Doing transfer business has proved difficult for Burnley in the transfer windows as their social media accounts would suggest.
Sean Dyche said “It is tough, I don’t know all the budgets yet. You don’t know what is truly available. You can put names on a piece of paper but when you get into the nuts and bolts of it and the phone calls start getting made, then sometimes that gets thrown out immediately. I think January is a particularly tough month anyway. It is not just looking at players and seeing who is available, but keeping your ear to the ground as well. We have got players from situations where we were in the loop at the right time and know the different information about what might happen, and being ready if that might becomes a reality. It is not just purely looking at players and it is not just finance.”
Burnley appointed Mike Rigg as Technical Director last November and he was charged with improving the Clarets scouting network, particularly across Europe. But that takes time, it will not be an overnight success story. Burnley are beginning to put building blocks in place and hope to reap some of the early benefits next summer. Yet it is a long term plan and it still involves the business side of the club.
The Clarets are towards the bottom of the Premier League food chain, their budget and wage structure would comfortably put them in the bottom six of the division.Indeed, some Championship clubs will outspend Burnley. That’s just the way it is. The club is in a stable position and, while record profits lead to calls from fans to spend, spend, spend, the board do not want to risk the financial future of the club on transfer fees and high wages.
