Dyche signed two outstanding goalkeepers
In recent days we asked you, via a voting poll, who you thought had been Sean Dyche’s best signing since becoming Burnley manager in October 2012 and it is fair to say that goalkeepers led the way.
Current goalkeeper Nick Pope came second having secured 19% of the vote but the winner was his predecessor in the number 1 jersey Tom Heaton who won 24% of the vote.
Lee Grant returned to Derby at the end of the 2012/13 season; both Brian Jensen and Jon Stewart had been released. New goalkeepers were a priority and, on 17th May 2013, Dyche made his first permanent signing as Burnley manager with the capture of Heaton on a free transfer from Bristol City.
Dyche said at the time: “Tom is someone we knew all about at Watford and we have monitored his progress since then. We have had him watched several times in the past year. He’s just had a really good season in very tough circumstances at Bristol City and he recently played very well here at Turf Moor, as every Burnley fan will know.
“He is a good technician, he has great pedigree, having come out of Manchester United, and is a good age and willing to learn. Tom is a great signing and one we believe will do very well for us.”
Tom did do well for us. He went on to captain the side and won international caps with England until just over four years into his Burnley career when he suffered a serious shoulder injury that saw Pope given his chance.
He returned to play the second half of the 2018/19 season but left that summer for Aston Villa after exactly 200 league and cup appearances for us.
There were never any real challengers for the two goalkeepers although both Joey Barton and James Tarkowski won 12% of the vote each while Chris Wood just missed out on double figures with a 9% share.
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