There’s been quite a swing in favour of support for Sean Dyche to replace Unai Emery at Arsenal and it’s rather surprising in the light of the big names available and all the usual suspects that the media continues to promote.
Many see him as a George Graham figure, one that will bring structure and discipline. A battler, a motivator and a no bullshit kind of guy, all of which may be true but would he instantly be discounted by supporters because his name was seen by fans as small time.
Would he also be subject to football snobbery because he managed Burnley ?
Dyche has worked miracles at Burnley with the expected tight financial restrictions and frugal framework that the bigger clubs manage to avoid with a single sponsorship deal.
Dyche has had to implement a strong team ethic and foster a togetherness that has kept them afloat and one which just a few seasons ago, saw them break into Europe. That journey revealed a lack of depth in his squad but Burnley’s failure isn’t that of Dyche himself.
The campaign had an impact on their premiership aspirations but Dyche is realistic enough to know that there was a likelihood of this happening. He is ever the pragmatist but to say that he has resigned himself to a lower level of expectations for his side or for himself would be to misjudge the man entirely.
His sides are determined, well organised, hard working and adventurous. They are the type of opposition that most supporters dread because if there’s anything amiss in your team’s preparation, Dyche and Burnley will find you out.
You tend to view his work with the view that in some ways he has outgrown his current home and is capable of so much more but will that somewhere be the Emirates ?
Sean Dyche is an outside bet at this time but with Arsenal’s top targets dropping like flies, perhaps his name will also pop up in the boardroom as it has on social media.
Remember this, George Graham wasn’t the name supporters wanted back in 1986. Then he was the manager of Millwall who were in the old second division but the Scot had enormous success and is often mentioned by fans in the same sentence as Chapman and Wenger. Just saying.
