It’s 11:55am. Dwight McNeil is the first player to arrive at Turf Moor, dressed in his dark grey and black tracksuit with a claret polo shirt and black Adidas trainers. The next to arrive at 12:02pm is Ben Mee, who is followed closely by Chris Wood and then Matt Lowton.
Around 1pm, there is a flurry of arrivals. Ashley Barnes and Joe Hart turn up with takeaway coffees in hand, Jeff Hendrick appears with his family. Every player is dressed in the same attire. The only difference is how they wear it. Tracksuit top zipped, unzipped, or, if you’re James Tarkowski, casually slung over the shoulder.
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No hats, no earphones, no hoods. They are wearing a uniform. The players are there for business.
The cut-off time for players in the match-day squad to arrive is 1:15pm. Jack Cork is the last one to show, parking up just before the deadline. But he’s safe — due to an injury picked up against Aston Villa last week, he is not in the squad. Just as all of the players do, he stops to sign autographs and pose for pictures. A young fan uses the photo opportunity to ask if he will be playing today.
“Bit late for that. I’d get fined,” Cork responds, with a knowing smile.
These are the general standards expected at Burnley.
The phrase “Leave your ego at the gate and pick it up on your way out” is a straightforward message. It helps build the type of culture and mentality that has facilitated the success Sean Dyche has brought to Burnley. His standards are ingrained and unchanging — they have been the same since his early days as a manager at Watford.
Just after 1:30pm, Everton arrive. They are also co-ordinated in a club tracksuit, yet their rules are different. Each player can wear their own choice of trainers. Martin Stekelenburg, Yerry Mina and Dominic Calvert-Lewin all emerge from the bus with earphones on. Moise Kean is one of the last off. If there was competition for largest headphones worn by a player, he would be a contender.
Dyche doesn’t allow headphones to be worn when players arrive to a home game or come off the coach for an away game – they are allowed during the journey but must be removed before players disembark the bus. Hats and hoods are also not allowed. He sets his standards and expects players to adhere to them, as every manager at every club does.
A picture posted on social media last week showed a list of instructions purported to be “Dyche’s player code of conduct.” It featured the rules listed above as well as others, including a £250 fine for injured players who are late for treatment and a strict reminder to “follow the rehydration protocol.”
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On a match day, Dyche looks immaculate in his black trousers, white shirt and claret tie combination. With the winter months drawing in and the temperatures dropping, he donned a jacket yesterday, though that was discarded after three minutes of play. He remained jacket-less for the rest of the contest even as everyone else zipped theirs up higher. He sets the standards in appearance and he expects his players to follow.
But even if Dyche’s military-style march as he strides across the Turf Moor pitch can often give people the impression that he runs a stricter regime than most, the environment around the training ground is relaxed. Dyche emits this laid-back demeanour when conducting his press conference duties on a Thursday. There are rules, of course. Every team has to have them; boundaries that maintain discipline. Not all players enjoy boundaries but at Burnley, there is a sense that everybody has bought into the mentality and culture that Dyche has created.
The “Burnley Spins” before the team meeting on a Friday is the time for punishments if players have not met the standards expected. A “wheel of fortune” with different dares dotted around it is spun by the guilty party. Nobody wants to perform a forfeit. It’s a light-hearted way of maintaining standards and a method used by other clubs across all levels of the game — Bournemouth have one, as do League Two Cheltenham Town, where manager Michael Duff brought it with him from Burnley. Bundesliga side RB Leipzig also adopted the idea last season.
Other clubs will have a long list of fines for various misdemeanours, ranging from being late for training to leaving a piece of kit on the floor.
Punishments can range from a lap dance, as David Jones remembers Duff doing during his time there, to singing karaoke or paying a fine. In an interview with The Independent in 2017, former Claret George Boyd recalled one punishment involving lying in the nearby River Calder for 60 seconds. The players’ fate is in the hands of the wheel.
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Burnley’s method is policed by the players themselves, who provide photographic evidence when somebody has left a jumper on the floor or not put dirty kit away, for example. The players are given that responsibility to make sure each and every one of them is pulling their weight.
The policing that goes on around the training ground by players is expected on the pitch, too. The tactical discipline on display every week is facilitated by the training ground environment. Everybody is in it together. If one player makes an error — an errant pass or a missed tackle — every other player will look to help fix it.
In the week before the Everton game, Dyche spoke about the trust he has in his players to execute a game-plan. He doesn’t overload them with information in the hours leading up to the match or at half-time. Simplicity is the focus.
As soon as the whistle to begin the action blows, there is a change; Dyche comes alive. He stands for the entire 90 minutes — conducting, orchestrating his side. The information he delivers is still simple though; small tactical or positional tweaks. At Brighton earlier in the season “Move!” was a common shout that could be heard from the dugout — eventually imitated by the home crowd.
Occasionally, he heads back to the bench for a chat with assistants Ian Woan and Tony Loughlan. Or they come to him, constantly thinking and discussing how they can affect or alter the course of a game.
After Everton captain Seamus Coleman had been given his marching orders for second yellow card in the 56th minute, the three stood together, engrossed in deep conversation about how to alter their strategy to best capitalise on this one-man advantage. Just a couple of minutes after the chat had finished, Hendrick fired Burnley in front and they managed the situation well from that point onwards to secure a 1-0 victory.
Dyche gives his players Wednesdays and Sundays off, unless they have games. On other days, training generally begins at 11am, though on Mondays, they have a slightly later start, beginning at noon. Sessions differ in length depending on the time of year and how everybody is in the group, among other things. As the week progresses, training tapers towards a match focus. What is expected throughout is 100 per cent effort in each and every session.
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Set-piece work is part of that. Dyche often speaks about details that can define games. On Saturday, he referenced the importance set-pieces still have in his post-match press conference. In the 2018-19 Premier League season, 246 goals were scored from set-piece situations (defined as corners, throw-ins and free-kicks). And 1072 were scored over the course of the season in total, which means 22.9 per cent came from those situations.
It is an area which Burnley have looked to exploit.
Against Norwich last month, they capitalised on the front post when Chris Wood popped up unmarked to head home. This time, the back post was identified. The move that led to Burnley’s goal was almost a replica of a corner that occurred in the first half when Hendrick found himself free at the back post but the angle was too tight. The method was used again in the second half and he arrived unmarked to volley home Ashley Westwood’s corner.
A relaxed environment is about finding the right blend and Dyche has sought to achieve that at Burnley. While rules are there, the environment is not overly regimented — players are allowed freedom.
Punctual time-keeping is expected and phones are not allowed to be used during treatment and team meals or after 2pm on a match day, but at the training ground players can come and go for their lunch when they please. There is no set time for when they must all sit down and eat. Players are free to use social media too, though they are advised not to make any football-related comments.
Nutrition is always a talking point around clubs — there was intrigue for example, when Antonio Conte banned ketchup at Chelsea. But at Burnley, it seems players have a little more leeway. In his programme notes on Saturday, Mee wrote about supplying birthday cake for the team after he turned 30 last month: “Early in the week, we’re OK to have a bit of cake at the training ground and with birthdays, it’s a bit of a tradition. I don’t know how many clubs do that anymore but it’s a tradition I’m glad we’ve kept up here.”
After the game, Tarkowski admitted Charlie Taylor got some stick from the players last month after forgetting to carry on the tradition and bring in a cake when he celebrated his birthday.
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“He tried actually hiding the fact that it was his birthday because he’s a bit tight,” said Tarkowski. “Every now and again, we get a little bit of a treat if it’s someone’s birthday.”
It’s the tight-knit nature the entire team seems to have that has been a theme during Dyche’s tenure and it can only help in keeping the standards high.
This isn’t ground-breaking — it is basic, honest standards. Plenty of clubs will have the same kind of rules. It is about finding the right balance in the way they’re applied, and getting players to buy in to it.
Dyche has found that balance and it is allowing Burnley to flourish on the pitch.
(Photo: James Williamson – AMA/Getty Images)