-game for us is definitely something we need to address or certainly need to work out: why is that? Why is it that sometimes we start slow in certain games and before you know it we're 2-0 down? And then after 2-0 down against Newcastle, we come into the game, we dominate.

“What is that? Is that a psychological element? Is it the atmosphere in the stadium? Is it the quality of what we're up against at the start of the match, that both teams are fresh? What is that? These are constant questions that we're constantly trying to probe and trying to work out and that's a journey and that is a journey and it's a frustrating one.

“Trust me, it's a frustrating one. It's a frustrating one for me, it's a frustrating one for the players probably. But like I said, we keep working it out and we keep trying to work it out and we try and get there.”

Fans voicing their frustration

“Look, I understand, I totally understand the fanbase is like all of us.

“I'm answering a question back at you here of a guy that is hugely emotional in certain moments and the fans are hugely emotional. They pay their hard-earned money to come and they react on emotion and I totally get that.

“That's what makes a fanbase incredible. That's what makes a stadium incredible. On the flipside, it can obviously have a detrimental effect.

“Regarding the Brentford game [Burnley’s last home game], it was a game at half-time where that emotion was pretty raw and the environment was pretty hostile.

“The second half was something totally different and we made, I think I referenced it after that, I think we helped with that and that helped the team which was hugely powerful.

“We're going to need every bit of them and I've said that throughout the start of this season really.

“I get when we go to Everton and put in a performance like we do, I'll be the first to accept anything that comes back at us and that's come back tenfold. You're involved in that and while I don't take much notice, I can only imagine what that is and I totally understand it.

“We go to Everton after a brilliant performance against Brentford and literally we don't show up. We do not show up and it goes back to the answer I was trying to give before, these are the question marks at this moment.

“Again, what is it? Was it the emotion of the Brentford game? Did it just take everything out of the disappointment of being so close to winning the game 4-3 to then equalise in the last kick of the game and that be taken away? I don't know.

“I don't know what that is, but for sure these are the frustrations at the moment. I get the frustrations of a fanbase that have travelled to Everton after such a brilliant performance against Brentford for 45 minutes where they'll be standing there thinking: ‘what the hell was going on here?’. I totally get that and we're all in that and we're trying to fix that.”

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