IT’S TURF
Ward has seen it all under
STEPHEN WARD went through it all in his five season with Sean Dyche at Burnley.
There was the relegation from the Premier League in their first season together before an instant promotion back from the Championship followed by the joys of midtable obscurity.
Then came the heady heights of seventh place which brought them European football for the first time in more than half a century.
And then Ward and Dyche parted company, as is the way in football. Purely business, never personal. The Dubliner knew that’s how Dyche conducted himself after that first relegation in 2015 when the Burnley players met for their final game at home to Aston Villa.
Liverpool were lurking around star striker Danny Ings, with Kieran Trippier bound for a move to Tottenham.
“It was the manager’s first year in the Premier League but he still gave us belief we could get back there and be part of it for a longer time going forward,” said the former Republic of Ireland international. “You look at the club now, it’s pretty much a done deal they will stay in the league. That’s down to the manager and the players he has brought in. “He’s got very strong beliefs in his own ability and ideas of the game. He has really good footballers in the building but he knows how to mix it as well. “It is very much a place of work, it’s serious. You leave ego and everything else at the door and once you