Roy Hodgson has expressed his ‘shock’ after hearing the news that Watford relegation rivals Burnley have sacked manager Sean Dyche. The Clarets opted to fire their manager after ten years with the club as they remain stuck in the bottom three with just eight matches to play. Hodgson was asked what his immediate reaction was to the Burnley sacking.
Roy Hodgson replied: “Shock. Enormous surprise. I must say, of all the people in the league, he would have been one of the ones most likely to survive anything like this. So I have no idea what’s happened of cause, I guess something must have happened, because you don’t part company with a manager like Sean Dyche after all the fantastic things he’s done for that club over the last 10 years. You know, he has built the club. So I was surprised. I was shocked and disappointed too, because I know Sean quite well. And I admire him as a coach and a manager and I didn’t think something like this would happen to him.”
The 74-year-old went on to further explain his understanding of the situation
Roy Hodgson said: “I have no idea really what provoked this decision. So as a result, I can’t give any further insight, if you like, into whether it’s a good thing for Burnley or a bad thing for Burnley. For me, from my position – and as I say respecting it, and admiring Sean as I do – I’m tempted to put it in the realm of a bad thing for Burnley.”
He praised Dyche’s ‘incredible legacy’ pointing to the fact that he had taken the club from the Championship to the Premier League and made them a very hard team to beat during his time in charge.
Roy Hodgson added: “I would think he’ll be very disappointed because I think he realises how important he has been for Burnley. And of course, he’ll be also aware that Burnley have been good to him in terms of making him the manager and the force in Premier League football he has become. But I’m confident that he will bounce on to the next job without too many problems at all. And I would think he will be a hot candidate now for jobs when they come up. Because people will realise that if we get Sean Dyche, we’re gonna get a man who knows what he’s doing, and a man who will maybe turn our club around in the way he turned Burnley.”
