Tarkowski interview

[ClaretEngineer]

No issue really with that. Its only the same as any other employee in any other business.

In order to further his career he needs to aspire to bigger things at clubs that have the infrastructure to allow him to achieve his goals.

He's recognised that the Burnley ship, at the present time with current goings on, has sailed as far as it can go.

Would you want to stay in a team that is often tipped to just tread water and just make up numbers?

So long as he keeps turning up for us until the end of his contract that all that should matter.

[DomBFC1882]

I don't blame him at all. He deserves to play with better players and we are a shambles in the transfer market so he can hardly genuinely believe that will change anytime soon. He wants to play for England. Good on the lad

[Eyres_11]

zero chance we are getting £30m now. A combination of southgate not picking him and this article will see to that. Convinced the FA have told GS not to bother picking him - therefore him leaving meaning we are relegated and the Premier League get one of their darlings back to go with Leeds.

[Murger]

I doubt anyone signed it off.

I can't see him doing an interview without Dyche or the media manager giving the thumbs up first.

[JohnDearyMe]

In what way is an Executive Chairman - who is visible at every game and we are told is active in the day to day running of the club - absentee

With respects to facilitating new signings

[ŽižkovClaret]

I find one person mostly to blame for this situation. He tends to wear a waistcoat and make increasingly baffling statements

[NewClaret]

None of these lads are Burnley fans. They are doing a job.

This is the key point - to us he’s talking about our club, to him it’s just his job.

By the time his contract expires he’ll have been here 6 years. Most people want a new challenge after six years and in football it’s half of your career.

Personally think he’s doing it to force a Jan move, aid contract negotiations or make a point to new owners if he knows something we don’t. There’ll be a reason. Can’t see a point in him saying it otherwise.

[Ric_C]

This bit got me

"We’ve had two transfer windows now where the club have decided, for whatever reason, that whatever has been offered on the table hasn’t been enough "

erm the reason is that no one offered the asking price mate. Which in turn means that the club value him highly, which he should take as a compliment.

[Grumps]

Should have kept his views private. It probably means we will have to accept less for him, thus losing the club a few million we can ill afford
I would discipline him for making confidential club business, public.

[jojomk1]

Get a grip. This is an employee of the club that is very very well paid openly slagging off the club to the national press. Good player Tarkowski but from all accounts has no morals. Did the same to Brentford when we tried to sign him.

Where has he actually "slagged off" the club

He says he has turned down two offers of contracts that did not match his expectations

“In terms of playing, nothing changes,” said Tarkowski. “My desire to want to be at my best for me and for the team never changes. I’ve got relationships at Burnley that I will want to keep for the rest of my life, so for me to just down tools and say, ‘this is it’, it wouldn’t be right and I wouldn’t want to. I want to perform for Burnley, they have given me a great opportunity to play in the Premier League, something which I’ve loved over the last four years.

“I’m not bitter about the last transfer window, what happened happened. I will never hold it against the club. That’s up to them, but the longer this goes on the more control I get of my own career which is what I want. I want to be able to decide where I am, where I’m going and who I’m playing for. That’s nothing against Burnley, but this is a short career and I’m not getting younger. I’m coming into my late 20s now and I want to experience as much as I can in the game before I retire.

Have I missed something ?

[MDWat]

Refreshingly honest. As long as he plays well for us whilst he’s contracted, I’ve got no problem with him.

[kentonclaret]

Ben Mee had spoken publicly during an interview with The Guardian at the end of last season of the need to bring in a few quality signings to freshen things up and strengthen the squad, and at the time of the interview he expected that to be happening. The captain and senior players will have been even more deflated than the fans at the lack of incomings. Can't blame Tarkowski for expressing his frustration, which I'm sure is felt by the manager and the rest of the squad.

An almost impossible task for SD to keep motivating the same group when some players are just looking at running down their contracts and heading for the Exit door.

Must be adding to Tark's frustrations the start that the Foxes have made, even more so if they go on to win the PL again.

[DCWat]

I’m pretty sure that most of us have expected exactly what Tarkowski has said in the article. I’m also pretty sure, after his performances for Burnley, that no one would begrudge him a move to a club more likely to challenge for honours, and increase his chances of gaining England caps.

A club like Burnley needs players that develop with us and whether we like it or not, use us as something of a stepping stone. We ideally profit by what they offer on the pitch and by making a profit on them.

Perhaps he didn’t need to say it in the press but he was anything but disrespectful in what he said. If he keeps performing and helps to keep us up, he can and should be able to leave with his head held high and with the full backing of fans.

[claretandy]

Ben Mee had spoken publicly during an interview with The Guardian at the end of last season of the need to bring in a few quality signings to freshen things up and strengthen the squad, and at the time of the interview he expected that to be happening. The captain and senior players will have been even more deflated than the fans at the lack of incomings. Can't blame Tarkowski for expressing his frustration, which I'm sure is felt by the manager and the rest of the squad.

An almost impossible task for SD to keep motivating the same group when some players are just looking at running down their contracts and heading for the Exit door.

Must be adding to Tark's frustrations the start that the Foxes have made, even more so if they go on to win the PL again.

Leicester were never seriously interested, Fofana was their number 1 target.

[Newcastleclaret93]

I just love the hypocrisy of this fan base. Ben Gibson moves on and the whole fan base slags him off. Tarky throwing the club under the bus to the national press and there are people defending him.

Let him in rot in the reserves in my opinion

[Jakubclaret]

This is the key point - to us he’s talking about our club, to him it’s just his job.

By the time his contract expires he’ll have been here 6 years. Most people want a new challenge after six years and in football it’s half of your career.

Personally think he’s doing it to force a Jan move, aid contract negotiations or make a point to new owners if he knows something we don’t. There’ll be a reason. Can’t see a point in him saying it otherwise.

Precisely, without a shadow he wants out sooner than later he's had enough, had West Ham or leicester made an offer acceptable to the club earlier on that toe would have miraculously healed, when you go on record it's the beginning of the end.

[KRBFC]

Finances aren’t in his thinking he just wants to take that next step and join a Champions League contender like West Ham.

So much for moving North to be closer to his poorly mother and family, I’d let him rot in the reserves for 18 months.

[DCWat]

Finances aren’t in his thinking he just wants to take that next step and join a Champions League contender like West Ham.

So much for moving North to be closer to his poorly mother and family, I’d let him rot in the reserves for 18 months.

Is his mother still poorly?

[ashtonlongsider]

I don't think the board can win either way with some supporters. From how I've read the article, the club appear to have tried hard to keep hold of one of our best players. For that they should be applauded. Investment works both ways, and the first priority is to keep hold of your existing assets.
As for the article. Must say I'm disappointed by the article and the timing. If thats his mindset, the sooner we get shut, the better. Just makes it more frustrating reading this type of stuff and not be able to voice our thoughts on the Turf.

[Claret]

So much for moving North to be closer to his poorly mother and family, I’d let him rot in the reserves for 18 months.

That’s a rotten thing to say

[Newcastleclaret93]

That’s a rotten thing to say

Its spot on what he is saying.

Tarks made this big song an dance about wanting to be up north for his mother. The second more money gets offered and a supposed better prospect he jumps ship down south.

Get him in the reserves

[Chester Perry]

With respects to facilitating new signings

you are talking about two different things - he wasn't absent from that decision making process
- he may have rejected spending funds he believed we didn't have spare,
- he may have been prepared to spend funds for players the manager had determined he wanted but could not get to the level required by the selling club (just like Leicester and West Ham for Tarks),
- he may have been prepared to spend funds for players but the manager couldn't present any suitable targets.
- he may have been prepared to buy new players on the proviso that a player was sold to raise funds (that could mean either the manager rejected the sale and/or the required price for such a sale was not met
- he may have even rejected the notion that we were in the position to buy additional players

What I am pretty sure of is that he was not absent from the process or even abstained from the process

[Claret]

Its spot on what he is saying.

Tarks made this big song an dance about wanting to be up north for his mother. The second more money gets offered and a supposed better prospect he jumps ship down south.

Get him in the reserves

Don’t start bringing his personal affairs and family into it. We just don’t know anything about his personal situation, although I believe his mum suffers from MS.

[claretonthecoast1882]

The "if I did this in my job I would be sacked" line of thinking is one higher in the stupid chart than the comparing a players wage to the wage of a nurse.

If someone contacted your place of work and said we will give you 35million for him, then your place of work would be kicking you out the door. Also while you are doing your job you are perfectly entitled to apply for another job with a rival if they pay a bit more.

The other puzzling bit is we have just had weeks of being told Garlick wouldn't spend any money as it might reduced the fee he would receive (its never been explained how they worked that out) while at the same time he was turning down bids to boost the coffers which using the same logic would mean a higher sale price.

[TVC15]

I don’t see how the interview has any bearing at all on the price we will receive for him.
He refused to sign 2 new contracts offered to him and as a club we decided that we did not want to sell him for the offers we received but in the knowledge that this was very likely to mean his value would reduce the closer he got to the end of his contract.
The other risk we took not selling him was that the value of players in general has also got a good chance of reducing in the future with the financial impact of Covid on clubs and also on things like forthcoming TV deals, sponsorship etc.

That was a decision taken by the club and presumably Dyche too.
Tarkowski has accepted that decision and done the right thing for himself in terms of getting his head down and playing football...as the rotting in the reserves approach or refusing to play has rarely worked out well for many footballers in the past. It doesn’t work for the club either when you have the quality of player of Tarks and the limited squad options Burnley have.

Whether he should have gone public in the press I’m not so sure. It’s not clear what he is trying to achieve or gain by doing this. We know that he does not have to go in the press to put other clubs on alert - his agent will have done that already several months ago. He could be trying to gain favour with the fans before he leaves to let them know his side of the story but I think he could have learnt from the likes of Michael Keane that Burnley fans know that when we have players as good as Tarks that eventually we will sell....so keep quiet about it and what will be will be.

[Dyched]

Finances aren’t in his thinking he just wants to take that next step and join a Champions League contender like West Ham.

So much for moving North to be closer to his poorly mother and family, I’d let him rot in the reserves for 18 months.

He made the decision to move back north about 5 years ago. Y’know things change, people lives change.

[Dyched]

Its spot on what he is saying.

Tarks made this big song an dance about wanting to be up north for his mother. The second more money gets offered and a supposed better prospect he jumps ship down south.

Get him in the reserves

He signed in February 2016 you big tart.

[Local cricketer]

Don't think Ben Mee is one of the freinds he made for life

[jojomk1]

Dyche made it very clear early on that he would not agree to Tarks being sold

He had already seen that scenario happen with Hendrick leaving and not being replaced. And I am beginning to think he also (in terms of the JT situation) realised major shortcomings in all aspects of player recruitment at the club gave him little or no confidence that a suitable replacement could be brought in

[TVC15]

Finances aren’t in his thinking he just wants to take that next step and join a Champions League contender like West Ham.

So much for moving North to be closer to his poorly mother and family, I’d let him rot in the reserves for 18 months.

Stupid thing to say.
Of courses finances will be in his mind.
Massive selling on fee for him and doubling his wages.
And he also gets the opportunity to play at a higher level too.

How would letting him rot in the reserves help our current predicament in the league ? Should we have done that with Keane, Ings, Gray, and all the other many players we have sold in the past ? They all wanted to leave just like Tarks did.
It’s football bad it’s what happens - we took advantage of his situation when we bought him from Brentford and every time we buy a player from the lower leagues we are doing the same thing.

[Dyched]

I don't think the board can win either way with some supporters. From how I've read the article, the club appear to have tried hard to keep hold of one of our best players. For that they should be applauded. Investment works both ways, and the first priority is to keep hold of your existing assets.
As for the article. Must say I'm disappointed by the article and the timing. If thats his mindset, the sooner we get shut, the better. Just makes it more frustrating reading this type of stuff and not be able to voice our thoughts on the Turf.

There’s nothing wrong with his mindset.

The funny thing is, we have threads after threads after threads about how the club is doing wrong in the transfer market etc. We should be doing this and that, buying young players improving them, selling them on. Then when that situation comes about we have a player with great ambitions to further himself in his chosen field and his attitude is then questioned, his loyalty questioned. People calling for him to be dropped etc etc. It’s ridiculous. We paid a fee, he made a decision to move back north in February 2016, signed a contract, signed another (I presume? In that time) has said he’ll see it out giving his all. What has he done wrong?

[Local cricketer]

zero chance we are getting £30m now. A combination of southgate not picking him and this article will see to that. Convinced the FA have told GS not to bother picking him - therefore him leaving meaning we are relegated and the Premier League get one of their darlings back to go with Leeds.

Let me guess? Are you a anti vaxxer to?

[Sproggy]

You can see it, I can see it, the manager can see it and the players can see it. Whilst the chairman has his hands superglued into his pockets and there remains no discernible strategy on player recruitment or retention the direction of travel is likely to be one way.

[claretonthecoast1882]

I just love the hypocrisy of this fan base. Ben Gibson moves on and the whole fan base slags him off. Tarky throwing the club under the bus to the national press and there are people defending him.

Let him in rot in the reserves in my opinion

He played every game last season with the same feelings about wanting a move, stop being a drama queen

[claretonthecoast1882]

There’s nothing wrong with his mindset.

The funny thing is, we have threads after threads after threads about how the club is doing wrong in the transfer market etc. We should be doing this and that, buying young players improving them, selling them on. Then when that situation comes about we have a player with great ambitions to further himself in his chosen field and his attitude is then questioned, his loyalty questioned. People calling for him to be dropped etc etc. It’s ridiculous. We paid a fee, he made a decision to move back north in February 2016, signed a contract, signed another (I presume? In that time) has said he’ll see it out giving his all. What has he done wrong?

Some have always been this way. You used to hear Dyche wasn't committed as he was on a 12 month rolling contract and was waiting for first chance to jump ship, he then signed a long term deal and he no longer was arsed about the job has he had the security of having a long term contract up if sacked.

I used to think Blackburn fans were weird with some of their whinging but some of ours knock them right out the park with their nonsense

[the_magic_rat]

Where has he actually "slagged off" the club

He says he has turned down two offers of contracts that did not match his expectations

“In terms of playing, nothing changes,” said Tarkowski. “My desire to want to be at my best for me and for the team never changes. I’ve got relationships at Burnley that I will want to keep for the rest of my life, so for me to just down tools and say, ‘this is it’, it wouldn’t be right and I wouldn’t want to. I want to perform for Burnley, they have given me a great opportunity to play in the Premier League, something which I’ve loved over the last four years.

“I’m not bitter about the last transfer window, what happened happened. I will never hold it against the club. That’s up to them, but the longer this goes on the more control I get of my own career which is what I want. I want to be able to decide where I am, where I’m going and who I’m playing for. That’s nothing against Burnley, but this is a short career and I’m not getting younger. I’m coming into my late 20s now and I want to experience as much as I can in the game before I retire.

Have I missed something ?

Whatever his intentions during the remainder of his Burnley career the current Tarkowski is, for me, a shadow of the player who was consistently superb for us last season and deserved to be recalled to the England squad. Since his return from the "toe" injury he got lucky for the Karlan Grant goal that was disallowed for a marginal offside decision, completely lost Zouma for Chelsea's second last week and nearly let Welbeck in as a result of a lapse of concentration on Friday night. He might be disappointed regarding the quality of club that comes in for him in January.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the interview, however, it can have done nothing to improve the morale of his team-mates when we desperately need something to turn in the right direction for us.

[cricketfieldclarets]

It seems to chime with the timing of the noticeable change in relationship with Dyche and Garlick

Its no surprise that Dyches media comments are now leading to similar from the players.

Poor leadership from Dyche on his recent media comments. All is not well form top to bottom. Dont disagree with what Tarkowski is saying - we signed him in similar circumstances. But had Dyche led better, Tarks wouldnt be publically saying this.

sad but unsurprising to see.

[superdimitri]

No surprise really. He pretty much did the same thing to Brentford when he came here.
If he doesn't perform we may as well try and get a small fee for him in January and bring in someone to replace him. It's never going to work out long term if his heart isn't in it as we already saw once Ings signed for liverpool.

[KRBFC]

Stupid thing to say.
Of courses finances will be in his mind.
Massive selling on fee for him and doubling his wages.
And he also gets the opportunity to play at a higher level too.

How would letting him rot in the reserves help our current predicament in the league ? Should we have done that with Keane, Ings, Gray, and all the other many players we have sold in the past ? They all wanted to leave just like Tarks did.
It’s football bad it’s what happens - we took advantage of his situation when we bought him from Brentford and every time we buy a player from the lower leagues we are doing the same thing.

We are a selling club and a successful one, my worry is who is next on the supply line?

We haven’t really got many youngsters left, I get it costs money for young players which is why we’re playing Bardsley right back etc but I’d think the PL would be our only hope of resupplying the conveyor belt.

As for letting Tarks rot, the difference with the other players is they never once came out publicly with stupid interviews like this at a time when we desperately need to come together as one and fight.

He keeps his mouth shut, has a good season and goes to Leicester, no problem for me, a deserved step up. We are in trouble and he’s in the newspapers saying this stuff.....

The whole interview was very F U like, I don’t get it honestly, why don’t we demand the same respect as West Ham despite finishing above them every year? They’re a complete nothing club who are only relevant because they’re based in the capital City surrounded by small clubs.

[Newcastleclaret93]

He played every game last season with the same feelings about wanting a move, stop being a drama queen

I can’t understand how any fan would want a player that just told the national press he doesn’t want to be at the club in the team.

Because in the back of his mind he knows if he gets a serious injury his dream of moving to a so called champions league squad will disappear

[jrgbfc]

Its blatantly obvious that he's running his contract down. He isn't a Burnley fan, i don't get why some of our fans think he has some sort of duty to sign a new deal with us.
If you thought you could get a better job on a lot more money would you not take it?

[RalphCoatesComb]

Something is rotten in the state of Turf Moor. (Apologies to Will Shakespeare)

Hendrick, Gibson, Hart, Lennon and now Tarkowski. Anyone else?

From what appeared to be a happy group of players, all pulling together, things appear to be on the slide.

Obviously, C-19 doesn't help but WHO started the rot? Hart? Gibson? Hendrick?

Hopefully, Sean Dyche can put the wheel back on. Fingers crossed.

Re the Tarkowski interview, time for Jimmy Dunne to step up to the plate.

[claretonthecoast1882]

I can’t understand how any fan would want a player that just told the national press he doesn’t want to be at the club in the team.

Because in the back of his mind he knows if he gets a serious injury his dream of moving to a so called champions league squad will disappear

He didn't say that at all, like I said drama queen

[TVC15]

We are a selling club and a successful one, my worry is who is next on the supply line?

We haven’t really got many youngsters left, I get it costs money for young players which is why we’re playing Bardsley right back etc but I’d think the PL would be our only hope of resupplying the conveyor belt.

As for letting Tarks rot, the difference with the other players is they never once came out publicly with stupid interviews like this at a time when we desperately need to come together as one and fight.

He keeps his mouth shut, has a good season and goes to Leicester, no problem for me, a deserved step up. We are in trouble and he’s in the newspapers saying this stuff.....

The whole interview was very F U like, I don’t get it honestly, why don’t we demand the same respect as West Ham despite finishing above them every year? They’re a complete nothing club who are only relevant because they’re based in the capital City surrounded by small clubs.

I said above I don’t know what he thinks he has to gain from the interview - all the other clubs will have been put on alert as soon as he decided he did not want to sign a new contract - or even before that as soon as he started getting the recognition he was, playing for England etc.

I don’t like West Ham either - despise their owners and the crooked way they got their new ground etc. But let’s not pretend for a second that we can compete with them in terms of resources, size of club etc. They are significantly bigger than us and also have the pull of the capital - though don’t think that matters much anyway. It’s more that they can pay at least double the wages we can - just like when we were after Snodgrass and they have him a £75k a week contract when I doubt we were offering more than £30k a week.

It’s the way it is - easier to accept it than start calling for things like letting our best player rot in the reserves. The only way we ever compete with the likes of West Ham is on the pitch - making that even harder by not playing your best player when you have nobody anywhere near as good ready to step in is just daft.
Dyche will not be happy with the situation clearly but he’s not daft either - why would he make his own job even harder than it already is ?

[jedi_master]

I said it was a ridiculous decision to keep him when he had (quite clearly) spat his dummy out with his fake toe injury, and nothing has changed my mind.

It is mindless to have turned down £35m whilst pleading poverty ("Covid is going to cost us £50m" "We have no money to spend") for a player who doesn't want to be here and will now walk for a fraction, if not for free in 18 months.

[KRBFC]

Its blatantly obvious that he's running his contract down. He isn't a Burnley fan, i don't get why some of our fans think he has some sort of duty to sign a new deal with us.
If you thought you could get a better job on a lot more money would you not take it?

He definitely doesn’t need to sign a new deal with us, players come and go that’s football, I just found his comments poor and the timing even worse

[jrgbfc]

I said it was a ridiculous decision to keep him when he had (quite clearly) spat his dummy out with his fake toe injury, and nothing has changed my mind.

It is mindless to have turned down £35m whilst pleading poverty ("Covid is going to cost us £50m" "We have no money to spend") for a player who doesn't want to be here and will now walk for a fraction, if not for free in 18 months.

I think it's more likely he goes this summer, probably for about 10 million. Hopefully if a few clubs are interested it might drive the price up a bit.

[Newcastleclaret93]

He didn't say that at all, like I said drama queen

You live in fantasy land

He has just said to national press “There is nothing I have heard or has been put to me that makes me think there is a scenario in which I would sign a new contract at Burnley”

[ewanrob]

I believe a lot of Brentford fans suggested he had this in his locker, hey-ho at least there's continuity with all the other crap coming out at the moment. Can't blame all this on Covid, there's been some very poor decision making at this club...which has lead us to lose our most powerful asset...camaraderie!!

[BOYSIE31]

Get a grip. This is an employee of the club that is very very well paid openly slagging off the club to the national press. Good player Tarkowski but from all accounts has no morals. Did the same to Brentford when we tried to sign him.

This is a really sad way for his Burnley career to finish, he has had 4 excellent years here. Will be remembered for the wrong reasons

Also his career is going nowhere with us as we currently stand - I agree no need to go public but you had to be stupid to not know that he wanted away in the summer and the toe injury was a load of crap.