It is a warm welcome back to the Premier League for Burnley so ahead of this weekend’s trip to Turf Moor, we caught up with Jamie Smith from the excellent No Nay Never.
Q. What were your hopes and dreams for the new season before a ball was kicked?
Survival! This is our third season in the Premier League in about seven or eight years, so instead of treating it as a one year holiday from the Championship as it felt like we did on our previous visits, this time we had to give it a really good go.
Q. Was it a successful transfer window for the club or are there areas that still need improving?
Our transfer business wasn’t great until late in the window, but the arrival of Jeff Hendrick probably tipped it over from failure to slight success. Burnley could have still done with a quick winger, although Johann Gudmundsson is starting to thrive out wide. Steven Defour was one of the best value signings any Premier League team made. I suspect we’ll want another midfielder, Dale Stephens is probably still on our radar, and a striker to replace Patrick Bamford when he inevitably goes back to Chelsea in January.
Q. Over a quarter of the way through the new season, how have things gone so far for the Clarets?
Pretty well – I’m sure all fans would have taken where we are in the table right now. Our home form was obviously going to be key and we’ve beaten Liverpool and Everton at the Turf. We were unlucky to lose to Arsenal and Swansea City too, but those games showed our limitations in front of goal. Away from home we’ve taken three heavy beatings but a fantastic point at Old Trafford should give us a kick start.
Q. Do you think the experience from your last Premier League campaign help Sean Dyche this season?
Yeah, it should do. Dyche is still relatively inexperienced. He’s been our manager for four years, but he only had a season of experience with Watford before that, so he’s still got plenty to learn. Most of our players were at the club the last time we were in the Premier League too, so experience is definitely going to be key.
Q. What are your views on the rule changes for this season?
I don’t really like the new kick offs with one player, but then I hate most change. I’m glad they’ve got rid of the triple punishment for fouls inside the box as that ruined games at times.
Q. It is looking much more difficult for un-fancied team to break into the top six this season but if you were to pick one, who would it be?
Errr I don’t think any unfancied team will to be honest. I had West Ham United down as being top four contenders so that shows what I know. Maybe Bournemouth could push on if they get a good run together, but last year they switched off once they were safe and probably about half a dozen teams will do the same.
Q. Perhaps you could share your views on Palace as a club, how we did last season and our start to this season?
I don’t mind Palace, Selhurst is a decent ground, old fashioned feel, I like being on the side as an away fan. The suspicion is that Alan Pardew gets found out and makes a good start with clubs but it then starts going wrong, so it’ll be interesting to see if that happens this season as the summer arrivals were pretty impressive. People go on about the famous Palace atmosphere a bit too much for me, it’s just fifty blokes in black and a drum? But yeah, no problems with Palace!
Q. Name one player from each team that the opposition should be concerned about?
He’s probably not a major attacking threat even though he scored twice against Liverpool, but I’ve always rated James McArthur and he’s the player I think we should have pushed the boat out for two years ago, so I’ll be watching him closely. For us, Gudmundsson is improving every week and all that’s been missing is a slightly better end product. Goals and assists are coming for him soon.
Q. Prediction?
Confidence will be very high after a draw at United and we’re strong at home. Palace are a good side, but we’ll see this as a winnable home match. It’ll be close, but I’ll back us to nick it 2-1.
Q. Please tell us a little more about your fan group and any projects you are working on.
I host a weekly podcast called No Nay Never and we’ve done well over a hundred episodes so we’re pretty well established. Recently we did a special about LGBT issues in football which might be interesting to Palace fans. I also blog on Burnley for ESPN FC.
