Intended for last week before events overtook us - but here's my review of last season

See link
https://www.uptheclarets.com/a-wasted-season

Thanks Tony.
The thing I can't believe about last season is that Kompany honestly believed that that squad could keep us up, particularly as some of the previous season's stars ( Muric, Benson , Zaroury ) hardly got a look in. We just had to sign two or three experienced, Premier League players, but of course they cost a lot of money and you are not certain to turn a profit on them.

For me, relegation was inevitable from fairly early on.

By the way, there's a typo in Dara O'Shea's statistics.

lakedistrictclaret wrote: ↑

Tue May 28, 2024 3:19 pm

Thanks Tony.
The thing I can't believe about last season is that Kompany honestly believed that that squad could keep us up, particularly as some of the previous season's stars ( Muric, Benson , Zaroury ) hardly got a look in. We just had to sign two or three experienced, Premier League players, but of course they cost a lot of money and you are not certain to turn a profit on them.

For me, relegation was inevitable from fairly early on.

By the way, there's a typo in Dara O'Shea's statistics.

In terms of experience there must have been similar players to the likes of Craig Dawson who wouldn't have cost much

lakedistrictclaret wrote: ↑

Tue May 28, 2024 3:19 pm

Thanks Tony.
The thing I can't believe about last season is that Kompany honestly believed that that squad could keep us up, particularly as some of the previous season's stars ( Muric, Benson , Zaroury ) hardly got a look in. We just had to sign two or three experienced, Premier League players, but of course they cost a lot of money and you are not certain to turn a profit on them.

For me, relegation was inevitable from fairly early on.

By the way, there's a typo in Dara O'Shea's statistics.

The experienced players were there in either the PL or Championship and dont have to cost a fortune-both O@Shea and Berge came from the Championship, and maybe two of our better signings at a total cost of about £22m. Yet just two single players from abroad cost a probable combined £27m - Amdouini & Tresor. The focus seemed to be totally on young foreign players, and we all know they come at a risk

Summed up a lot of my thoughts there CT.

It was wasted season - no other way to write it. Utterly pointless in fact and why any notions of 'projects' or whatever are just fantasy... Yes medium-long term planning and contingency plans are important to have but when presented with an opportunity to remain in the PL then you have to take it with both hands.. Not write it off like we did and use youth and 'development' as an excuse.

lakedistrictclaret wrote: ↑

Tue May 28, 2024 3:19 pm

Thanks Tony.
The thing I can't believe about last season is that Kompany honestly believed that that squad could keep us up, particularly as some of the previous season's stars ( Muric, Benson , Zaroury ) hardly got a look in. We just had to sign two or three experienced, Premier League players, but of course they cost a lot of money and you are not certain to turn a profit on them.

For me, relegation was inevitable from fairly early on.

By the way, there's a typo in Dara O'Shea's statistics.

I know I walked away from Brentford and Bournemouth believing we were heading back down. We just weren't learning or simply just weren't good enough.

Error corrected thanks.

It’s so accurate it’s actually difficult to read without feeling totally ****** off …. Its the what could have been that’s so annoying … if only we had tweaked our championship winning team with some old heads and kept 3 more loan players I’m convinced we would have easily stayed up Zz we will never know now

Carlos the Great wrote: ↑

Tue May 28, 2024 3:51 pm

It’s so accurate it’s actually difficult to read without feeling totally ****** off …. Its the what could have been that’s so annoying … if only we had tweaked our championship winning team with some old heads and kept 3 more loan players I’m convinced we would have easily stayed up Zz we will never know now

We might have had a better stab at it.

Wasted - the best way to describe it.

A Pace wasted a chance to make millions on player trading and PL funding.
The fans wasted a season of watching amateurish team selections, baffling substitutions and strange formations.
V Kompany wasted a chance to show off his management skills but unbelievably came out of it smelling of roses.
Such a waste.

An inexperienced manager at this level
An inexperienced chairman at this level
A disaster waiting to happen - and it did
Good luck to whoever has to sort out this totally unbalanced squad

I spent the season wasted, it certainly helped with the trains home

Well written Tony, it's exactly how most of us have felt throughout.

He must have got a percentage on transfers. So many it's and out's. Not a cat in hell's chance of forging a team.

A very well written account of a hugely wasted campaign. Let’s hope the new direction to follow will offer help at the right time

Why do you think it took so many so long to realise that Kompany was not up to the job?

There were some really horrible moments on the board from both sides of the argument.

Well summed up. An absolute mess of a season from start to finish. I am just glad it is over with.

Have to put it behind us and move on now. UTC !

I have often wondered how far off we were this season in securing PL status. I certainly agree with a number of posters that we could have got more points but for the mis management in numerous areas. I know one thing for sure but the guy we parted with, SD , would have got us more than 24 points with that squad. He would have played the best of the two GK's and then found out the best back four and stuck with it. Everton, unbelievably had only 3 other PL clubs that let in less goals. It would not have been sexy football, but how often was Saturday night ruined by revisiting the same mistakes on the pitch. He would have got a better tune out of the players
At the start of the season I did my round up of other teams we might finish above, and who had a number of players not necessarily better than ours, and one of those was Palace. They have players like Clyne, Hughes, Ayew, Schlupp, Ward, who have all played regularly, and well past their best. But their purchases have been top notch in the past two years (they rarely spend big)-Olisse £8m,Eze £17m,Anderson £15m, Guehe £18m, Mateta £13m, Wharton £18m. Thats under £90m-and what did we spend.How much are these guys worth today. They have blended in well with the players already there, and in the last half dozen games were taking some big scalps in the PL

A wasted season, no doubt. We really had a great chance of staying up and pushing on.

It felt haphazard from the moment the recruitment started. Naive, complacent, expensive and seemingly now, self serving on Kompany’s part.

I’ve seen the lowest of times as a Burnley fan and perhaps I’ve forgotten just how bad it was, but I don’t recall a season that was so miserable from start to finish.

From it being a joy to watch us in the promotion season, last season it really felt like a chore to go to games.

Just having a flashback to that Villa game at home, second game of the season.

Never seen a team diced open like that at will in the first half. Villa got in behind so many times - literally unthinkable for a promoted team to just roll over like that in one of the home openers.

I can also recall finishing that game with JBL, Ramsey, JBG, Redmond all on the pitch interchanging and looking extremely feckless. Disaster.

While our performance wasn’t great, Villa put 4 past Everton in the match before, 5 past Hibs in the Europa Conference League and I think they battered Brighton not long after too, so it was hardly an outlier.

We have a Wall Street gambler as our Chairman with zero experience of running a football club. He managed to attract a huge name in football to manage the team and I think he was so awestruck that he went with everything VK said or did. Unfortunately the huge name has the same zero experience managing in the PL.

He sold the idea that he could sign countless young foreign players who could step up and make the grade in the PL and make huge profits. The Wall Street gambler was taken in by this. Now I don't know whether he was too blind to see what was happening, too in awe of VK or couldn't afford to make a change but he has over seen a **** show of a season and I fear we have a hell of a job to turn this around.

Interesting to hear just now that Saints are looking at bringing in some experience with their first two moves for new players. Danny Ings and Adam Lallana are the ones being mentioned-both of course have played for Saints before. If Danny can stay fit, he still knows where the net is, and can play a key part, even if just for his experience and impact around the squad

Does Kompany's quote that the Manchester City defeat on opening night would be the worst we'd be all season rank as the most idiotic of any Burnley manager?

I'm struggling to think of anything comparable.

warksclaret wrote: ↑

Tue May 28, 2024 7:17 pm

Interesting to hear just now that Saints are looking at bringing in some experience with their first two moves for new players. Danny Ings and Adam Lallana are the ones being mentioned-both of course have played for Saints before. If Danny can stay fit, he still knows where the net is, and can play a key part, even if just for his experience and impact around the squad

Risky in a different way. These 2 are both excellent footballers but they struggle to stay fit.

Good article and summary. Definitely a wasted season. Obvious to me after a few matches it wasn’t going to work. I’ve never missed so many matches out of choice as I just hated what I was seeing. No positive changes that most could see were needed. A stubborn manager and a chairman going along with everything. Almost looking forward to a fresh start.

Great article and on point.

If Kompany had learned from one of the worst seasons in Burnley's history and again taken us back to promotion, then maybe some of the pain was worth it. Maybe he could have grown with the team and moved us forward.

But now Kompany has left, in my view is wasted is an understatement, just glad we got compensation.

I am really disappointed and really wanted Kompany to become some thing here, looks like he only believed in one project and it wasn't us.

I only went to 3 games this season. All away. And I saw 40% of our wins.....

Herts Clarets wrote: ↑

Tue May 28, 2024 8:48 pm

I only went to 3 games this season. All away. And I saw 40% of our wins.....

Luton & Fulham ??

Really good read and sums up my feelings exactly. For me it was the Palace game at home when I came off thinking that was probably it, pessimistic sure, but we just didn't have the players to compete at this level.

The big thing for me though is looking at those appearances. Nathan Redmond, Luca Koleosho, Aaron Ramsey, injured for long periods of the season all made more appearances than Benson. Then add Zeki Amdouni making the amount of appearances he did....

Can't remember which game it was after but a huge rankle with me for this season was Kompany stating that every player had been given their opportunities. Probably the most bizarre of his mental comments this season.

Surely 24/25 can't be as bad...?

A season that was nothing more than an experiment to boost Kompanys ego. Like Tony said, a waste.

warksclaret wrote: ↑

Tue May 28, 2024 8:54 pm

Luton & Fulham ??

Yes. Along with Newcastle away.

Spijed wrote: ↑

Tue May 28, 2024 3:22 pm

In terms of experience there must have been similar players to the likes of Craig Dawson who wouldn't have cost much

Jonny Evans was on a free! Wages pretty bloody huge, taken for granted, but no fee and after searching for a club he was deemed good enough for Utd and has made a fair few appearances. Ridiculous we weren't interested..

Dark Cloud wrote: ↑

Tue May 28, 2024 9:33 pm

Jonny Evans was on a free! Wages pretty bloody huge, taken for granted, but no fee and after searching for a club he was deemed good enough for Utd and has made a fair few appearances. Ridiculous we weren't interested..

Andros Townsend is another big question mark on Kompany for me ?

A good overview of the season. It was often frustrating and an absolutely disappointing outcome to the season but not a completely wasted season. We were about where I expected us to be and some bad refereeing decisions let us down badly at key points. I’ve got no problem with VK persisting with certain player selections and tactics, he’d earned that right and shame it didn’t work out this season. No-one gets everything right. I’m sure VK, staff, owners, and the players have learned a lot from this and expect them to come back strong next season and it’ll hopefully serve us well when we’re back in the prem, so not wasted. Just hoping we make another good managerial appointment to work with this exciting young squad.

Why have Townsend for pre season and withdraw the contract? Potting Barnes at Middlesbrough, comments made by VK about him in the documentary would suggest he wasn’t keen on experienced professionals in the dressing room. Cork and JBG comments not positive about VK. Maybe VK lacked confidence in managing experienced pros.

Good write up on an utterly pointless season, especially after so much promise in the previous season. After being allowed to spend countless millions we then changed the team for one that was no better than last seasons. Clueless changes in teams and formations with weekly bizarre substitutions. Not to mention a young goalkeeper who struggled throughout until he was axed. How our manager was allowed to do this until the obvious relegation is beyond me. But then after all this incompetence Vincent Kompany is lured away to one of the biggest clubs in Europe.

The main disappointment for me was the team
that did so well in the championship .. we never got to see … so many dumb analaysts on tv and radio saying .. how come Burnley not doing what they did last season ? …. They are !!! But they playing for different teams now .. I don’t know this team

Signed Redmond who probably has more top flight experience than Townsend. Didn’t we offer contracts to Jay Rod and Taylor (when VK was still here…)?

Must have missed the JBG comments.

Carlos the Great wrote: ↑

Tue May 28, 2024 9:51 pm

The main disappointment for me was the team
that did so well in the championship .. we never got to see … so many dumb analaysts on tv and radio saying .. how come Burnley not doing what they did last season ? …. They are !!! But they playing for different teams now .. I don’t know this team

Early in the season my Boro mate text to say that the Boro team of last season would have done better than the promoted teams.

My reply was something along the lines that the Burnley team of last season would have done better than the promoted teams.

Excellent review Tony. Onwards and upwards.

Swizzlestick wrote: ↑

Tue May 28, 2024 9:54 pm

Must have missed the JBG comments.

I think he felt it was time to move on. nothing wrong with that.

All down to Pace who has ****** up the club. Disaster of a season and maybe worse to come.

fidelcastro wrote: ↑

Tue May 28, 2024 7:33 pm

Does Kompany's quote that the Manchester City defeat on opening night would be the worst we'd be all season rank as the most idiotic of any Burnley manager?

I'm struggling to think of anything comparable.

Saying we have a player at Turf Moor who will one day sell for £100 million seems equally far fetched right now.

boatshed bill wrote: ↑

Tue May 28, 2024 10:11 pm

I think he felt it was time to move on. nothing wrong with that.

Poor training and dressing room cliques

First game of the season spelled it out to me most of championship team watching from the bench and watching kids play who hadn't earned the right...

NL Claret wrote: ↑

Tue May 28, 2024 9:48 pm

Why have Townsend for pre season and withdraw the contract? Potting Barnes at Middlesbrough, comments made by VK about him in the documentary would suggest he wasn’t keen on experienced professionals in the dressing room. Cork and JBG comments not positive about VK. Maybe VK lacked confidence in managing experienced pros.

VK definitely says something in the documentary along the lines of wanting to get shut of Barnes because he perceived him to have too much influence in the dressing room. Moving Barnes on for footballing reasons I really didn't have a problem with at that point, but Kompany basically said he wanted him out because he felt his stature amongst the other players threatened his authority and I thought that was rather poor when I heard it. It's only a brief segment and I can't remember exactly what Kompany says.

NL Claret wrote: ↑

Tue May 28, 2024 9:48 pm

Why have Townsend for pre season and withdraw the contract? Potting Barnes at Middlesbrough, comments made by VK about him in the documentary would suggest he wasn’t keen on experienced professionals in the dressing room. Cork and JBG comments not positive about VK. Maybe VK lacked confidence in managing experienced pros.

I seem to remember Troy Townsend (Andros' dad) briefly talking about it on the Guardian Football Weekly podcast last summer.

He said Andros was devastated not to be kept on and that it was along the lines of Burnley having so many young and talented wingers. In the end they thought Townsend might get in the way /reduce the amont of playing time for them / hold them back a bit.

We also had an experienced winger in Redmond which I imagine was also a factor.

I wouldn't say it was a wasted season that's a bit OTT. i would say it was a disappointing season but we need take into account that we had the youngest manager and squad in the Premier League which gained some much needed experience playing against the best teams in the world and if we can keep these players, then we have some real gems on our hands now. Moving forward, we could be in a very good position.

It's hard to believe that VK thought the team that faced City would be good enough. Or that a high press 4-3-3 would work in the PL. It's equally hard to believe that he decided to ignore more senior players like Brownhill and Taylor at the beginning of the season. And Cork throughout the season.

Hard to believe we ended up with 36 first team players and yet still ended up playing 4 loanees for much of the last third of the season. And to top it off, paying £18 million for Tresor at the end of the season.

It's quite clear, that both Alan Pace and VK bought into the project so much they almost seemed to have forgotten there is a real world out there that doesn't conform to whatever ideas they have going through their heads.

Just how good or bad this season has been we probably won't know until Christmas. If we get a good new manager who starts to manage the club properly and we can keep the squad together it could be regarded as a valuable learning experience. And if Alan Pace can become less of a player commodity broker and more of a community club owner he will be part of the solution.

Big 'ifs' though...! Billionaires can afford periods of being stupid and reckless not so sure about the rest of us.

A disappointing period but not wasted. There is a big positive from 2 years ago in terms of numbers and age of squad for a start. There is lots of potential as we move forward. It’s a win or learn thing for me, we won the season before and learned last season.

Vinnie was clearly looking after his brand and played his system to suit his own personal progression rather than the immediate future of the club. However, I think he has helped us pick up some good players with potential and so you could argue that by default he has improved the club’s image and potential. Very easy to brand things as wasted when they don’t quite work much like many things I hear in modern life.