Parker appreciation

[NewClaret]

Nice to see Parker start to get the credit he deserves.

I’ve been hugely impressed with him since day one.

[Burnleyareback2]

Put 4 otherwise everyone will know it’s a knock off

Fair point. I don’t want to look like a **ob!

[SouthLondonexile]

Well I have the utmost respect for him.
There are two qualities I particularly like about him are his good manners and his intelligence.

[NewClaret]

Well I have the utmost respect for him.
There are two qualities I particularly like about him are his good manners and his intelligence.

I also really like his humility.

[Longsider]

Well I have the utmost respect for him.
There are two qualities I particularly like about him are his good manners and his intelligence.

Nice coat too

[CrosspoolClarets]

It has taken a long time for Parker to learn that managing Burnley is different from managing Fulham or Bournemouth (neither of whom have ever won anything of significance and it trickles into the culture of the club).

But since the end of January our style has improved and as long as it stays that way and doesn’t get too pragmatic I’m happy to see him continue next season (pre February I’ve been saying promotion or the sack, due to style concerns).

But of course his general decency and leadership qualities have always been good.

[Rowls]

Hi guys. I'm late to the party. Anyone still sober?

Yeah, I've not been enamoured with the style of play but 27 game unbeaten is above average. In fact I'd go so far to say that it's actually good.

Whooooooooooooooooop

[Row x]

It has taken a long time for Parker to learn that managing Burnley is different from managing Fulham or Bournemouth (neither of whom have ever won anything of significance and it trickles into the culture of the club).

But since the end of January our style has improved and as long as it stays that way and doesn’t get too pragmatic I’m happy to see him continue next season (pre February I’ve been saying promotion or the sack, due to style concerns).

But of course his general decency and leadership qualities have always been good.

If we win the league or get promoted, those 0.0 games might just be the reason, too attacking in those games could have resulted in defeats

[pauliopaulio]

Taken a while for the great unwashed to get onboard, but they’re here now I suppose.

There’s a lot of revisionism going on in this thread.

The post-January Parker’s Burnley is very, very different from the pre-January Parker’s Burnley.

The turgid, sideways, safe football we all sat through looks (fingers crossed) to be worth it, especially now we’re playing some real front-foot football. But I disagree with the insinuation that there was an “enlightened” bunch of fans who knew exactly where we were heading drawing 0-0 with Stoke at home whilst the “great unwashed” (including me) were unhappy.

What I would agree with is the team of the last 3 months is one that demonstrates the fight, belief and skill that makes me proud of them.

[Devils_Advocate]

Parkers has had the luxury of managing the best Burnley squad outside the top tier for at least 40 years so promotion should be the bare minimum requirement. That said Parker cant do anything more than actually get us promoted so if we come in the top two then its job done and full marks to the manager

What I would say is that we assess Scott Parker on what he does next season (if we do go up) and not on him taking getting promoted with arguably the best squad.

Kompany started in a far worse position two years ago and walked the Championship but fell well short in the Premier League. Parker with a better squad has made more hard work of the Championship but the hope is that his more pragmatic style will see him past the real test of surviving next season

If Parker gets us promoted and keeps us up then in my opinion he will have done amazing and well outshone Kompany. In contrast if we struggle and go down next season I hope it wakes a few of you up to the nonsense around how bad Kompany managed us last year

[Wile E Coyote]

He has done a remarkable job , been said before about the mess he inherited squad wise, but to be where we are with just 6 remaining games is strong stuff.
Its a hugely competitive division, and managers just have to deal with how well adjusted the ownership and finances are at the time they arrive. Scott Parker has gone way beyond expectations, he is clearly and genuinely proud of the players efforts, and never fails to credit them.
Top notch appointment, and top notch coach. Phenomenal achievement.

[ElectroClaret]

Done a great job, particularly when you take into account that he had the nucleus
of the squad flogged out from under him two games into the season.

Magnificent effort.

[Devils_Advocate]

Done a great job, particularly when you take into account that he had the nucleus
of the squad flogged out from under him two games into the season.

Magnificent effort.

He really didnt. In the week from hell the panic was that we would lose Trafford, Roberts, Esteve, Brownhill, Koleosho, Foster but in the end we only really lost Amdouni (was nevr staying) and Vitinho.

We lost Pope, Mee, Collins, Tarks, McNeill, Cornet when we went down the previous time and no one goes on how that squad was ripped apart. When you go down you lose your best players like those above or last time the likes of Odobert, Berge, Amdouni and O'Shea but the reality was in that last week of the transfer window 90% of the players rumoured to be going actually stayed and gave us a squad that should be well above Championship level

[Bullabill]

Sheep. The world's full of them.

And they taste good.

[RVclaret]

He really didnt. In the week from hell the panic was that we would lose Trafford, Roberts, Esteve, Brownhill, Koleosho, Foster but in the end we only really lost Amdouni (was nevr staying) and Vitinho.

We lost Pope, Mee, Collins, Tarks, McNeill, Cornet when we went down the previous time and no one goes on how that squad was ripped apart. When you go down you lose your best players like those above or last time the likes of Odobert, Berge, Amdouni and O'Shea but the reality was in that last week of the transfer window 90% of the players rumoured to be going actually stayed and gave us a squad that should be well above Championship level

The difference between the two, I felt, was how late and sudden all the outgoings were. The 2022 summer we knew well in advance of Pope, Mee and Tarks, while also having a fairly strong assumption of the other three - in the end the sales all happened before the first game of the season.

Last summer there were two weeks where it felt anyone would leave. JBG re-signed then left, which summed it up. Players like Benson, Zaroury and Vitinho were suggested to have refused to play. I’ve seen around 5 interviews from either players or staff at the club and they all stress it was absolute turmoil at the time. Twitter and this board were rife with rumours about Koleosho, Foster, Esteve, Brownhill… that leaked player list from the academy guy. What about all the player friendships damaged behind the scenes?

Yes, in the end some stayed, but it’s a fact that at Leeds 7 new players were in the first 11, vs at Sunderland - that’s mental at 6 games in. Foster was missing for 2-3 months and Jay Rod (now in L1) & Hountondji were starting / featuring every game. The only game changing sub for months upon months was Sarmiento - fact. The squad since Edwards came in (even then Parker had criticism from some saying he should have started immediately, despite not playing all season and being a high injury risk) and players have recovered from injuries has been very strong, but let’s not pretend it’s been like that all season, it hasn’t. The main point here is seeing comments from the likes of Roberts saying it’s the best group he’s ever been in, speaks volumes to the job Parker has done bringing them together, in my view.

[Guller Bull]

Parkers has had the luxury of managing the best Burnley squad outside the top tier for at least 40 years so promotion should be the bare minimum requirement. That said Parker cant do anything more than actually get us promoted so if we come in the top two then its job done and full marks to the manager

What I would say is that we assess Scott Parker on what he does next season (if we do go up) and not on him taking getting promoted with arguably the best squad.

Kompany started in a far worse position two years ago and walked the Championship but fell well short in the Premier League. Parker with a better squad has made more hard work of the Championship but the hope is that his more pragmatic style will see him past the real test of surviving next season

If Parker gets us promoted and keeps us up then in my opinion he will have done amazing and well outshone Kompany. In contrast if we struggle and go down next season I hope it wakes a few of you up to the nonsense around how bad Kompany managed us last year

Pretty much sums up where I am at. By and large I’m not a fan of the style we play and even the time wasting/“game management”which seems to be an accepted part of the modern game.

What I will say is that he does appear to have a good moral base and has seemed to engendered a great team spirit. If he gets up he will have done the job I expected him to do.The acid test then will be next season.

[Pickles]

Everything we're saying about Parker, we were saying (or should've been) about Kompany two seasons ago. Seems people don't like to remember how simply superb that Championship season was because of what followed it.

He had to rebuild a mess of a squad, he had to increase morale after relegation and he had us playing the most tactically advanced football we've played in decades. He brought in exciting players to sell on for profit - a transfer policy far removed from the one which Dyche rightly got criticised for. He came across really well in interviews and there was a connection between him and the fans. There was no criticisms of him having a big ego until we started losing games the season after. (and how we lost games)

If Parker appears out of his depth in the Premier League (and let's face it, it's highly possible) then it doesn't make his season in the Championship with us any less impressive. And we can say he's doing an excellent job without including revisionism of what happened before his time here.

[Quicknick]

It has taken a long time for Parker to learn that managing Burnley is different from managing Fulham or Bournemouth (neither of whom have ever won anything of significance and it trickles into the culture of the club).

But since the end of January our style has improved and as long as it stays that way and doesn’t get too pragmatic I’m happy to see him continue next season (pre February I’ve been saying promotion or the sack, due to style concerns).

But of course his general decency and leadership qualities have always been good.

I don't think it's taken him long, at all. He had to start from scratch after early season sales and looked at the players he had and played accordingly. If he'd been able to buy Edwards at the beginning of the season, assuming he stayed fit, we'd have almost won the league by now.

[agreenwood]

It feels like we’ve done this to death now (including the discussions around writing the 22-23 out of the history books), but I’ve grown to like Parker.

The football early on was very dull. The worry was that a) it wouldn’t evolve into something more entertaining and b) we’d continue to drop too many points to be in contention for automatic promotion. Both of those fears have dissipated for me since the turn of the year. In hindsight I just didn’t give him the patience required for the job he’d inherited.

All of the above provides no guarantee of promotion and we still might well be playing Championship football next season. The difference is that I’m now happy for him to continue next season, even if we miss out on promotion. If we do stay down we’re almost certainly looking at another revolving door of players, and if we’ve learned anything this season, it’s that he’s adept at coping with that.

[dandeclaret]

Everything we're saying about Parker, we were saying (or should've been) about Kompany two seasons ago. Seems people don't like to remember how simply superb that Championship season was because of what followed it.

He had to rebuild a mess of a squad, he had to increase morale after relegation and he had us playing the most tactically advanced football we've played in decades. He brought in exciting players to sell on for profit - a transfer policy far removed from the one which Dyche rightly got criticised for. He came across really well in interviews and there was a connection between him and the fans. There was no criticisms of him having a big ego until we started losing games the season after. (and how we lost games)

If Parker appears out of his depth in the Premier League (and let's face it, it's highly possible) then it doesn't make his season in the Championship with us any less impressive. And we can say he's doing an excellent job without including revisionism of what happened before his time here.

For clarity, from my perspective, the Komoanu championship season was incredible. Without question one of the most enjoyable, and impressive seasons of all time. It was built on those strong values that have served the club well over the last 10-15 years. However, what followed in the summer and the following season was reckless abandon. The club lost its values, lost its identity and followed the. Mistakes many clubs make. The thing that had set Burnley apart was bucking the trend. I’ll repeat what i said earlier, losing is acceptable….. they’re going to be small fish in a big pond, but be smart about that, don’t think you can act like a big fish…. Cos you’ll just not compete.

[Colburn_Claret]

There's a bit of speculation there. Fans will never know what it was like behind the scenes last season. Kompany's decision to not play players like Taylor and Zaroury (for reasons unknown) seems to be a pretty valid one in hindsight. One's not getting into one of the worst Premier League sides in history and the other has been in and out at Lens after a lacklustre loan at Hull.

Like I said - morale drops when results are rubbish. Shock horror.

Team spirit was strong the last time we were in the Championship. It's strong now. Kompany also had to increase morale and rebuild a side when he arrived.

We don't know Parker/Pace's approach if and when we're promoted again. It seems an unfair comparison.

Hopefully we make it another successful season and we get to see Parker manage us in the Prem and maybe some lessons will have been learned.

But it wouldn't surprise me if we hear stories about "morale dropping" etc if/when we lose games in the Prem. It's what happens.

You obviously haven't watched MtoB2.
You would never have seen players having a go at each other when SD was in charge. Never have seen SD berating players, for rightly standing up for their team mates. Never seen SD effing and blinding at the team, because HIS tactics were a disaster.
Happy to take the plaudits when it's successful, but it's all the players fault when it goes wrong.

The last promotion was a joy, and up there as one of our greatest ever seasons, but I hope VK never comes near our club again. We are well rid.

[Pickles]

You obviously haven't watched MtoB2.
You would never have seen players having a go at each other when SD was in charge. Never have seen SD berating players, for rightly standing up for their team mates. Never seen SD effing and blinding at the team, because HIS tactics were a disaster.
Happy to take the plaudits when it's successful, but it's all the players fault when it goes wrong.

The last promotion was a joy, and up there as one of our greatest ever seasons, but I hope VK never comes near our club again. We are well rid.

Do you genuinely believe Sean Dyche never swore at his players? That players didn't have a go at each other? That Dyche never berated his players? Of course he did. We just didn't see it and is it any wonder when fans hype it up to something it isn't.

What happened between Kompany and Gudmundsson will happen on training grounds up and down the country week in week out. Were players miffed? Probably. But let's not pretend Saint Dyche never ****** a player off in his time.

[Pickles]

For clarity, from my perspective, the Komoanu championship season was incredible. Without question one of the most enjoyable, and impressive seasons of all time. It was built on those strong values that have served the club well over the last 10-15 years. However, what followed in the summer and the following season was reckless abandon. The club lost its values, lost its identity and followed the. Mistakes many clubs make. The thing that had set Burnley apart was bucking the trend. I’ll repeat what i said earlier, losing is acceptable….. they’re going to be small fish in a big pond, but be smart about that, don’t think you can act like a big fish…. Cos you’ll just not compete.

Agreed. Hopefully Pace has learnt some lessons if we're fortunate to be promoted again.

[Burnley1989]

What I would agree with is the team of the last 3 months is one that demonstrates the fight, belief and skill that makes me proud of them.

Weve had that since day 1, i dont think anybody can doubt the fight in this team.

[RVclaret]

Do you genuinely believe Sean Dyche never swore at his players? That players didn't have a go at each other? That Dyche never berated his players? Of course he did. We just didn't see it and is it any wonder when fans hype it up to something it isn't.

What happened between Kompany and Gudmundsson will happen on training grounds up and down the country week in week out. Were players miffed? Probably. But let's not pretend Saint Dyche never ****** a player off in his time.

Obv this doesn’t represent every club by any means, but I recall Carragher and Neville discussing it on the Overlap and saying they had rarely seen it like that in their careers.

[NewClaret]

For clarity, from my perspective, the Komoanu championship season was incredible. Without question one of the most enjoyable, and impressive seasons of all time. It was built on those strong values that have served the club well over the last 10-15 years. However, what followed in the summer and the following season was reckless abandon. The club lost its values, lost its identity and followed the. Mistakes many clubs make. The thing that had set Burnley apart was bucking the trend. I’ll repeat what i said earlier, losing is acceptable….. they’re going to be small fish in a big pond, but be smart about that, don’t think you can act like a big fish…. Cos you’ll just not compete.

I’m not sure I understand this or agree with it if I do.

What we did that summer was pretty much the same as we’d done the summer prior in terms of player turnaround. I don’t remember too many complaining about the new signings at the time (a couple did see what was coming, but most, myself included, were enjoying seeing the squad strengthening and optimistic for the season ahead).

I don’t think you can say we ‘abandoned our values’ by following the same strategy for the 22/23 summer in the following window post promotion. Or playing the same way as we’d done romping the league the year prior.

As for acting like a big fish I’m not sure what they did was acting big enough, in hindsight. They were signing players in the £10-15m range generally (Ramsey, Amdouni, Tresor), but many like Massengo, Redmond, Delcroix were free or a couple of £m. When you look at most established premier league clubs now, there’s a £20m baseline. Bournemouth are signing £40m strikers and £25m midfielders. This summer Ipswich signed several players for £20m+ and are still only on 20 points. They might not even hit our 24 points.

If anything, I’d say we didn’t act ‘big fish’ enough and we should’ve splashed out the money on fewer but higher quality players.

That’ll be Parkers biggest challenge next season if we go up. How does he raise the standard to the level required for the premier league, which is basically like a different sport to what we’re playing now, without bankrupting us or destroying the team spirit again.

[warksclaret]

For those on here STILL not convinced about Parker just to quote a claret legend "we are Burnley, not Barcelona".

Alan Pace deserves a huge amount of praise for not only picking Parker, who I believe is not only the perfect fit for our club, but also praise for Pace dodging a bullet with the likes of Nistelroy, Cooper, and Lampard. No way these three could have sorted out the revolving door of 40 PLUS outgoings and incomings right on the eve of the new season, and then kept us in the promotion race virtually all season.

[Hibsclaret]

Them 3 clowns would have been making excuses about it all season and would have been potted already with us mid table

[boyyanno]

There’s a lot of revisionism going on in this thread.

The post-January Parker’s Burnley is very, very different from the pre-January Parker’s Burnley.

The turgid, sideways, safe football we all sat through looks (fingers crossed) to be worth it, especially now we’re playing some real front-foot football. But I disagree with the insinuation that there was an “enlightened” bunch of fans who knew exactly where we were heading drawing 0-0 with Stoke at home whilst the “great unwashed” (including me) were unhappy.

What I would agree with is the team of the last 3 months is one that demonstrates the fight, belief and skill that makes me proud of them.

I'd say the people who said we were improving slowly across the season and that Parker needed time have been proved 100 percent correct.

[warksclaret]

If we go up Parker will have the trust of Pace in making the right purchases. We know he was instrumental in Anthony and Edwards being recruited-absolutely top drawer players for us in the Championship. I also suspect Humphreys too. Two other recruits he may have targeted were Worrall and Laurent-maybe not regular PL players, but great team players. I don't think we will get Kompany's scatter gun approach in going for a large group of players with indifferent talents. He has also proved he has that"pulling power" which influence players to join us

[NottsClaret]

Still got opinions swinging wildly based on the most recent 90 minutes of football. He’s currently got us roughly where we should be. That’s been the case for months, however the football has been played.

Can’t we just hold on for a few more weeks before throwing out the ‘I told you so’ line from either side. It’s going to the wire. If we’re on the right side of it, he’ll deserve the credit he gets. If we’re not, he’ll have blown our last, best chance of returning to top flight football and we’ll face a fairly uncertain financial future.

That’s the thing with football, it’s an entirely results business and Parker will be judged on whether we’re 0.1% above or below the line at the end of that last match.

[THEWELLERNUT70]

As I said way back at the end of October on here Scotty was still effectively in a preseason phase given what happened at the end of August. Anyone with even a slither of patience could see what he was trying to implement and things were only ever going to improve results and performance wise, but there's a lot of modern football fans who simply don't have the patience and want every done immediately

I for one was one of a few who was very happy with the appointment of Parker as opposed to the other offerings muted at the time

[billyhamilton82]

Still got opinions swinging wildly based on the most recent 90 minutes of football. He’s currently got us roughly where we should be. That’s been the case for months, however the football has been played.

Can’t we just hold on for a few more weeks before throwing out the ‘I told you so’ line from either side. It’s going to the wire. If we’re on the right side of it, he’ll deserve the credit he gets. If we’re not, he’ll have blown our last, best chance of returning to top flight football and we’ll face a fairly uncertain financial future.

That’s the thing with football, it’s an entirely results business and Parker will be judged on whether we’re 0.1% above or below the line at the end of that last match.

The reason for the positive thread is that Parker and the unwarranted criticism he has regularly received with negative threads continually posted on here even going into as recent as January/February.

Whatever happens he has created a record breaking team that no-one, even the negative/Leeds fans on here can take away from him/us.

12 goals conceded in 40 games is remarkable in itself and breaks all records in the history of football !!

We are also closing in on our own club record of 30 games unbeaten, which I for one, never thought we would get near ever since I saw the brass plaque commemorating the 1920/21 team in the old players tunnel 50 years ago.

All the tosh that he didn't have his squad ripped away from him as we prepared for the Sunderland game, is just that, tosh.

This has been a remarkable season even without taking into account the difficulties and I don't think we will fully appreciate it until we look back.

I understand it isn't job done but IMO he deserves some credit whatever happens, not only for the records but the way he has calmly gone about his work without any historyonics and created the best team spirit I have known at BFC.

"He’s currently got us roughly where we should be"

Top of the league, I assume that's roughly where you think we should be?

To base the whole season on promotion seems almost like a spoilt child who demands the best toy without appreciating the cost.

Sadly we seem to have evolved into a mollycoddled and spoilt fanbase.

[warksclaret]

Well said BH-my opinion of SP will not change if we miss auto by whisker. He for me has excelled in his challenge. He has the togetherness of the squad going into the final 6-something that Leeds or Sheff Utd may not have, and that's been achieved over 40 games and the incredible records we keep breaking

[NottsClaret]

The reason for the positive thread is that Parker and the unwarranted criticism he has regularly received with negative threads continually posted on here even going into as recent as January/February.

Whatever happens he has created a record breaking team that no-one, even the negative/Leeds fans on here can take away from him/us.

12 goals conceded in 40 games is remarkable in itself and breaks all records in the history of football !!

We are also closing in on our own club record of 30 games unbeaten, which I for one, never thought we would get near ever since I saw the brass plaque commemorating the 1920/21 team in the old players tunnel 50 years ago.

All the tosh that he didn't have his squad ripped away from him as we prepared for the Sunderland game, is just that, tosh.

This has been a remarkable season even without taking into account the difficulties and I don't think we will fully appreciate it until we look back.

I understand it isn't job done but IMO he deserves some credit whatever happens, not only for the records but the way he has calmly gone about his work without any historyonics and created the best team spirit I have known at BFC.

"He’s currently got us roughly where we should be"

Top of the league, I assume that's roughly where you think we should be?

To base the whole season on promotion seems almost like a spoilt child who demands the best toy without appreciating the cost.

Sadly we seem to have evolved into a mollycoddled and spoilt fanbase.

Yeah, with our wage bill and expenditure on the squad, first or second is where we should be. So we’re on track. That’s good, he’s doing what he should do. It’s not entitled to think that. League positions very often mirror wage bills. It makes headlines when it doesn’t, ie Man Utd or Forest this season.

All talk about unbeaten runs and clean sheets will be statistical curiosities if we don’t get promoted. If we do get over the line, they’ll be the icing on the cake and something to remember.

It’s brutal, but what happens in the next 6 games will define the job he’s done.

[boyyanno]

Yeah, with our wage bill and expenditure on the squad, first or second is where we should be. So we’re on track. That’s good, he’s doing what he should do. It’s not entitled to think that. League positions very often mirror wage bills. It makes headlines when it doesn’t, ie Man Utd or Forest this season.

All talk about unbeaten runs and clean sheets will be statistical curiosities if we don’t get promoted. If we do get over the line, they’ll be the icing on the cake and something to remember.

It’s brutal, but what happens in the next 6 games will define the job he’s done.

You can see the ones that are at pains to admit Parker is doing a good job a mile off.

Aye he's just doing "what he should do". It's embarrassing that some folk can't offer praise.

[CoolClaret]

He brought in exciting players to sell on for profit - a transfer policy far removed from the one which Dyche rightly got criticised for.

This myth again.

[Pickles]

This myth again.

Myth?

Dyche got criticised for not taking advantage of cheaper European markets, choosing instead to sign players like Dale Stephens and Peter Crouch. Garlick probably had something to do with that too, granted. But Kompany signed young players from Europe, developed them and sold them on. Not sure what's so mythical about that.

[CoolClaret]

If we’re not, he’ll have blown our last, best chance of returning to top flight football and we’ll face a fairly uncertain financial future.

... and who's fault would that be?

[CoolClaret]

Myth?

Dyche got criticised for not taking advantage of cheaper European markets, choosing instead to sign players like Dale Stephens and Peter Crouch. Garlick probably had something to do with that too, granted. But Kompany signed young players from Europe, developed them and sold them on. Not sure what's so mythical about that.

Dyche has said it himself - it was about mitigating risk with the signings due to the limited scouting knowledge that we had/budget constraints at the time.

I must have been imagining Micheal Keane, Dwight McNeil, Andre Gray, Chris Wood, and Nick Pope, as well as players who signed for peanuts and ended up playing/staying for 5+ years, more than paying off the fees for their recruitment - Gudmundsson, Tarky, Lowton, Arfield, Taylor, Barnes... the list goes on.

Dyche also developed players that Howe signed that we either sold for decent money (Trippier) or in the case of Mee/Vokes stayed for so long were an integral part of our success.

[boyyanno]

Myth?

Dyche got criticised for not taking advantage of cheaper European markets, choosing instead to sign players like Dale Stephens and Peter Crouch. Garlick probably had something to do with that too, granted. But Kompany signed young players from Europe, developed them and sold them on. Not sure what's so mythical about that.

The Myth is that Dyche didn't sign young exciting players and
develop and sell them on (Which is exactly what you posted). He absolutely did, McNeil, Pope, Tarks, Keane, Gray all sold for profits and all developed.

Then you've got the slightly older ones, Heaton, Cork who became England internationals. The others like Taylor, Arfield who became PL players.

Then there were also some old heads like Stephens and Crouch, but also like Peiters who were useful signings.

Dyche signed a mixture of players when there was investment in the team, he signed the ones he thought he could mould into a team to stay in the PL. The majority of this board and our fanbase would much rather us get closer to that kind of recruitment than just trying to spin a profit.

[daveisaclaret]

He's doing a really good job. Don't think the Fulham or Bournemouth fans' views are wrong but we're the best team and he's got us top of the league.

We've turned a corner since Edwards came into the team in a way we probably didn't need to in order to get promoted, but has got us consistently playing football that's actually worth watching.

Personally think all bets are up once we go up and next season is likely to bring similar results to last season. But that won't be Parker's fault.

[Conroy92]

People saying they don't like the way we play.

Top of the league.
27 undefeated.
On track for 100 points plus.

We used to celebrate and actually cheer on shithouse football under Dyche, since Kompany a lot of you lot became weird.

In the event we finish in the playoffs and get beat.

Parker will finish the season with a team that has the best defence in league history
27 undefeated as a minimum
90 points plus

If I told any supporter at the start of the season we would achieve those feats you would have snapped my hand off and thought they guaranteed promotion.

This is why I can't stand the. If we don't go up Parker has failed.
If we don't go up we have to accept that this season there were two better sides than us.

I'll remind you that after the window shut. Most people thought Leeds and Sheffield's teams were better than ours and thought we'd be competing and ultimately loosing out to them. Yet here we are.

The reality is there's a bunch who didn't want Parker and that bunch don't want to be won over by this football. It's just that there finding it hard to actually give any reasons why apart from, we got a lot of draws at one point.

It's a good job we did get draws and not losses isn't it. As a few points is going to make all the difference.
But you anti parker boys don't look at it that way.

[Steddyman]

He really didnt. In the week from hell the panic was that we would lose Trafford, Roberts, Esteve, Brownhill, Koleosho, Foster but in the end we only really lost Amdouni (was nevr staying) and Vitinho.

We lost Pope, Mee, Collins, Tarks, McNeill, Cornet when we went down the previous time and no one goes on how that squad was ripped apart. When you go down you lose your best players like those above or last time the likes of Odobert, Berge, Amdouni and O'Shea but the reality was in that last week of the transfer window 90% of the players rumoured to be going actually stayed and gave us a squad that should be well above Championship level

He really did.

Berge, Odobert, O'Shea, Muric, Al'Dakhil, Vitinho, Zaroury, Weghorst, Amdouni I would argue were some of our strongest players.

[MansfieldHighClaret]

In fairness, after seeing our team soundly beaten at Sunderland, I think our Manager has managed the fall-out remarkably well, intergrated the new players and built a superb team ethic and feeling throughout our team. His playing style differs so much from our previous Manager, however, top of the league, peaking at the right time and six great matches to look forward too. For me, I think he has done a magnificent job.

[Elizabeth]

If he sees this through it will be a praiseworthy achievement indeed. We moved a big step nearer automatic on Saturday with promotion firmly in our own hands now
I'd expect most fans will be firmly behind Parker for the rest of the season whether they were before or not.

[billyhamilton82]

"I'd expect most fans will be firmly behind Parker for the rest of the season whether they were before or not."

Its a ridiculous statement to suggest that some fans might still not be behind the manager at this stage, but it seems, sadly you are correct.

[Guller Bull]

Anyway crack on SP and the boys and get us promoted.

Let’s get behind that.

[claretspice]

For clarity, from my perspective, the Komoanu championship season was incredible. Without question one of the most enjoyable, and impressive seasons of all time. It was built on those strong values that have served the club well over the last 10-15 years. However, what followed in the summer and the following season was reckless abandon. The club lost its values, lost its identity and followed the. Mistakes many clubs make. The thing that had set Burnley apart was bucking the trend. I’ll repeat what i said earlier, losing is acceptable….. they’re going to be small fish in a big pond, but be smart about that, don’t think you can act like a big fish…. Cos you’ll just not compete.

I think what happened after we won the league two years ago was that we got carried away and weren't humble enough about what the next season would inevitably be like. It was always a risk because Kompany had absolutely no experience of struggling in a league season. He'd always been competing at the top end as a player and whilst he'd had a couple of mid-table seasons at Anderlecht, he'd still never been towards them bottom - and then he came to Burnley and set fire to the Championship at the first attempt, Pace was completely overawed by him as were Kompany's backroom team (at that time) and so there was absolutely no counterweight to Kompany's worldview shaped entirely by success.

As a result, the way we approached recruitment failed to accept the reality that as a newly promoted team we would struggle, 17th would be a success and we needed the squad to be resilient to what it means to go on a losing streak, and to be capable of moments of pragmatism to get a toe hold in games. That was evident in the sheer turnover of players that made it almost impossible to build a team spirit (particularly with players who'd been pushed aside still in the squad), the failure to bring in enough experience or leadership, and the fact we signed two or three players (Amdouni and Tresor in particular) who were always likely to be ill-suited to a relegation battle whilst they adapted to English football. We signed lots of young players who had undoubted potential, and had Dyche signed two or three equivalent players to bolt onto the very experienced and well drilled dressig room he'd had 4 years earlier, our "project" might have gone from strength to strength. But here we were grafting them onto a much flimsier backbone and it didn't work as a result.

Perhaps that's what ultimately makes Parker a better fit for Burnley. if he gets Burnley promoted then I think the job he's done will be the equal of what Kompany achieved two years ago, but he might be more likely to build something lasting. He's not had everything his own way and he has struggled at times as both a player and in his early days in management: his first address to the players, as per the club video series, was really powerful about their shared point to prove. I'm sure he's ambitious as a manager but I sense he's learned the hard way not to be in too much of a hurry, and not to be too rigidly fixed to a certain philosophy and I think that might ultimately be to our benefit.

[HurstGrangeClaret]

I really don’t understand the grudging admiration for SP among some posters.
He inherited a difficult situation and has worked wonders in steadying the team and gradually building us up to the position we are now in.
If we manage to get promoted, I feel far more confident that SP will make a better fist of it than VK did, and that is taking nothing away from the amazing season VK gave us. He just didn’t do a good job in the Premiership.