Burnley Fan View: Sean Dyche should be manager of the season

With Manchester City securing the Premier League title earlier last Sunday, many believe manager Pep Guardiola will win the Premier League Manager of the Season award – but Dyche is more deserving in my opinion.

Of course I am biased in my views, but I have also had the benefit of watching our games this season, so I have a pretty good idea of what Dyche has achieved, but more importantly, what he has achieved it with.

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Take the Manchester City team last season, finishing in 3rd with 78 points after they never really got going under Pep, in his first season. Meanwhile Burnley ended the season in 16th, with 40 points. Never really threatened by relegation but a slow end to the season meant our position looks closer to the trap door than it was.

Fast forward to this year and Man City steamroll the Premier League, winning it with 5 games to spare. They are looking a good bet to exceed Chelsea’s 95pt haul in 2005, which is the current record points total.

Burnley meanwhile sit in 7th as I type, with 53pts. 13 More than last season with 3 games to come, and an outside possibility of 6th place on the cards. A position increase of 9 places which will net Burnley over £20m in extra prize money this season.

Both managers have undoutedly improved their teams fortunes this season, but next lets look at what changed season on season and how they managed to carry out their respective turnarounds.

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Manchester City signed a number of players, some of which have heavily contributed to their success this year. Ederson (36m), B. Silva (44m), Laporte (57m) and Kyle Walker (46m) to name four. Their spending totalled well over £200m in the end, including January additions.

This is hefty investment on top of an already well oiled machine. However Pep has clearly worked hard to bring his footballing style into the club and the difference we can see in the likes of Raheem Sterling is telling. The depth of squad is the biggest change this year for City, allowing them to compete in multiple competitions for most of the season.

Compare this to Burnley, who had to face up to losing star centre back Michael Keane as well as talisman Andre Gray before the season began. Keane was replaced by another squad member in Tarkowski, whilst Chris Wood was brought in from Championship club Leeds to replace Gray. Other purchases were largely for squad depth, other than Aaron Lennon, a £1.5m purchase in January.

Man City haven’t really had to cope with much injury issues this season, and even if they did, their second best squad would comfortably beat most sides in the league. Compare this to Burnley who saw a number of first team players miss significant time. Tom Heaton, Stephen Ward, Steven Defour, Robbie Brady and Chris Wood all spent time on the touchline this season. These are all influential figures for Burnley.

The difference between the Managers is Dyche’s ability to manage through these situations and ensuring that any players coming into the match day squad understand their role and feel comfortable with our playing style. Every single backup has come in and been super for us, which is testament to the training and understanding we have between what is a small squad by Premier League standards. Burnley qualifying for Europe was longer odds than City winning the league, and Pep has had far more wallet to throw at that pursuit.

Dyche works his players so hard and gets every ounce out of then because they all share one goal and work as a team – the quality of City’s players mean they always have a chance of winning a game even when they are second best – Burnley have to fight to earn every point they get.

In my opinion its a no brainer, and awarding it to Dyche will show the league it isn’t just something handed to the winning team’s manager, but truly the best manager that season.