We want a real challenge against teams
Burnley face Rangers tomorrow and that means another opportunity for two former Watford colleagues to come face to face again for the second pre-season running.
Mark Warburton is just about to start his second season in charge at Rangers and he has admitted that tomorrow gives them a tough game ahead of their league season back in the Scottish Premiership.
“I’ve spoken to Sean and they will be very strong, certainly for the first seventy minutes or more,” Warburton said.
“I can’t speak highly enough about Sean, Ian Woan and the job they have done at Burnley with the players. To just miss out on Premiership safety, to get relegated and then to perform the way that they did last year is an outstanding feat.
“It’s a tough, tough division where there’s no easy games. It’s a real slog with lots of tough games against high quality opponents. For them to come out and perform as they did and to win the division as they did, is a fantastic achievement.”
He added: “We know the quality that they possess, they have players like Andre Gray and James Tarkowski, who I know very well from my Brentford days. They have some really good individuals, they are really well organised, well structured and well managed, so they will be a real test for us.
“They learnt from the last episode, they missed out very narrowly on securing safety, so there’s no doubt they will be better for it. In Sean they have a very talented manager, with great support staff behind him and a talented squad of players, so there’s no reason they can’t stay up this season.”
Looking forward to the repeat trip to Scotland, Sean Dyche said: “We try to look at pre-season in many different ways and we want a real challenge against teams who have got their own thoughts on pushing and demand.
“You’ve seen it a million times where you look on paper and think that’s a real game but it ends up being really slow and we want fast action, real games. At Ibrox we found last year under Mark Warburton, who I know well, they play very expansively on a big pitch and they want to open out.
“Each challenge is a different one and each one is thought of differently to get us ready for the Premier League. Rangers are active already playing competitive games so that went into the thinking and the planning.”
Dyche continued: “We want the fans to be active with us so we tried to regionalise it the best we could. Last year, it was good on and off the pitch. The feedback I got was that the fans who went up there really enjoyed it.
“I know Warbo and I know his team will work properly and efficiently. They’ve signed nine or ten players including Joey Barton and Matt Gilks of course so they’ve got some real quality. Joey was well thought of here. We loved what he did for us and he loved being here as well and it was one of those great connections with us as staff and the fans as well.
“It also gets you back into the mindset of travelling as well so all these things we try to think them through.”
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