Sean Dyche – Burnley
They may not even be in the top half in terms of budget size, but second placed Burnley look set to return to the Premiership in Sean Dyche’s first season in charge of the Lancashire club. The Kettering-born ‘Ginger Mourinho’ has done an incredible job at the Turf Moor helm after a difficult debut season, and another brilliant month has handed the surprise package a nine point gap between themselves and third placed QPR, who continue to drop points.
March commenced with a pivotal win against resurgent fellow promotion hopefuls Derby County at home, before Dyche’s men marked their place in the history books by beating bitter rivals Blackburn for the first time in decades. On the following Tuesday, top scorer Danny Ings, who scored the winner in the Lancashire derby suffered an injury at St Andrews which would rule him out for weeks, as the Clarets were held to a pulsating 3-3 draw at Birmingham. However, Ings’ injury didn’t seem to faze Burnley, as they went on to post victories against Leeds, Charlton and Doncaster. Burnley succumbed to just one defeat all month, which unfortunately for them came against the only team that sit above them in the table, Leicester City.
This may have ended the Lancashire outfits’ unbeaten home record, but surely Dyche must feel confident about his chances of swooping the manager of the month prize and promotion back to the big time, and possibly even the prestigious Championship Manager of the Year accolade?
