"The ownership unsettled things" - 2022 decision dubbed biggest Burnley FC shock in recent times | OneFootball

Sean Dyche was sacked by Burnley in April 2022 and the club were ultimately relegated to the Championship

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Burnley's shock April 2022 decision to sack Sean Dyche has been deemed the wrong one, with the Clarets suffering relegation to the Championship following his exit.

After nearly 10 years as Burnley boss, owner Alan Pace made the decision to sack Dyche on the 15th April 2022, with the Clarets four points behind Everton with eight games left, in a desperate attempt to retain their Premier League status.

However, it proved the wrong call as the club didn't appoint a new permanent manager, instead giving the job to under-23's manager Mike Jackson, and they were relegated on the final day of the season after finishing 18th.

The decision to sack Dyche attracted huge criticism, and it's clearly a call which didn't go down well with the Turf Moor faithful.

Burnley's decision to sack Sean Dyche in 2022 deemed a poor move

FLW asked our Burnley fan pundit, Nathan Rogers, about a decision the club made that still shocks him to this day, and it's clear that Dyche's sacking was one that shocked the majority of the club's fan base.

Speaking to Football League World, Nathan said: "I think the one decision in recent memory that sticks out more than any, and it’s probably an obvious one, is when Sean Dyche got sacked.

“He was rolling up to his 10-year anniversary at the club, and we got new ownership towards the back end of his tenure who felt that they needed to go in a different direction, but sacking him with the timeframe we had in the Premier League was quite a silly decision.

“I would have liked to have seen Dyche have at least the time to back his credentials and keep us in the Premier League, he’d done it time after time, having close scrapes, and he always managed to find a way.

I think the ownership unsettled things for Dyche in terms of players, bringing in players that Dyche didn’t necessarily want, which caused problems, but I think, on the whole, Dyche would have kept us in the Premier League.

“If they wanted to get rid of him in the summer, then fine, but to do it at that time of the season with a couple of months to go, it felt like a very rushed decision, like ‘right, we’re the new owners, and we’re going to do what we want’.

“I still remember the day it came through on the news that Dyche had been sacked and, as a fanbase, we did get quite frustrated with Dyche, but at the same time we were all gobsmacked that he’d gone.

“He had been at the club for so long and brought so much success to us, and we truly loved him as a fanbase, and some of us still do.

“The Sean Dyche sacking was a decision that shocked me every time I think of it.”

The timing of Burnley's Sean Dyche sacking was all wrong

It's easy to say in hindsight, but if Pace wanted to change of direction at Turf Moor, he should have waited until the end of the season to make the decision, rather than sacking Dyche with no contingency plan.

If they had someone lined up to replace him, it would have been easier to understand, but they didn't, and were subsequently relegated with a caretaker manager.

Dyche had proven with Burnley, and with Everton since, that he's capable of keeping sides in the division despite being in relegation battles, and surely they would have had a better chance of staying up had they kept him in charge.

After being in charge for nearly 10 years, Dyche was a legend at Turf Moor, helping them to win promotion to the Premier League twice, and qualifying for the Europa League in 2018.

The timing of Dyche's sacking was mind-boggling, and it ultimately cost them their Premier League status after six consecutive seasons in the top-flight.