DYCHE FURY AT BOARD OVER BARE BONES

SEAN DYCHE does not air grievances with the Burnley board in public — and there have been a fair few bubbling away in the background over his eight years in charge. Most centre on finance but they are almost always kept in-house. So on the very rare occasion he does take a running jump at those above him, it is fair to assume the differences could be irreconcilable. Dyche’s last two appearances in front of the cameras have brought reference to the club’s chairman, Mike Garlick — the second coming last night as Burnley went to Manchester City with just seven substitutes, rather than the newly allowed nine. Two were goalkeepers, three of them kids. Missing three of their best attacking players — Ashley Barnes, Chris Wood and Johann Berg Gudmundsson — through injury cannot be helped. Yet Dyche will say that to be without some of the others is unforgivable. Four first-team players were elsewhere, seemingly having played their final Burnley game, as revealed by Sportsmail earlier this month. Phil Bardsley, Joe Hart, Jeff Hendrick and Aaron Lennon are all out of contract next Tuesday. The Clarets are unlikely to sort short-terms deals by today’s deadline and Burnley have eight games to play with bare bones. ‘I advised the chairman what we should do and there’s been a long delay,’ Dyche said. ‘The players who haven’t been offered things have decided not to finish their contracts. I’d have kept all of them, certainly in the short term.’ That was a much cleaner version than the one projected behind closed doors. Even in December, some around Dyche wondered about his position this summer, with seven deals expiring. A Premier League club should not be in such jeopardy, they argued, even if they did plan to sign summer upgrades. Ashley Westwood and Robbie Brady, the latter not match fit last night, signed one-year deals but others were left to fester. Coronavirus has impacted planning, but for Dyche this was chaos waiting to happen. His bench was a statement and his displeasure rumbles on.