On the eve of a crucial game in Burnley’s quest to return to the Premier League, Sean Dyche has distanced himself from the vacant Aston Villa manager’s job but said he will not be at Burnley for ever.
The Championship leaders travel to fellow promotion challengers Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday, knowing a win would see them stretch the gap on third-placed Albion to seven points with seven games remaining, though Middlesbrough also remain in the hunt.
Burnley, who announced a record profit of £30.1m this week, are unbeaten in the league since losing 3-0 to Hull City on Boxing Day and have won seven of their past nine.
Dyche has regularly been linked with other jobs and is understood not to have any interest in taking over the Premier League’s bottom club but he did warn supporters his time in Lancashire will not last for ever.
“There’s no thirst from me to be running out of here,” the 44-year-old said. “I’m always open with the fans and the press, it’s not a for ever story, as you find in football, it’s just not. As quick as you’re a hero, you are a zero, never more so than nowadays. Modern fans get bored with a manager’s rhetoric and need a change but what are you changing for?
“Either I get booed off or someone comes along and you say: ‘I can’t say no, I’ve got to go.’ Only time will tell.”
Ashley Barnes, a long-time Brighton striker, could be named on the bench with Rouwen Hennings struggling to recover from an achilles injury, while Scott Arfield has trained this week after recovering from a back problem picked up while playing for Canada.
Brighton expect a sell-out crowd and Chris Hughton’s only fresh fitness concern is over the veteran striker Bobby Zamora. They, too, are in impressive form having lost only once in their past 12. After setting the pace earlier in the season with a 21-game unbeaten run, Albion were winless in seven at the turn of the year. Hughton has turned things around, though, and is playing down the significance of Burnley’s visit.
“I am very sure that the next game against Birmingham is equally as big a game,” the former Blues manager said. “We are at home and hopefully we can get three points.
“They have a very strong team and mentality. You have to be strong enough to beat that and they are top of the league for a reason. They have experienced this situation before and they are very well drilled by a great manager in Sean Dyche. They haven’t changed the squad too much [since last season’s relegation from the Premier League] and they have players that can score a lot of goals.”
The reverse fixture at Turf Moor in November finished 1-1 after Zamora’s first-minute opener was cancelled out by an Andre Gray penalty three minutes later. A similarly tight battle is expected with Middlesbrough watching on after Friday night’s 3-2 win at Queens Park Rangers.
