Vincent Kompany " Grauniad " article ..

[Clarets4me]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... -we-can-go

[Vegas Claret]

great stuff or reagt sftuf

[Suratclaret]

Enjoyed reading that. Thanks for posting.

[Quicknick]

Thanks for that. Enjoyed reading it.

[JohnDearyMe]

Very interesting read and good to see we've already got signings lined up this early in the pre-season

[wilks_bfc]

“So when you do 16 or 17 the risk of it going wrong is really big, even if you get players you believe in. We were lucky that in year one we made very few mistakes.”

Interesting choice of word saying “mistake” rather than “didn’t work out” which to me infers that he feels he’s to blame for that.

I know we’ll have our thoughts on this, and we’ll probably never know who he’s referring to, but I wonder who he classes as a “mistake”

[fatboy47]

There will be another decent article in today's Daily Star by Chris McKenna, also worth reading.

[NewClaret]

There will be another decent article in today's Daily Star by Chris McKenna, also worth reading.

Thanks for the heads up, Chris

[JohnDearyMe]

“So when you do 16 or 17 the risk of it going wrong is really big, even if you get players you believe in. We were lucky that in year one we made very few mistakes.”

Interesting choice of word saying “mistake” rather than “didn’t work out” which to me infers that he feels he’s to blame for that.

I know we’ll have our thoughts on this, and we’ll probably never know who he’s referring to, but I wonder who he classes as a “mistake”

I'd guess at Bastien and Churlinov and Egan Riley. Possibly McNally too

[NewClaret]

“So when you do 16 or 17 the risk of it going wrong is really big, even if you get players you believe in. We were lucky that in year one we made very few mistakes.”

Interesting choice of word saying “mistake” rather than “didn’t work out” which to me infers that he feels he’s to blame for that.

I know we’ll have our thoughts on this, and we’ll probably never know who he’s referring to, but I wonder who he classes as a “mistake”

I didn’t read so much in to the words, but I did ask myself the same question.

I assumed Dervisoglu and Cherlinov.

Although he also mentioned the stats around being a success in your first year, so maybe he still has hope for some who haven’t necessarily excelled this year.

[Ightenhill_Claret]

I'd guess at Bastien and Churlinov and Egan Riley. Possibly McNally too

Churlinov definitely. Bastien, I think he'll see as a part-success (he has trust in him clearly). Egan Riley and McNally I think the plan was always for them to go out and get experience this season.

[eastcoastclaret]

Churlinov definitely. Bastien, I think he'll see as a part-success (he has trust in him clearly). Egan Riley and McNally I think the plan was always for them to go out and get experience this season.

Agree re McNally and Egan Riley. Both have performed well out on loan, and will have developed far more by doing that than sat in our U21s.

[fatboy47]

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/footb ... l-29957570

[HB Claret]

This guy just oozes class - Alan Pace did an amazing job bringing Vincent and his team to Burnley and we are fortunate to have someone who remains humble and dedicated to taking us on a journey.

[RVclaret]

Another really good interview from Vinny. Whether it’s pressers, town hall balconies or national newspaper interviews, its always interesting.

[Claret53]

Another article in today’s Times.

[Clovius Boofus]

I must admit I've always been a fan of Mick McCarthy's interviews. Cured my insomnia, especially the ones he gave when he took over the Lashers.

[2 Bee Holed]

Daily Star interview above.

He is a born winner. He will not put a ceiling on what can be achieved next year. Neither will he set a target of "avoiding relegation ".
His target is to compete.

Whilst avoiding relegation was probably a realistic target, it must be demoralising to go into work and aim to be above 17th best.

Aim for the stars and you might get to the moon.

[Bosscat]

Daily Star interview above.

He is a born winner. He will not put a ceiling on what can be achieved next year. Neither will he set a target of "avoiding relegation ".
His target is to compete.

Whilst avoiding relegation was probably a realistic target, it must be demoralising to go into work and aim to be above 17th best.

Aim for the stars and you might get to the moon.

He will bump into Shaggy apparently he now lives there ...

https://www.uptheclarets.com/messageboa ... 4#p2093404

[BobSykes]

Here's the excellent piece in The Times which gives some insight into next season

I’d never settle for top-flight safety’

Vincent Kompany tells Paul Joyce that he is committed to Burnley project and has lofty goals for next season


The first problem of promotion has already kicked in for Vincent Kompany.

Received wisdom may decree that simply staying in the Premier League next season would rank as a triumph for Burnley and yet their manager refuses to countenance the idea. Limiting ambition to that extent is anathema to him.

“I cannot say . . .” he starts to explain.

“I cannot say that success will be not being relegated. It is not in my nature. I physically struggle to say it, so I will physically struggle to answer that question for the next few months. I just want to go and compete. Don’t put a ceiling on it.”

Kompany’s reluctance, in part, can be attributed to the fact that he never thought he would be in this position, having taken over a club 12 months ago who had just been relegated from the top flight and were hampered by financial issues.

The 37-year-old, who arrived at Turf Moor after cutting his managerial teeth with Anderlecht in his native Belgium, inherited a squad that had lost key performers on free transfers. He was forced to sell others and, by the end of the January transfer window, had brought in 21 new players to replenish his resources.

Together with a change to a possession-based approach and a move away from the direct, dogged style that had been embedded under his predecessor, Sean Dyche, Kompany believed it could be 2025-26 before they were back among the elite.

Yet, on Tuesday evening, he clambered on board an open-top bus to celebrate Burnley’s instant return to the Premier League, tens of thousands of giddy supporters pouring on to the streets to celebrate the achievement of a team that garnered 101 points en route to topping the Sky Bet Championship, and did so with a swagger.

“Really, at the beginning, when we came to this club, we didn’t plan on promotion in the first year at all,” Kompany says.

“We had a plan that involved promotion within three years, for sure, and we knew the rebuild of year one was to make sure that dealt with the loss of so many players.“Usually, the official data is that 40 per cent of the transfers you make end up being successful in the first year. It doesn’t mean they won’t be successful after a while, but in the first season it is usually about 40 per cent who hit it off.

“So when you do 16 or 17 [in the summer] the risk of it going wrong is big, even if you get players you believe in. But we were lucky that we made very few mistakes.”

That only tells half the story, however. The former Manchester City captain places great importance on developing players. It is his passion.

He references how Jack Grealish was not so long ago a talent in the Championship with Aston Villa, notes Kyle Walker’s rise from Sheffield United and has high hopes for Anass Zaroury, the 22-year-old Morocco winger, and Ameen Al-Dakhil, the 21-year-old Belgian centre back, among others. “There are players who might not be 100 per cent Premier League players yet, but they can shoot through that league if they keep the same attitude,” he says.

The attitude he demands is a desire for self-improvement. Analysis sessions are lengthy and require total buy-in. Kompany will tolerate mistakes, providing they are learnt from.

Ashley Barnes, the veteran striker, tells a story of how, after being substituted at half-time against Sunderland in October, he thought “that could be the end of me”. Instead, he found fresh momentum and scored twice in a 3-0 victory over Blackburn Rovers, which sparked a run of ten successive wins and came the week after a 5-2 away loss against Sheffield United that Kompany regards as a “milestone” in the season as it “sharpened everyone up”.

Yet any player cutting corners will not last long. The manager’s style is to offer a carrot first, but he is not afraid to turn to the stick.

“Next season in the Premier League will simply depend on making our players better,” says Kompany, who this week completed the permanent signing of the defender Jordan Beyer from Borussia Mönchengladbach. “Some of them will be new players that we will add to the squad, but a lot of them will be the players we have now, and [thefocus will be] making them better and quicker so that they’re ready for the Premier League. I really take pleasure in it. How do you do it? It’s sometimes overloading with the information, and accepting the short-term pains that it brings because in the long term they develop quicker.

“We probably spend more time than most teams in the video room. If you think it’s just about going on the pitch and kicking a ball and that is why you went into the game, then probably we’re not for you and you’re not for us.

“We need players who have got more attention and are willing to dedicate more of their time into things off the pitch as well.

“They never compete just with their own team-mate, they always compete with everyone in the world who is available to Burnley Football Club. In your position, you have to be better than every player we can afford.

“What you can’t accept is if a player doesn’t work hard — if a player puts the individual ahead of the collective. If at any stage you drop your work rate and become selfish then you’re not for us. We’re very clear on that.”

Kompany’s impressive work has been noted by Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur, and the Burnley chairman, Alan Pace, is aware that he will move on eventually, describing their relationship as being like “dating the most beautiful girl in town, and knowing there’s probably no chance she’ll ever marry you”.

Still, the five-year deal Kompany signed at the start of this week is evidence of his commitment. He is, after all, just getting started “When I try to convince a player to sign for the club they say, ‘Yeah, but surely you are going to go? Why would I sign for Burnley?’ ” he says.

“We want to continue to progress and grow confidence in the club and then, over a period of time, when you show that you are a good club, people will come for the club and not necessarily the manager.

“It is just getting those steps. Signing a new deal shows things are settled and things are calm here.”

[2 Bee Holed]

He will bump into Shaggy apparently he now lives there ...

https://www.uptheclarets.com/messageboa ... 4#p2093404

Shaggy, how's Vince?

[Lancasterclaret]

All the articles are essentially repeating the same thing, but its not stopping me reading them all!

[randomclaret2]

“They never compete just with their own team-mate, they always compete with everyone in the world who is available to Burnley Football Club. In your position, you have to be better than every player we can afford"
This really jumps out for me...so different to the previous approach to looking for players and so refreshing to hear

[AlargeClaret]

“They never compete just with their own team-mate, they always compete with everyone in the world who is available to Burnley Football Club. In your position, you have to be better than every player we can afford"
This really jumps out for me...so different to the previous approach to looking for players and so refreshing to hear

While it’s a fair point re: different approach , and let’s face it we desperately needed a new start and VK has been excellent . Dyche’s 7 seasons in the prem and 2 promotions showed what a more pragmatic approach can also do .

[NottsClaret]

Always speaks very well, which a lot of people do, but it probably reads better when you've just won the league with 101 points.

Also, how funny is that image of us celebrating the title at Ewood? Still feels too far-fetched. Not sure I'd ever get over seeing those lot having a party on the Turf like that.

[Lancasterclaret]

Always speaks very well, which a lot of people do, but it probably reads better when you've just won the league with 101 points.

Also, how funny is that image of us celebrating the title at Ewood? Still feels too far-fetched. Not sure I'd ever get over seeing those lot having a party on the Turf like that.

Complete denial on Rovers forums and twitter as well (variations on "over it already")

Funny as anything because they will always remember that we won the league at Ewood, because winning the championship is the realistic high point of both our clubs ambitions

[NottsClaret]

Complete denial on Rovers forums and twitter as well (variations on "over it already")

Funny as anything because they will always remember that we won the league at Ewood, because winning the championship is the realistic high point of both our clubs ambitions

They're not in good spirits. I wished a few Blackburn mates well in the play-offs, after that great win at Millwall, and didn't hear anything back. Churlish.

[martin_p]

They're not in good spirits. I wished a few Blackburn mates well in the play-offs, after that great win at Millwall, and didn't hear anything back. Churlish.

It’s a shame they can’t even be polite when you’re being nice to them

[Stan Tastic]

Always speaks very well, which a lot of people do, but it probably reads better when you've just won the league with 101 points.

Also, how funny is that image of us celebrating the title at Ewood? Still feels too far-fetched. Not sure I'd ever get over seeing those lot having a party on the Turf like that.

We didn't just win the league there, we also stopped them qualifying for the play-offs, although obviously we didn't know it at the time.

[Lancasterclaret]

They're not in good spirits. I wished a few Blackburn mates well in the play-offs, after that great win at Millwall, and didn't hear anything back. Churlish.

We did say during the Cardiff game that the funniest thing to happen that day would be for Rovers to win and still miss out and in a season where everything has gone brilliantly, that is exactly what happened

[NewClaret]

While it’s a fair point re: different approach , and let’s face it we desperately needed a new start and VK has been excellent . Dyche’s 7 seasons in the prem and 2 promotions showed what a more pragmatic approach can also do .

Nobody can demean Dyche’s record and how the different approach he had to leadership built success from a quite limited older/experienced players based on hard work, a clear system and loyalty.

So it’s massively interesting to me how VKs approach is also working so far. It’s the same in some ways; also
team based on togetherness, where the players all seem to put the collective before themselves, with a clear (albeit different) style - plus the hard work, which seems to take place more in the video room than having to wear shinny’s to training. But also very different in the sense VK’s approach seems to be based on young players, much more ruthless with no favourites… where he’d be willing to swap you out in a heartbeat if a better (affordable) player came along. Which I’d say is a more elite mentality.

Only time will tell which will prove more successful with Dyche already having set down a very respectable marker in terms of consistency and a high bar (Europe) in terms of peak. But I do know which I find more exciting as a fan.

[NewClaret]

They're not in good spirits. I wished a few Blackburn mates well in the play-offs, after that great win at Millwall, and didn't hear anything back. Churlish.

*Ex mate, I imagine

[Pickles]

That Times interview is class. He's a special bloke. We'll probably never know but I do wonder sometimes which other clubs he could've gone to last summer. I remember Borussia Mönchengladbach perhaps being a possibility. Pace has pulled off a blinder.

[EarbyClaret]

So it’s massively interesting to me how VKs approach is also working so far. It’s the same in some ways; also
team based on togetherness, where the players all seem to put the collective before themselves, with a clear (albeit different) style - plus the hard work, which seems to take place more in the video room than having to wear shinny’s to training. But also very different in the sense VK’s approach seems to be based on young players, much more ruthless with no favourites… where he’d be willing to swap you out in a heartbeat if a better (affordable) player came along. Which I’d say is a more elite mentality.

Which goes a long way to explaining why neither the Chelsea nor the Tottenham jobs - given the dynamic of their respective squads - would appeal to him at present

[NewClaret]

“They never compete just with their own team-mate, they always compete with everyone in the world who is available to Burnley Football Club. In your position, you have to be better than every player we can afford"
This really jumps out for me...so different to the previous approach to looking for players and so refreshing to hear

This out to me too, as have the comments from JJ, VK and to a lesser extent Pace on being ambitious and “dreaming big”. It’s such a contrast to previous messaging which seemed much more content with survival at the top table and hoping to sustain “little old Burnley” at the top table. Even if it doesn’t work out it’s intoxicating. I’ve never known so much interest in Burnley from friends, other fans, kids, etc.

Another thing that stood out were these comments:

“We want to continue to progress and grow confidence in the club and then, over a period of time, when you show that you are a good club, people will come for the club and not necessarily the manager.”

Shows to me that he’s really invested in transforming the image and position of the club in world football - not just using it as a step in his career path or a means of achieving his own goals - which is both positive in that we’re in good hands and also that he sees it as being a longer term role.

[Clarets4me]

We did say during the Cardiff game that the funniest thing to happen that day would be for Rovers to win and still miss out and in a season where everything has gone brilliantly, that is exactly what happened

The strange thing is some of the deluded comments over on their forum ... " We should go and get Kieran McKenna from Ipswich Town, he's done a great job ... "

McKenna has just got Ipswich promoted after 4 years in League 1, as you'd expect, the fans & owners will be loving him at present. They're playing to an average gate of over 25,000 in a Club that's united and about to have it's revenues vastly increase.
Why on earth would he want to come to a Club that's divided, can't get transfer paperwork done on time and on a good day, plays to a half empty mausoleum of a Stadium on a poor pitch and if you want to speak to the owners, you need to fly out to India, and wait to be granted an audience ..

[Hipper]

Agree re McNally and Egan Riley. Both have performed well out on loan, and will have developed far more by doing that than sat in our U21s.

With McNally I would have thought he was hoping he would be useful to the first team, and perhaps Long might be too. Half a season with them on the training ground he realised this was not the case so he loaned them out and bought in Ekdel and Al-Dakhil. I suspect both Long and McNally (now 23) will be surplus to requirements, as will Bobby Thomas. I wonder what will happen with Dara Costelloe who did show promise early on.

[claretbob]

Ipswich looked a pretty strong outfit against us and that was after making wholesale changes as well. I can really see them pushing for a top 6 finish next season. Shout out also to our old friends PNE who delivered just when we needed them to.

[Hipper]

The strange thing is some of the deluded comments over on their forum ... " We should go and get Kieran McKenna from Ipswich Town, he's done a great job ... "

McKenna has just got Ipswich promoted after 4 years in League 1, as you'd expect, the fans & owners will be loving him at present. They're playing to an average gate of over 25,000 in a Club that's united and about to have it's revenues vastly increase.
Why on earth would he want to come to a Club that's divided, can't get transfer paperwork done on time and on a good day, plays to a half empty mausoleum of a Stadium on a poor pitch and if you want to speak to the owners, you need to fly out to India, and wait to be granted an audience ..

I like their manager, Tomasson. He's done a good job. Surely they have exceeded expectations for their youngish team and it should drive them on to do better next year.

[Swizzlestick]

I like their manager, Tomasson. He's done a good job. Surely they have exceeded expectations for their youngish team and it should drive them on to do better next year.

They're clueless. From what I've seen they've never really given him any credit, despite the fact he really shouldn't have had any right getting such an inexperienced team so close to a playoff place. Recent comments he's made suggest he's looking for a way out, and I wouldn't blame him. They've just lost their main goal scorer and arguably best player (very arguably for me - he looked disinterested in both games against us) for nothing so it'll be interesting to see how they replace him. I do wonder when Venky's turn the tap off - I don't understand what they're gaining from it now, other than pouring money into a bottomless pit.

[Lancasterclaret]

They're clueless. From what I've seen they've never really given him any credit, despite the fact he really shouldn't have had any right getting such an inexperienced team so close to a playoff place. Recent comments he's made suggest he's looking for a way out, and I wouldn't blame him. They've just lost their main goal scorer and arguably best player (very arguably for me - he looked disinterested in both games against us) for nothing so it'll be interesting to see how they replace him. I do wonder when Venky's turn the tap off - I don't understand what they're gaining from it now, other than pouring money into a bottomless pit.

Lots of people with lots of money quite happy to pour money into bottomless pits that are football clubs

One thing is pretty clear, if they were going to leave Rovers in the deep doo doo, they'd have done it by now and wouldn't be allowing them to have a budget that is roughly twice their income

Its a strange one, but its no longer as strange as it looked originally, as far more clubs appear to survive this way now

[Swizzlestick]

Lots of people with lots of money quite happy to pour money into bottomless pits that are football clubs

One thing is pretty clear, if they were going to leave Rovers in the deep doo doo, they'd have done it by now and wouldn't be allowing them to have a budget that is roughly twice their income

Its a strange one, but its no longer as strange as it looked originally, as far more clubs appear to survive this way now

But usually these are wealthy individuals looking for another challenge and, crucially, have an active involvement in the football club. Venky's have a worldwide business to run. When's the last time a member of the Venky's family even set foot in Ewood Park? It's just a bit odd.

Anyway, going off topic somewhat. VK never fails to impress when he talks in interviews. Privilege to have him as manager.