Dyche: We may have to break the bank

[CnBtruntru]

If we buy 3 players at £20 million a piece and pay them £50000 a week for 4 years that's an extra £31.2 million = £91.2 million, so anyone who is already on 50000 a week is already costing the club 2.6 million a season and imagine if they are injured for 12 months that's dead money like paying rent, I can understand where Dyche and Garlick are coming from when scouting New talent and not just throwing the cheque book at agents and saying fill it in.

[Wile E Coyote]

If we buy 3 players at £20 million a piece and pay them £50000 a week for 4 years that's an extra £31.2 million = £91.2 million, so anyone who is already on 50000 a week is already costing the club 2.6 million a season and imagine if they are injured for 12 months that's dead money like paying rent, I can understand where Dyche and Garlick are coming from when scouting New talent and not just throwing the cheque book at agents and saying fill it in.

fair point, but unfortunately the alternative could be relegation, we now play premier league football, and it is not a place for paupers.

[kentonclaret]

That is why almost every other club in the PL has secured outside investment exactly because it is becoming almost to run a PL team without resource to additional funding. It is almost impossible to run a club just solely reliant on the Sky money and expect to compete in today's transfer market. As Burnley have discovered.

I think it must be at least 5 seasons ago that the club started hinting and talking about setting up a foreign scouting network but that seems to have borne little fruit thus far.

[Wile E Coyote]

modern football is awash with money, its often a grubby place, full of scummy betting companies and hideous sponsorship deals.
Agents are parasites, foreign investment is commonplace too.
Maybe its true, Burnley have outgrown their own board.

[ClaretAL]

After reading the well deserved Lowton contract extension with better terms a lot earlier than it would usually be taking in to account how long he had left to go on his current contract, made me think this could be the start of harmonizing the players wages to the next level and hopefully be more attractive on the recruitment front.

[randomclaret2]

Excuse after excuse on this thread.

[Wile E Coyote]

go on then randomclaret2, what do you want to see happen ?

[summitclaret]

I agree that keeping within a wage structure remains important for team spirit etc. We also need to bring 4 new players. At least a nr 10 and a cb need to be good enough to start every week unless Ben signs an extension. If we can't get those players within our wage structure then we are going to have to make a choice between risking upsetting team spirit and upping existing players wages. To do nothing would be mental.

[Steddyman]

It's frankly mental that we're into a Europa campaign, on the back of a 7th finish in the premier league, that we haven't improved or at least added to the squad. People on here point to the fact that we finished 7th as a reason not to be worried or to strengthen. The fact is, it's the very best opportunity we had to improve our first eleven while strengthening the squad overall. I think some people don't appreciate the minor miracle dyche performed getting that team, based on ability, within reach of arsenal.
Wherever the fault lies, it's not good enough. I'd be absolutely delighted to be proved wrong by the end of the window, but as it stands Sean Dyche has an absolute mountain to climb. I read on the BBC today that by the time we play man united at home in the premier league, we might have played 6 Thursdays in the Europa, in a row. How is he supposed to compete, given our main strength is not giving anything away and being robust.
It's a shambles.

This is exactly why I am getting frustrated by the window. As soon as we qualified for Europe I was overjoyed because as I explained to my daughter it meant three things:

1. We would be able to attract a higher quality of player
2. We would need to add depth to the team to compete
3. We would be getting our business done early rather than leaving it to the last day like previous seasons.

The fact we have done none of these things suggests to me the limit of our ambitions has stayed the same, staying in the league.

Don't get me wrong, I do not want to see the back of Sean or Mike as some on here are suggesting. Sean is unequalled at getting the best out of players and I do not believe many in our squad are top half Premier League players without him. Mike has been an astute business man at the helm and I appreciate him being there.

I just want to see more ambition in the transfer market. Two of the three promoted teams have significant financial backing and have strengthened a lot more than most promoted teams have done in the past. I do not think Wolves or Fulham will be in a relegation fight. If we get a few more injuries to the ones we already have I think we will be lucky to survive.

[quoonbeatz]

This is exactly why I am getting frustrated by the window. As soon as we qualified for Europe I was overjoyed because as I explained to my daughter it meant three things:

1. We would be able to attract a higher quality of player
2. We would need to add depth to the team to compete
3. We would be getting our business done early rather than leaving it to the last day like previous seasons.

that's seriously why you were overjoyed?

have to say i'm more into football than transfer windows, myself.

[Steddyman]

that's seriously why you were overjoyed?

have to say i'm more into football than transfer windows, myself.

No, it's not because the transfer window would be more exciting.

It is because the football would be better with a higher quality of player at the club.

[Tall Paul]

No, it's not because the transfer window would be more exciting.

It is because the football would be better with a higher quality of player at the club.

How come you barely post anything about football and loads about transfers?

[Blackrod]

We need 3 players. That's one every 2 business days ( plus the weekend just for Taul Paul)

[quoonbeatz]

No, it's not because the transfer window would be more exciting.

It is because the football would be better with a higher quality of player at the club.

why not say just that then rather explaining to your daughter that you were overjoyed because we'd need to add depth and we'd sign players earlier.

[Hipper]

It is almost impossible to run a club just solely reliant on the Sky money and expect to compete in today's transfer market. As Burnley have discovered.

In actual fact, Burnley have, so far, discovered they can run the club in the Premier League in those circumstances. And pretty well too judging by last season.

The fact we have done none of these things suggests to me the limit of our ambitions has stayed the same, staying in the league.

It is of course not the limit of our ambitions, but it is the main ambition of all but six clubs in the division.

[mkmel]

We need 3 players. That's one every 2 business days ( plus the weekend just for Taul Paul)

I would say we need up to 4 or possibly 5 new players but think we will sign just 2 or 3

And we have 8 days left to get them including today and not Sunday

[CombatClaret]

3. We would be getting our business done early rather than leaving it to the last day like previous seasons.

We are not in the position to get deals done early, it's well known we are one weakest teams financially so if we come knocking you'd be mad as a club or agent not to wait and see what another team might offer. Thus we have to go to the wire every season, until we have some mega rich backer who will throw large sums around that's not going to change so stop expecting it to.

[JTClaret]

I still think we only NEEDED 2 players.
An attacking midfielder/forward with a bit of flair, pace and class and a defender capable of competing with Mee and Tarks.
Jay Rod and Dawson would have been fine for this, plus maybe finally going into the European leagues for a more attacking midfield type.

I'd have been happy with that

[Steddyman]

How come you barely post anything about football and loads about transfers?

Because I'm too busy watching the football during the season to bother about commenting on here all the time.

[Tall Paul]

Because I'm too busy watching the football during the season to bother about commenting on here all the time.

How do you manage to do both in January?

[randomclaret2]

I want to see players brought in to strengthen the squad...
I assume we all do.

[Murger]

A quote from Dyche

“never ending story, broken record - club has to balance books, limits pool you’re looking in, numbers are enormous. Into a few situations” couple of deals pending but no guarantees'

Balance the books? Jesus wept.

[LoveCurryPies]

I still think it is goal scorers that we need the most so I would try complete the deal for Jay Rod this week (£20-25million) and then see who else we could bring in the final days. But at least get one deal done.

[claretcarrot93]

To balance the books we need to spend. Hefty side on the cash side

[summitclaret]

Why is our manager talking about balancing the books when we are about to announce a profit around 50% of our annual sky income? Something is not right at turf
Moor. Are the board thinking of selling the club? If we don't get what sean wants this window i wonder he will be more open to moving next time there is interest? His cv may be at a peak right now.

[ksrclaret]

We ain't getting anyone - we've got a list of targets as long as one of the hairs on Dyche's noggin and are making noises about balancing the books when we've received the biggest income in our history and made a huge profit last season.

Hey, at least we'll save on the leccy bill on deadline day at Gawthorpe though. Hopefully that'll ease some of the money worries down at the Turf.

[Cleveleys_claret]

As cheesed of as I was late last week because of lack of signings I still thought in the back of my head, they will prove me wrong. After reading his latest interview about balancing books I am absolutely disgusted at our club. This is ridiculous the money which is pouring into our coffers.

Also for those saying it takes time how come we have a keeper lined up to come in as long as uefa give us special dispensation. We have had less than a week to sort that but we have managed it. Seems the board are happy for us to operate with as few players as possible always one injury in a position away from a crisis as shown in recent years with lack of midfield cover and then the last 12 months with lack of centre half cover

[JohnMac]

What a silly post.

Look up Irony.

[summitclaret]

Cleveleys. Even our crap approach to risk management tells the board that we must have proper cover in the nets. You can't really play any old full back in goal but apparently they are all pl standard at cb.

[Cleveleys_claret]

Cleveleys. Even our crap approach to risk management tells the board that we must have proper cover in the nets. You can't really play any old full back in goal but apparently they are all pl standard at cb.

Understand that but we are constantly told that deals take weeks if not months to sort out but when things are desperate we can do it in less than a week. Seems a bit strange that to me

[LaLigaClaret]

It has been a phenomenal time at Burnley during this decade the likes of which I suspect many of us fans would never have believed possible. For that we must be eternally grateful to everyone concerned with the club, all the current players and those past, all the staff, the Board and the supporters. Sean Dyche has been immense and even though some won't agree credit also has to go to previous managers back to Steve Cotterill, Eddie Howe and Owen Coyle as they played a part in some way in shaping the future of the club.

This however does not mean that criticism cannot be made of the club. I was prepared to give the club the benefit of the doubt about this transfer window especially as Sean Dyche has managed to pull rabbits out of the hat several times before and found some real gems but frankly this window is a complete disaster to date. I sincerely hope he can work his magic again and there is still a few days left to make it a success, but truthfully the signs are really ominous.


The club has more money and in better financial shape than it has ever been. There should be plenty of money available to have strengthened the squad especially as Sean Dyche said he wanted to make further progress in establishing the club as a recognised PL team that was not expected to face relegation. With European football and a 7th place finish it should have been easier to attract players to the squad. He himself said he wanted to get deals done early ahead of the Europa League.


Frankly we have been linked to such a miniscule list of players it has been really worrying and disappointing. Bryan of Bristol City was linked very early but nothing has come of that at all. We then had the Dawson and Jay-Rod saga with WBA who frankly have treated us disgracefully over transfer targets previously so we should have learnt our lesson. The Mawson saga now looks to be farcial as he went for £15m and it is astonishing that we dithered and faffed about for weeks when clearly it wasn't going to happen. To allow Fulham to come in and grab him without us upping an offer smacks of naivety beyond belief. The Clucus deal also shows a lack of decisiveness and shows we are just to timid in landing deals quickly.

The only other links were with a few foreign players on various news sites ALL of which were refuted by either the club or sources close to it. Nothing else has been speculated at all except Crouch in the last couple of days but even this has been rubbished.

The worry over trying to buy Dawson and Mawson is it suggests that Mee is either on his way or will be running down his contract and we will then get nothing. I can't see Burnley buying Dawson or Mawson just as cover it doesn't make sense. This has to now be a major concern.

FFS we still haven't replaced Keane yet ! We still need a winger, our strikers lack enough goals and what a disaster it would be if Wood got a major injury. We haven't increased the squad size to cover for our Europa League. We still have a number of players coming back from injury with no guarantee they will be as good as before. We are a couple of injuries away from disaster and our cover is not good enough or sufficient in size to cope with the demands placed upon them. We have Pope out long term and Defour no matter how good he is is injury prone. Tiredness, loss of form, suspension and injury lurk around the corner and this will cause us untold problems.

I am hoping and praying we manage to bring in some quality signings this window but we have a Europa tie this week and possibly another next week right on top of the window closing. We don't have much time and the lack of bids being made or expressions of interest or links to players says it all really. Where is plan B ?

Now we are hearing that funds may be tight which is ridiculous. I know the market gets more expensive each year, Richarlison and the valuations of Maguire prove that values are sometimes a complete joke but there was and is value to be had. We could have got Flint at CH for £7m for instance.

Sometimes it great to stick to your principles but sometimes if you need food to eat but you think salmon and steak are overpriced you need to buy maceral and beefburgers because if you don't eat something there are consequences. We need to get on with it and stop being so timid. It is sickening to see all the teams who struggled last year buy lots of players and often not at ridiculous prices, even all the promoted clubs have bought lots of players. We surely have the cash, so lets spend some of it. We simply cannot get no-one in that would be pathetic.

I am afraid the Dyche story of clubs reneging on gentleman's agreements sounded rather lame, and his point about deals taking ages is simply untrue. Clubs are making bids and concluding them in a couple of days all the time, just not Burnley. Mind you what is the betting if someone makes a bid on Mee we take the first offer made, probably at less valuation than comparable players and we will conclude it in a couple of days.

Just get on with it.

[Long Time Lurker]

I think one or two people on here are looking at the sparse commentary coming from Sean and leaping to the wrong conclusions. In my eyes what he is saying is perfectly clear and reasonable.

When he says that we have to balance the books it is in reference to a timescale greater than the current year. Taking that into account necessitates a lot of forward planning in respect to a large number of unknown elements. Things that might or might not happen.

Just because we have money available it doesn't mean we can spend it freely without a care or a thought for our future.

I think it is generally accepted that no team outside of the top six is safe from relegation. We have a strong team, but we aren't immune to that possibility. So we could decide to spend all of our profit on players in this window to address the shortfall of incomings and then have nothing left in the bank.

If the worst should happen, and we find ourselves back in the Championship at some point, it will be a lot easier for us to mount a return bid if we have healthy cash reserves. Without such reserves we would have to do it on revenue from player sales and the limited parachute payments.

A lot of other teams have found out the hard way that those two income streams aren't always enough. Especially when a rapid return to the top tier isn't guaranteed.

We could also have plans in place for infrastructure developments within a given window. If we have a plan to extend, rebuild or replace the stadium within a certain timeframe it would be prudent for us to start putting some money aside to cover that future cost. We can't simply get five years down the line and magic the money from nothing.

It's called budgeting, taking into account what we need today and what we might need tomorrow. I understand that responsible budgeting is an alien concept to a lot of people these days. We seem to live in a word of "got it spend it" and "haven't got it borrow it and spend it", but thankfully not all of us think that way. Some of us still believe in prudent financial planning that incorporates an element of future security in response to eventualities that can't be predicted with certainty.

And that means balancing the books to ensure long term sustainability from a financial stand point.

Here is an article about teaching your kids the value of money and budgeting which might be useful.

https://www.independent.co.uk/money/spe ... 89381.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Silkyskills1]

I still think it is goal scorers that we need the most so I would try complete the deal for Jay Rod this week (£20-25million) and then see who else we could bring in the final days. But at least get one deal done.

As much as it seems Jay Rod would be a popular acquisition I fail to see how he can be viewed as a goalscorer. Don't know his stats off hand but I suspect they are not indicating prolific or anywhere near it.

[LaLigaClaret]

Budgets yes of course but we have a transfer budget this year of which precisely NOTHING has been spent.

[Vegas Claret]

If the worst should happen, and we find ourselves back in the Championship at some point, it will be a lot easier for us to mount a return bid if we have healthy cash reserves. Without such reserves we would have to do it on revenue from player sales and the limited parachute payments.

agree with most of what you said but for the above - if the board aren't prepared to back Dyche in the PL why would you think they would back another manager in the Championship ? (Dyche would leave, a new manager would come in with new ideas and probably want to replace a quarter of the team)

[Long Time Lurker]

As much as it seems Jay Rod would be a popular acquisition I fail to see how he can be viewed as a goalscorer. Don't know his stats off hand but I suspect they are not indicating prolific or anywhere near it.

From June 23rd / Post #34 - ARTICLE: Clarets make move for West Brom pair

The same position he plays in now, with Jay as a substitute.

Playing stats don't give a complete picture of things, but they can serve as an indication about what we can expect.

It can take time for players to get used to playing alongside each other. During the last season we saw a productive partnership develop between Wood and Barnes. They improved over the course of the season and by the end of it they were playing well off each other with a good level of understanding.

In the first thirteen games Wood scored 3 in 11 and Barnes scored 1 in 12.

The next thirteen games saw Wood, who missed 7 matches through injury score 1 in 6, while Barnes notched up 2 in 13.

In the final twelve games of the season Wood slotted home 6 in 9 and Barnes scored 6 in 12.

Looking at the figures, and they don't take everything into account like the free kicks Barnes wins for us and his ability to get under the skin of the opposition, the scoring rate of both players improved dramatically as the season progressed and they became more comfortable playing alongside each other.

If we look at the scoring career of Jay he had a purple patch in the 13/14 season scoring 15 goals in 33 games, before a cruel injury brought it to an end. An interesting observation is that he scored 13 of these goals in 27 appearances on the left wing. The remaining 2 goals came from 5 appearances as a centre forward.

Over the full course of his Premier League career he has scored 18 out of 56 on the Left Wing, 10 out of 42 as a Centre Forward, 5 out of 23 as a Secondary Striker and 0 out of 12 on the Right Wing.

Looking at these stats in isolation, they would appear to suggest that we should be looking at playing Jay on the Left Wing if we want him to score goals. His 1 in 4 goal scoring record as a Centre Forward and Secondary Striker aren't overly impressive at all.

However, we can also look at his scoring stats from the perspective of before his cruciate ligament injury and after it, although he has also had a nasty angle injury as well.

Prior to the injury Jay's stats were

LW - 17 goals in 42 matches with 8 assists
CF - 3 goals in 14 matches with 1 assist
SS - 1 goal in 7 matches with 0 assists

His stats after the injury are

LW - 1 goal in 14 matches with 1 assist
CF - 7 goals in 26 matches with 2 assists
SS - 4 goals in 16 matches with 0 assists

Taking all of these figures into account Jay had all the makings of being a devastating Left Winger before his injury, but this element of his game seems to have diminished in recent years.

Playing more games in the Centre Forward and Secondary Striker roles has seen his performances in these positions improve, but with his current 1 in 4 goal scoring ratio and few assists there is nothing to suggest that he will be a significant overall improvement on Barnes.

That certainly doesn't mean he won't turn out to be, just that his current performance figures don't give a resounding indication that he will be. For what could easily become a record club signing fee I would expect a greater registered performance gap or a greater potential for improvement in terms of playing performance and resale value.

So I would say that Jay is definitely a quality player with a wealth of Premiership experience who will increase our striking depth from 5 players to 6, but I would be very reluctant to replace Barnes and break up a striking partnership that his currently working extremely well

When you look at some of the other players that are up for grabs in this window, and the prospect of WBA holding out for an extortionate amount and taking us into the dying days of it, I still think it might be a good idea to start looking elsewhere.

[bfcjg]

're breaking the bank; perhaps we get Cersei to talk to them ?
https://youtu.be/pXJcoX0-6b0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[starting_11]

I think the market has changed to reflect increased price money. Our £160m payday isn't going to have much more umph than our £60m payday back in 09 I'd say.

We're always going to have the same problem, especially as those at the top have billions to spend, it's making average players like Dawson and Rodriguez coming in at £20m each??

We need to find some quality from the lower leagues as per but that's not always going to work out. Likewise I don't want us paying £100k a week to someone whos past it because that's what he's been earning at the peak of his career with someone else.

[Steddyman]

The closer we get to deadline day without major signings, the less and less likely Happy Clappers will be able to build a team of 11.

[kentonclaret]

If Burnley are going to compete in this league ROB the bank may be a better idea.

[Firthy]

Looking at our signings so far I think our bank is already broken

[dermotdermot]

Come on Sean. Shake a leg.

[mkmel]

I think the market has changed to reflect increased price money. Our £160m payday isn't going to have much more umph than our £60m payday back in 09 I'd say.

We're always going to have the same problem, especially as those at the top have billions to spend, it's making average players like Dawson and Rodriguez coming in at £20m each??

We need to find some quality from the lower leagues as per but that's not always going to work out. Likewise I don't want us paying £100k a week to someone whos past it because that's what he's been earning at the peak of his career with someone else.

£160M?

Didn't we get something like £115M last season for finishing 7th and about £100M the previous season?

With a minimum of £100M at the end of this season

Mind boggling sums of money

[randomclaret2]

In excess of £80 million profit over the last 2 seasons

[TVC15]

As much as it seems Jay Rod would be a popular acquisition I fail to see how he can be viewed as a goalscorer. Don't know his stats off hand but I suspect they are not indicating prolific or anywhere near it.

A prolific goal scorer with proven Premier League experience would surely cost a minimum of £50m now and command minimum £100k a week.

Our market is 10 to 12 goals a season strikers - so Jay fits into that category.

It might be a cliche but outside top 6 clubs the goal remains 40 points and survival. Anything else for a club like Burnley is a bonus. The likes of West Ham and Everton will spend many millions more than us and probably still fail to achieve what we did last year.

[Murger]

At least we have new cooperate facilities.

[Reecey1987]

I wonder what the chairman comes out with when he does his interview after the window closes

[Murger]

I wonder what the chairman comes out with when he does his interview after the window closes

There's always January.

[fidelcastro]

There's always January.

And regardless of who arrives before the deadline, the same people will still be getting their knickers in a knot come January.

[starting_11]

£160M?

Didn't we get something like £115M last season for finishing 7th and about £100M the previous season?

With a minimum of £100M at the end of this season

Mind boggling sums of money

I heard that's what Villa "missed out" on so I presume it to be the average figure.

Or do you get a wedge of money for promotion on top? I can't remember.