Welcome to this week’s Talking the Blues’ podcast covering the Bournemouth game but more importantly covering personal reflections on the most difficult of seasons. Reflections on the season and the events around the game
Thank you for listening all season, better times and easier listening ahead we hope. Have a great summer all xx
Categories: podcast
Hi fellas, the summer transfer window opens on 14th June.
From what Dyche has already said, he has “plans” which started when he arrived. So we are probably back to “the list” the list is with KT, which in recent years starts with Tier One targets and ends up with whatever Tier Maupay was in!!
My best guess is for the moment it will be about who’s going and who can we get on deals using that horrible phrase that Paul will know well – amortisation – bought over several years reducing the weight on the transfer budget (unless Paul tells me differently). This seems the only way EFC can take a £50m budget and turn it into 5 buys plus whoever leaves – Iwobi, Branthwaite, Holgate, Keane Onana, maybe a small fee for Gomes and Nkounkou looks like he will go for £2m staying at Saint Etienne. We may also get offers on O’Neil based on his last half season.
Two examples jump out at me.
Onana – can we max out a potential sale to raise another £20-30m on top of his purchase price?
Garner – who has really come to the fore in a matter weeks. Bought very cheaply, can we build around him until such time he becomes an asset that sees us raise a considerable profit?
This is all very Brighton HA, and seems the only way we can grow without a massive capital injection AND working inside ffp & p&s rules.
That’s why I see a BHA style 5yr plan to buy small, sell big and at every stage develop and push up the league. I think it’s really worthy of note to reiterate that finishing in the top half sees us with another £20m+ from our current position in 17th.
Alongside that, we must hope that BMD is a massive success both on the pitch and commercially.
Let’s be positive and look forward. We have seen some highlights in a season of utter darkness.
Player of the year – Tarky for me – and shows it can be done with zero investment in fees. What a leader, what a solid rock to build around and zero games missed. Closely followed by Coleman finding his 2nd wind aged 34yrs and being an absolute diamond.
Favourite moment X 90 mins – BHA 5-1
Looking forward as ever – thanks for podscasts chaps – it’s been a blast, a real eye opener and occasionally down right bloody miserable 🤣😂🤣. See you all soon hopefully.
PS – the fantastic old guy you refer to was Grandad George 💙😭 a truly beautiful video.
Regards
Keith
“the anger’s gonna take a long long time to subside” but you’re still going to watch and support everton – definition of madness
Well done Paul, Andy & George. Always look forward to these podcasts. Let’s see what next season brings??
I have been paying quiet but close attention to your podcasts all year given the presence of our ex-players and latterly ex-manager.
you have now begun to get to know how Sean Dyche operates – he never says anything without understanding the message he is wanting to project – hence is repetitive approach to pre and post match interviews. So what he had to say on Sunday was telling and you can be sure he was making a direct set of points to the owner and board and letting the fans know he knows – there was also an element of managing fans understanding of the process the club needs to go through to get where you want to be.
It may surprise you to know that at Burnley Dyche was present in board meetings from the off – at his first board meeting, Dyche spoke of the need for the club to understand first what it wanted because he saw no strategy and no plan for how to get there, he was instrumental in the club becoming much more professional in its approach and aligning the boardroom, the football side and the fans because it was all rather amateurish and disjointed.
From the outside this sounds like what you need, you are likely to witness a different collective mindset in the players if he is allowed a full pre-season and some recruitment (he will trade players if the club prove it is necessary financially and maintain a clear and honest communication with him, otherwise he will make his displeasure with them vey apparent.
It is a myth that he cannot manage teams to play good exiting football ,just look at Burnley in the 2017/18 season, particularly the first 3 months before injuries to key players exposed the depth of the squad. That team was effectively a 4:5:1 with Jeff Hendrick linking midfield and Chris Wood, but with Steven Defour as the midfield magician. It was also the team that scored a 24 pass goal at Goodison in a classic Dyche 1-0 win.
The weakness that Dyche carries is his loyalty to his friends – His final season at Burnley was without first team coach Tony Loughlan who needed major surgery and extensive recovery period. Dyche promoted Steve Stone from the Academy. Dyche, Woan and Stone shared digs while at Nottingham Forest and have been very close ever since. Stone had earlier been suspended for months at Burnley after complaints about his approach with youngsters (bullying) and only survived after an investigation found the accusations not proven. Though he returned as loan player manager rather than as a coach at that level.
For the first time, Dyche could not turn around the form of Burnley, previously it was the jovial and deeply thorough Loughlan who would dig out different training sessions from his extensive back catalogue and freshen things up. Without that personality and extensive record keeping the same things were being repeated by the usually dour Woan and the aggressive Stone – Dyche rarely took sessions himself.
It is a telling that players like Jack Cork and Jay Rodriguez had refused to sign new contracts at the club if Stone remained. I was reminded of this when I heard there were some players unhappy with the approach at Finch Farm in the last week or so.
Perhaps the key is how involved in coaching Dyche will be, he can be very good at man management (though terrible with loan players as Patrick Bamford will attest, or any player foisted on him by an owner – thing Ben Gibson and Danny Drinkwater) – he has certainly appeared involved from what I have seen but he may be dragged away from it with all the other issues over the summers. to my mind for him to be successful with the blues he needs to bring in a coach like Loughlan with a more upbeat and positive personality and a wealth of experience – whether he will is a different issue.
That said, Dyche could be just what you need to reset the club over the next 3 years, and keep you in the Premier League. thereafter you can use the foundation he can undoubtedly provide to seriously push forward. It is telling that Vincent Kompany and Craig Bellamy believe none of the success my club has achieved this season would have been possible without the one club alignment, together with the cultural, ethical, mental and physical legacy Dyche put in place. His players formed the leadership group and set the tone for all the 26 new recruits, literally the only thing that has been changed is the playing style. Kompany thinks it has allowed him to be two to three years ahead of schedule.
I am glad you have begun to see the best of Dwight McNeil and appreciate just what an immense character James Tarkowski is (and no he is definitely not coming back to Burnley, though both he and Dwight have been in the stands for some games). Oh and the Brighton game was no surprise – there is history between Burnley and Brighton (we all adored the McNeil performance and final goal) and Dyche has something of a hex on them particularly at the Amex
It will be interesting to see how our two teams fare next season – though we will be barely recognisable from what we have been recently associated with – you have to think more of the Waldron, Newton, Dobson, James, Flynn, Casper, Fletcher team of the early 70’s to understand us now. though the current team is a bit small and lightweight for all its delightful magic as things currently stand
Chester, I hope you are well. Thank you for your really useful contribution. Congratulations on your promotion, have a great summer
Excellent show chaps one of the best do you ever have guests on the podcast
A cracking end of season listen. for me, a mixture of relief, then straight into what needs changing.
I’m a fan of Dyche and I’ve been even more impressed by him since he joined. He must keep the job and carry on getting the best out of an imbalanced, very average bunch of players.
Thanks for the discussions and let’s look forward to an interesting summer where we hopefully make some strides in the right direction.
Hope you’re well and keep in touch…