Dyche hopeful of greater transfer funds under new Burnley owners

Sean Dyche is hopeful Burnley can set their sights higher than simply retaining their Premier League place every season under new owners ALK Capital as he suggested there will be more money to spend on transfers this summer.

Dyche has stabilised the Clarets as a top-flight club in the last few years, but the former centre-back admitted the scope for taking them further under the previous regime was limited by financial constraints.

A new hierarchy is in situ, led by chairman Alan Pace, following Burnley’s takeover at the start of the year and Dyche is encouraged by their plans, even if he accepts there will be no overnight transformation.

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“There is maybe a different viewpoint now, but (staying in the Premier League) certainly has been (regarded as a success) and that was my remit over the last few years,” Dyche said ahead of the trip to Wolves on Sunday.

“I think it’s fair to say you can tell by the funding that was put in that they weren’t really trying to stretch the club to try to build. It was more a case of, ‘Can we stay in there? If we can, that’s great news’.

“Now, I’ll wait and see, but certainly the noise Alan Pace and his team are all offering (is) the idea of attempting to move things forward. The reason I say attempting is because it’s small steps.

“It’s very difficult when you’re a club like Burnley to make huge strides in one go. We’ve all seen clubs that have attempted to do that and it doesn’t always work out.

“There are clubs who have had new owners or backers who have put in £100million straight off the bat and it just hasn’t worked. I think the correct thing to do is slowly add on, keep layering up and try to move forwards.”

Dyche could welcome back England goalkeeper Nick Pope from a shoulder injury at Molineux, where Burnley will be looking to end a three-match losing run that has left them just six points above the relegation zone.

Dyche, though, has had less than £1million to spend across the last two transfer windows, with Dale Stephens the only significant arrival in the last 12 months, while Joe Hart, Aaron Lennon and Jeff Hendrick all left last summer.

Asked what his budget might be over the next few months, Dyche responded: “I’d be hopeful it’s more than the £750,000 that we spent last summer, that would be a good start, but we’ll have to wait and see.”