Ben Mee Leaving !

[spt_claret]

You don’t seriously believe Dyche will get a Premier League job do you?

I think everyone in football outside of a small handful of weird Burnley fans and fairweather TV fans believe Dyche will get a Premier League job.

Much like only a few weird Burnley fans can sincerely believe Mee won't make another Premier League team and we're better off clearing the way for Bobby Thomas.

Chip on shoulder and jilted ex are the terms that spring to mind.

[Burnleyareback2]

What do you expect him to do until SD gets another job?

A few weeks holiday before pre season.

[Steddyman]

A quick search of average age threads/comments and it's been one of the biggest gripes about a Dyche team for a few years.

Now the age is being dropped and suddenly it's an issue that older players aren't being kept on

I'd keep Mee if possible, but I'm not the manager.
If Kompany is signing maybe he's made the decision to not retain Mee because he wants this lad on loan from City, we just don't know right now.

Whilst I agree with the sentiment here, the issue is because it is Ben Mee we are talking about. He has been a model pro for Burnley, the perfect captain on and off the pitch and the identity of Burnley more so than Dyche. I think everyone will miss Ben, more so than any other player in the least 10 years. Sad day.

[Burnleyareback2]

You don’t seriously believe Dyche will get a Premier League job do you?

I didn’t say that but I do expect him to be back in management very soon.

[Jamesy]

I think everyone in football outside of a small handful of weird Burnley fans and fairweather TV fans believe Dyche will get a Premier League job.

Much like only a few weird Burnley fans can sincerely believe Mee won't make another Premier League team and we're better off clearing the way for Bobby Thomas.

Chip on shoulder and jilted ex are the terms that spring to mind.

Nothing to do with chip on shoulder. Separate the two people here. Mee will be back in the Premier League by start of next season. Dyche May be part way through the season if someone gets fired. My point was that no one will be offering Dyche a Premier League job between now and the start of the season.

[bfcjg]

Ben Mee epitomised the Dyche years, great player,hard working,professional, great human being,fantastic leader. I feel as though I've lived through an era my grandchildren will talk about in the future and Mee's name will crop up as the glue that held it together.

[dsr]

Kompany might actually consider the large number of first team squad vacancies an advantage. He can recruit the players of his choice without too much hassle.

I doubt that any new manager would see it as a positive that the first-rate club captain and first-rate defender is leaving. I doubt many championship managers would be sorry if Ben Mee was in their squad.

[Jamesy]

I didn’t say that but I do expect him to be back in management very soon.

I agree with you. He will.

[clarethomer]

Will be a big loss if he goes and he has been nothing but a brilliant servant.

Who ever is happy to allow him to leave needs help.

[Longsider]

Things change. People move on, new heroes come in.

[Quickenthetempo]

I think everyone in football outside of a small handful of weird Burnley fans and fairweather TV fans believe Dyche will get a Premier League job.

Much like only a few weird Burnley fans can sincerely believe Mee won't make another Premier League team and we're better off clearing the way for Bobby Thomas.

Chip on shoulder and jilted ex are the terms that spring to mind.

Why are people weird if they take a different view to you?

[Steve1956]

Football is work, none of them play for the badge they play for the money.

Football is an extremely well paid hobby...to call it work is an insult to anyone with a proper job.

[dsr]

Football is an extremely well paid hobby...to call it work is an insult to anyone with a proper job.

You would look the players at Accrington Stanley in the face and tell them they they aren't working for a living?

[Steve1956]

You would look the players at Accrington Stanley in the face and tell them they they aren't working for a living?

Who?

[IanMcL]

Footballers, like all athletes, love their work. It is their chosen profession. Not everyone is able to do the job of their choice.

Anyway, the Athletic article contains these paras, which sum up Mee and Tarkowski and my sadness at their loss and all that it signifies.
......
No longer will we see the pair head, kick and throw their bodies at everything coming their way to do whatever they could to stop the ball going into the net.

Their defensive statistics regularly put them towards the top of Premier League’s charts, and their impressive clean sheet records further highlighted their performance. They were one of the best partnerships in the league and should be remembered as such.

It is not just their presence and quality on the pitch that is going to be missed. The defenders are two of the biggest leaders in the Burnley dressing room and they will leave two huge holes to fill.

As captain and vice captain, they set standards with how they conducted themselves and the respect that they commanded. Players, for example, would occasionally seek out Mee rather than go to the coaching staff with personal issues.

[KateR]

my favorite player and will miss him, but I totally expected him to leave with the drop, wish him the best of luck for the future.

[matucana]

I thought it strange that he never featured in any team selection for the final four games despite several journalists stating he was fit and expected to return against Watford away. Clearly decided that he was not going to risk further injury and so remained in the dugout. Very disappointing.

[dsr]

I thought it strange that he never featured in any team selection for the final four games despite several journalists stating he was fit and expected to return against Watford away. Clearly decided that he was not going to risk further injury and so remained in the dugout. Very disappointing.

If a journalist says Mee is fit and Mee says Mee isn't fit, why do you believe the journalist?

[THEWELLERNUT70]

Ideally I would have liked to have kept Ben, but at any cost to the club? Absolutely not. Let's not forget he mucked us around over his last contract until very late in the day ( perhaps this led to the Gibson situation), he's in his early 30s and is playing less and less each season so his on pitch leadership is diminishing over time too.

If he's got a nice signing on wedge coming his way in what could be his final decent move then good luck to him is what I say

[elwaclaret]

While I think Mee will/would be hugely important to maintain club equilibrium for next season, I can understand both the club and Ben Mee wondering if it is the right thing to do. I would love Mee to stay on and slowly move into the back room, but if that is not an option we would end up with a high earner, under contract, that may well need replacing for the following season.

Now seems a logical time to ease him out; with the club playing at a lower level and time to gel new partnerships. It makes sense that the big signing on fee from elsewhere will also diminish by next season; when Burnley would have to be looking to bring in a replacement for the long term.

It’s not ideal, and disappointing and will make it far less likely we will be promoted next season, but will potentially make the defence (assuming the right signings are made) far stronger having had a season to gel, by the season following.

[Steve-Harpers-perm]

This goes back a couple of years but that’s Hendrick, Tarkowski and now Mee we’ve let walk away for free. Someone really took their eye off the ball during the sale of the club.

[taio]

This goes back a couple of years but that’s Hendrick, Tarkowski and now Mee we’ve let walk away for free. Someone really took their eye off the ball during the sale of the club.

Without the benefit of hindsight it was absolutely right that we kept hold of Tarkowski and Mee. Also think it was right not to give Hendrick a new contract.

[GodIsADeeJay81]

This goes back a couple of years but that’s Hendrick, Tarkowski and now Mee we’ve let walk away for free. Someone really took their eye off the ball during the sale of the club.

Great value for money from all 3.
Better than Utd from Pogba

[leelad]

I wish Ben well in whatever he decides to do next. If he had stayed, I think he would have started the majority of the games in the Championship and would have helped a lot to develop Collins. But eras do not last forever, one can only think that Ben has thought this one through a lot, looked at the forthcoming manager appointment of VK (hopefully) and decided that the style of football under VK is not to his liking. Also there is that temptation to earn one last pay day at a Prem club. That has probably made his mind up. He goes with my best wishes, but life goes on.

[dermotdermot]

Definitely off. The news even merited an article in the Guardian.

[Conroy92]

This goes back a couple of years but that’s Hendrick, Tarkowski and now Mee we’ve let walk away for free. Someone really took their eye off the ball during the sale of the club.

Also Brady who we paid good money for and left on a free and Vydra nearly another.

[JohnMac]

Appalling mismanagement to be in a position where both our first choice CB pairing are able to walk away on frees in the same year. And that’s before you consider we may have signed a contract allowing our best future prospect to walk away relatively cheaply.

We don't let players walk away for nothing, they choose to walk away and the Club can't do anything about it.

Some say 'then sell them before' but again, if the players does not want to move, he won't.

[arise_sir_charge]

Why do people believe that a man who could get a premier league job when his stock was high will get a me now how stock is lower?

His best bet is a job trying to save someone who’s in the ****. For that he’d have to wait and not take another job.

I think it’s far more likely he reappears in the championship or even abroad somewhere.

As for Ben Mee, if he wants to go, let him go, it’s a shame but if he believes the grass in greener, let him crack on.

[DCWat]

We don't let players walk away for nothing, they choose to walk away and the Club can't do anything about it.

Some say 'then sell them before' but again, if the players does not want to move, he won't.

Tarkowski could well have moved, had we accepted an offer. Presumably others too. It’s that unwillingness to wheel and deal that has played a part in where we find ourselves today, from a squad perspective.

[taio]

Tarkowski could well have moved, had we accepted an offer. Presumably others too. It’s that unwillingness to wheel and deal that has played a part in where we find ourselves today, from a squad perspective.

Reported that Tarkowski wanted to see out his contract before he would move

[JohnMac]

Tarkowski could well have moved, had we accepted an offer. Presumably others too. It’s that unwillingness to wheel and deal that has played a part in where we find ourselves today, from a squad perspective.

Can't disagree with your answer and unfortunately the gamble of keeping Tarky backfired. Credit to him for his attitude but I'm sure if he had been sold and we were relegated there would have been a meltdown on here.

[TsarBomba]

Tarkowski could well have moved, had we accepted an offer. Presumably others too. It’s that unwillingness to wheel and deal that has played a part in where we find ourselves today, from a squad perspective.

Absolutely.

We should have cashed in on Tarks for £30M when West Ham and Leicester wanted him. You buy 2/3/4 players with that money and keep the conveyor belt running.

However much we don’t want to lose our best players, we have no choice, and ultimately our refusal to refresh each year, little by little, has now left us needing a complete overhaul.

Every club has to do it, bar the really big guns. Leicester are a perfect example. You sell when the stock is high, and you have an established scouting system to replace the players you lose.

Your outgoing transfers pay for the incoming, and the cost of refreshing the squad becomes self sufficient (to a degree).

We’ve done so much good in the past 6 years, but this is the one area that we have really fallen down. Not having a particularly coherent transfer policy, and failing to have an established scouting system set up after 6 years of PL money. It’s really done for us, in the end.

[Lancasterclaret]

Reported that Tarkowski wanted to see out his contract before he would move

But we could (and should) have sold him when he had that amazing season when we finished 7th

Its all hindsight I know, but that is how clubs our size generate income for players purchases at this level (which has since been confirmed by the accounts

[taio]

But we could (and should) have sold him when he had that amazing season when we finished 7th

Its all hindsight I know, but that is how clubs our size generate income for players purchases at this level (which has since been confirmed by the accounts

Easy to say now. There's no way I'd have sold him at that point. It was four years ago wasn't it.

[claretandy]

Absolutely.

We should have cashed in on Tarks for £30M when West Ham and Leicester wanted him. You buy 2/3/4 players with that money and keep the conveyor belt running.

However much we don’t want to lose our best players, we have no choice, and ultimately our refusal to refresh each year, little by little, has now left us needing a complete overhaul.

Every club has to do it, bar the really big guns. Leicester are a perfect example. You sell when the stock is high, and you have an established scouting system to replace the players you lose.

Your outgoing transfers pay for the incoming, and the cost of refreshing the squad becomes self sufficient (to a degree).

We’ve done so much good in the past 6 years, but this is the one area that we have really fallen down. Not having a particularly coherent transfer policy, and failing to have an established scouting system set up after 6 years of PL money. It’s really done for us, in the end.

You're forgetting that Brentford were due 27.5% of any profit, take that away and you're not left with much to replace him.

[Lancasterclaret]

Easy to say now. There's no way I'd have sold him at that point. It was four years ago wasn't it.

Which is why I said its all hindsight

Not refreshing the squad over a number of years is probably No 1 reason why we went down this year

(though I acknowledge that there are dangers in refreshing the squad as well)

Ah well, watching our best centre half partnership walk away on a free isn't great whichever way you look at it

[Quickenthetempo]

Reported that Tarkowski wanted to see out his contract before he would move

After Dyche refused to sell Tarky to Leicester for 35m, he he said he wouldn't sign a new contract, but see out the current one.

That's why nobody has given Tarky a hard time for leaving on a free.

[taio]

Which is why I said its all hindsight

Not refreshing the squad over a number of years is probably No 1 reason why we went down this year

(though I acknowledge that there are dangers in refreshing the squad as well)

Ah well, watching our best centre half partnership walk away on a free isn't great whichever way you look at it

Of course we needed to do more refreshing of the squad as a general point. But even with the benefit of hindsight I'm not sure your specific point of selling Tarkowski four years ago would've been the right thing at all.

[taio]

After Dyche refused to sell Tarky to Leicester for 35m, he he said he wouldn't sign a new contract, but see out the current one.

That's why nobody has given Tarky a hard time for leaving on a free.

Yes.

[ksrclaret]

Agree entirely that the refusal to sell our players at the peak of their value and reinvest is a huge reason for the position we now find ourselves in.

The time to sell Tarkowski was in the summer of 2019 when there was serious interest from a couple of clubs, most notably Leicester. We didn’t and had a shocking transfer window. The other thing with that is we had Gibson who we’d bought the season before ready to step in, and that probably resulted in him being hacked off as well.

Whatever the future holds, Burnley FC simply must get back to the model of buying youngish players and selling them when the time is right. It’s the only we a club like ours has successes.

[FCBurnley]

You're forgetting that Brentford were due 27.5% of any profit, take that away and you're not left with much to replace him.

Bet they are well ****** off

[spt_claret]

Why are people weird if they take a different view to you?

It's not the different view that's weird. In the case of Dyche- the downright vitriolic hatred some fans have for a man who is factually our most successful manager since Harry Potts, the gloating & joy that 'the dinosaur' is gone to the point some on here have even been celebraating relegation as a good thing somehow because they think we'll somehow do a dream overhaul & have equal or greater success with more aesthetic football- despite no evidence of this & plenty of reason to doubt. It's very weird to hate the manager who delivered successes I think most Burnley fans thought would never happen again or were at best very unlikely to- and there IS a section who hated him, not just criticisedd/doubted- I criticised Dyche on things, I had times I doubted him, and I wouldn't have him back as the club has to move on. I'm not talking about that.

In the case of Mee it IS weird to think it represents an improvement to ditch the club captain who has been the rock of our team during our best spell in 50 years, for a 21 year old with no experience beyond 1 cup game and 21 games in League 2. Why weird? Because it is a view with absolutely no evidence based purely on wishful thinking. Thomas might become really good but it's madness to think or expect him to truly fill Ben's shoes any time soon.

[taio]

Agree entirely that the refusal to sell our players at the peak of their value and reinvest is a huge reason for the position we now find ourselves in.

The time to sell Tarkowski was in the summer of 2019 when there was serious interest from a couple of clubs, most notably Leicester. We didn’t and had a shocking transfer window. The other thing with that is we had Gibson who we’d bought the season before ready to step in, and that probably resulted in him being hacked off as well.

Whatever the future holds, Burnley FC simply must get back to the model of buying youngish players and selling them when the time is right. It’s the only we a club like ours has successes.

Now, yes. Under the previous owners, much less so.

[Quickenthetempo]

It's not the different view that's weird. In the case of Dyche- the downright vitriolic hatred some fans have for a man who is factually our most successful manager since Harry Potts, the gloating & joy that 'the dinosaur' is gone to the point some on here have even been celebraating relegation as a good thing somehow because they think we'll somehow do a dream overhaul & have equal or greater success with more aesthetic football- despite no evidence of this & plenty of reason to doubt. It's very weird to hate the manager who delivered successes I think most Burnley fans thought would never happen again or were at best very unlikely to- and there IS a section who hated him, not just criticisedd/doubted- I criticised Dyche on things, I had times I doubted him, and I wouldn't have him back as the club has to move on. I'm not talking about that.

In the case of Mee it IS weird to think it represents an improvement to ditch the club captain who has been the rock of our team during our best spell in 50 years, for a 21 year old with no experience beyond 1 cup game and 21 games in League 2. Why weird? Because it is a view with absolutely no evidence based purely on wishful thinking. Thomas might become really good but it's madness to think or expect him to truly fill Ben's shoes any time soon.

You called the fans weird, not their views.

Just state you don't agree with them. It's better for the messageboard.

[ksrclaret]

Now, yes. Under the previous owners, much less so.

We followed the same model under the previous owners as well. Selling Austin, Trippier, Shackell, Keane, Gray etc provided additional funds to keep refreshing the squad.

By end there was total reluctance to do it again and we did become really stale. I suspect there were a number of reasons for that, but it massively contributed to the decline.

[dsr]

In the sixties and seventies we tried the approach of selling the best players, and that didn't work either. If we're looking for a model where the smallest and least wealthy club in the PL can consistently be better than 15% of the others, we'll be looking a long time. Money always wins in the end.

[taio]

We followed the same model under the previous owners as well. Selling Austin, Trippier, Shackell, Keane, Gray etc provided additional funds to keep refreshing the squad.

By end there was total reluctance to do it again and we did become really stale. I suspect there were a number of reasons for that, but it massively contributed to the decline.

We're they all sold while we were in the Championship? If so, a big difference. Selling Tarkowski, our best player and key to our survival hopes, would have been a big risk and a difficult balancing act. Presume that's what Dyche and the Board concluded.

[ksrclaret]

We're they all sold while we were in the Championship? If so, a big difference. Selling Tarkowski, our best player and key to our survival hopes, would have been a big risk and a difficult balancing act. Presume that's what Dyche and the Board concluded.

Keane and Gray were sold in the summer of 2017 in the PL. That allowed us to have probably our best transfer window and we ended up finishing 7th.

We absolutely needed to find some funds from somewhere during those last couple of PL years.

[bfcjg]

Time to make new heroes and legends, onwards and upwards.

[taio]

Keane and Gray were sold in the summer of 2017 in the PL. That allowed us to have probably our best transfer window and we ended up finishing 7th.

We absolutely needed to find some funds from somewhere during those last couple of PL years.

Tarkowski waiting in the wings to replace Keane, but I suppose supports your viewpoint. I think Tarkowski has played a critical role in us surviving in the PL for as long as we did and the riches that come with that.