Burnley

Natalie Bromley
Fan writer

Burnley's week ended with more questions than answers.

A point at Wrexham was followed by defeat at Swansea City and the Clarets find themselves rooted to the bottom of the Championship.

This is no longer a "blip" at the start of the season. Burnley are in a full blown crisis.

To be fair, they showed promise at Wrexham and Nicky Hayen took positives from the performance, saying the team were becoming more confident and comfortable.

His message was straightforward: Burnley need one win to restore belief. He also said new arrivals would bring fresh energy without the lingering burden of last season.

But what the Clarets' faithful are quickly learning is that what Hayen says and what happens on the pitch rarely match up. As was precisely the case at Swansea.

What little optimism the Burnley fans had tried to harvest quickly disappeared. The hosts won comfortably, exposing mistakes that undermined our better spells.

Football is decided in both boxes, and right now, that is where Burnley are coming up alarmingly short. The chances at one end are not being taken often enough and the mistakes and soft moments at the other end are being punished.

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Max Weiss symbolises so many recruitment errors we have made this summer. He had relatively little to do at Wrexham, but made serious mistakes at Swansea to gift the hosts a goal.

I am sorry to say we simply can't afford to give a young goalkeeper time when the results are this poor.

Could he be doing more to stop the deluge of goals, or is he persistently exposed by the defending in front of him?

Kyle Walker brings experience and pedigree to the side, but has been largely a passenger, strolling casually up the pitch for Swansea's third. I would be happy if that was the last game he played in Claret and Blue.

Hayen is identifying individual errors and the tendency to surrender momentum at crucial moments as decisive faults. But the more pressing question is whether he is the man to lead Burnley out of this horrendous patch.

I don't want us to be a sacking club. I don't want a high turnover of managers. But I also don't want to be in League One. And that feels exactly where we are heading.

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Burnley are rooted to the bottom of the Championship table after a fourth defeat of the season at Swansea City on Saturday.

That result means it is now seven league games without a win for new boss Nicky Hayen and the Clarets since their relegation from the Premier League.

Their last league victory was in February against Crystal Palace, with the current winless run stretching to 19 games (D7 L12).

We asked for your thoughts on Burnley following the 3-1 loss to the Swans - here are a selection of your responses.

Howie: Absolutely woeful yet again. Hayen has been seriously let down by ALK in the transfer window but he looks to be out of his depth at this level. Max Weiss needs some time on the bench or his confidence is going to be shot to pieces. The whole squad of players look uninterested for large portions of the game. Horrible to watch.

Alan: How much longer do Burnley fans have to put up with this third-rate manager? To stand any chance of survival in the Championship, get in a manager who can instil basic defending into the team and go from there. It must happen now or, like last year, this shambles will continue into another relegation.

Steven: After seven games Burnley have conceded 16 goals. Two seasons ago? 46 games to concede 16 goals!

Mark: We are awful, Weiss is a big problem, he's not good enough for this level. He needs to be dropped before he does us any more damage. I understand he's a young keeper but Hayen needs to drop him. Also Kyle Walker was terrible. He can't play as a central defender we can't score goals. Jamie Vardy was brought on too late. Don't understand why he played Josh Laurent in an attacking role when he's a defensive midfielder. Hayen also needs to go. He's way out of his depth. Drastic action needs to be taken right away or we'll be relegated if these performances carry on.

Graham: Still not a team and making too many costly individual errors! A focus on match fitness, integration, stability and injury returns essential for the Watford match after the international break. We can come good but also need a little luck... and more goals!

Frank: Sack Hayen and get someone with Championship experience please. Burnley hung their hat on Craig Bellamy without a back-up plan, then we had a rush to find a manager, which was a big mistake.

Chopper: We are already in a relegation battle and don't look up for a fight. I don't have any confidence in our manager, he just doesn't know how to get the best out of the players. Four more games without a win and it's P45 time I reckon.

Nick: Bring back Scott Parker, he's not working at the moment.

Laura Kenyon
BBC Final Score

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Burnley sit rock bottom of the Championship table but is that immediate cause for concern?

At this stage of the season, some may argue not. But what will absolutely concern Burnley fans is the sheer amount of goals they are conceding per game: 16 in seven games.

The Clarets currently have the worst defensive record in the Championship.

The manner of the goals conceded at Swansea City raises further alarm bells.

Two defensive errors gifted goals to Adam Idah and Moussa Yeo in the first half in south Wales. Clear mistakes.

New boss Nicky Hayen has the challenging task of getting a group of new players to gel – 17 of which were playing under different head coaches last season.

But he is under immediate pressure having not won a league game since taking the helm. More worrying though, Burnley have not been victorious in any league encounter in 214 days.

The question for Hayen now? How does he pull Burnley out of a slump which has haunted them since long before Premier League relegation last season.

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Burnley boss Nicky Hayen rued his side's individual errors which led to Swansea City goals as the Clarets were beaten 3-1 on Saturday.

Adam Idah and Moussa Yeo scored in the first half for the Swans to leave Burnley trailing 2-0 at half-time and, despite a goal from Largie Ramazani before the hour mark, Burnley had too much to do and conceded again when Zan Vipotnik restored the hosts' two-goal advantage.

The defeat leaves Burnley at the bottom of the Championship table and still without a win from their opening seven league matches under new boss Hayen.

"It's a really disappointing afternoon," he said. "We actually started quite well. We were equal to Swansea, but then we made individual mistakes in the first half - then you are 2-0 down.

"We created opportunities. We had as many chances and their goalkeeper had to make more saves than ours, but at the end of the first half it is 2-0.

"We tried to change the game and we came out with good energy. We feel like we have the momentum but then, like in previous weeks, we give the momentum away.

"Then they score a third one and you knew it would be really difficult. We were not efficient enough."

Listen to the full interview on BBC Sounds here.

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Vitor Matos believes 39-year-old Jamie Vardy is still capable of making a mark in the Championship as the former England striker eyes a Burnley debut at Swansea City.

Vardy is set to be named in the Clarets squad to visit the Swansea.com Stadium, having joined Burnley this week after departing Italian club Cremonese.

And Swansea head coach Matos believes the former Leicester City frontman, who scored 200 goals in 500 Foxes appearances, still has the tools to thrive in the second tier.

"He is someone who understands how to score goals," said Matos, who is 14 months younger than Vardy.

"He moves really well - he always did that. He has a lot of talent - his finishing skills are there.

"Of course it's different when you are 39 compared to when you are 25, but the experience is there and when he has still the desire to play, of course he can have impact."

Burnley boss Nicky Hayen must hope Vardy's arrival will help inspire an upturn in fortune for the Clarets after their slow start to the season.

Relegated from the Premier League last term, the Lancashire side are in the Championship's bottom three having failed to win a league game in this campaign.

But Matos says Burnley's lowly position "doesn't really translate to how they are".

He describes Burnley as having a "really good squad, good players, new coach".

He added: "They are in this moment of adjusting themselves, but the quality is there.

"I think there were games where they could have had more… but it is an early stage in the season still and I really expect a good game from them."

After losing top spot in the Championship on Tuesday, Swansea City defend their unbeaten home record against Burnley on Saturday (15:00 BST).

The Clarets did lift themselves off the bottom of the table in midweek but have failed to win any of their opening six matches since relegation from the Premier League last season.

• Swansea have lost their past four league games against Burnley, their longest losing run to the Clarets.

• Burnley have won on their past two league visits to Swansea, the only time they have won twice in a row away to the Welsh club in league competition.

• Swansea are the only side yet to concede at home in the Championship this season (three games). Only in 2011-12 in the Premier League have they kept a clean sheet in their opening four home matches of a league campaign.

• Burnley have failed to win their opening six games of a league campaign outside the top flight (D3 L3) for just the fourth time, after 1977-78 (nine games, second tier), 1979-80 (16 games, second tier), and 1997-98 (10 games, third tier).

• Although Burnley have conceded a league-high 13 goals in the Championship this season, their xGA (expected goals against) total is 8.6 (14th best). Their 4.4 more goals conceded than xGA faced is the biggest difference of any side in the division in 2026-27.

Jamie Vardy is set to be part of the Burnley squad for the first time on Saturday.

The former England international signed for the Clarets on Sunday after Zian Flemming was sold to Ipswich Town.

The 39-year-old travelled with the Burnley team to Wrexham on Tuesday but was not included in the matchday 20 and watched the 1-1 draw from the stands.

Vardy has not played a competitive match since May with former club Cremonese but has trained this week in preparation for the game at Swansea City (15:00 BST).

"He had two training sessions and he's in a good mood because you can see that he's still hungry to score goals," Hayen said.

"He didn't have a pre-season but he worked on his own and he's able to play minutes for the team."

Vardy's role will be more than just on the pitch though, with the experienced attacker tallying 200 goals in his 500 appearances over 13 years for Leicester City.

"Everyone can learn from Jamie because he was a natural killer," Hayen added.

"A lot of goals scored in his career, on the ball movement, off the ball movement.

"That has to be the mindset - everyone can learn from each other as long as you have an open mindset."

Listen to the full interview below or on BBC Sounds here.

Bristol City winger Jed Wallace said facing Burnley was "night and day" from the last time he played at Turf Moor with West Bromwich Albion.

The 32-year-old featured for the Robins in their 2-1 victory against the Clarets on Saturday, which was his first visit to Turf Moor since a 2-1 defeat with the Baggies in January 2023.

Burnley won the Championship with 101 points in the 2022-23 campaign but are second from bottom after six games following relegation from the Premier League, with new boss Nicky Hayen yet to win a league game.

"It's night and day from the last time I went there with with West Brom under Carlos Corberan when they had Vincent Kompany," Wallace told BBC's 72+ podcast.

"I made a foul on the edge of the box in the 91st minute and then Mr [Scott] Twine, who I'm now playing with, obviously inevitably stuck it in the top corner.

"That night I felt like it was a proper game of football against one of the best teams I've probably ever played in the Championship.

"It felt a long way from that. I think obviously there's been a lot of change in personnel there over the last two three years."

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Wallace said Burnley "haven't really clicked yet" and didn't seem to have a "clear idea of what they were doing".

"That comes obviously with a new manager, a new style of play and new players," he said.

Despite their flaws, Wallace believes 39-year-old striker Jamie Vardy will be a "great signing" for Burnley.

"I think he's someone that will certainly have that aggression and will bring that to them as a group," he added.

"I didn't really feel that they had much of that on the weekend. He's still a top, top player.

"I think you saw that last time he was in the Championship for Leicester, he's not lost a yard of pace. He's still absolutely rapid."

Burnley boss Nicky Hayen says he was happy with a point despite his side letting a one-goal lead slip to draw at Wrexham on Tuesday night.

Zeki Amdouni's first Burnley goal in two years put the visitors ahead in the first half.

But the Clarets were pegged back in the second half because of Wrexham defender Jacques Ekomie's header 10 minutes after the break meaning they remain winless from their first six Championship games following relegation last season.

"We played a really good first half with a really good goal and found the right solutions," Hayen told BBC Radio Lancashire.

"We showed more positive signs than in the last match against Bristol [City].

"Today was a step in the right direction and this is what we want to see more."

Hayen also touched on new Burnley signing Jamie Vardy, who moved to Turf Moor on Sunday, and the reasons he brought the 39-year-old to the football club.

"First of all, goals," Hayen explained. "That's why we brought him in and what is really important is he's an experienced player but also an intelligent player.

"The way we play, we create spaces. The goal that we scored with Zeki [Amdouni], I think with Jamie, he has so intelligent runs and he doesn't need a lot of chances before he scores goals.

"This will be an add-on for our team but also our offensive players can learn a lot from him and also he's a voice in the dressing room. He can guide these kind of players so its a really positive signing for us."

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Burnley's winless start to the season puts them bottom of the Championship but it's not what was expected.

The side are benefitting from parachute payments and have achieved four promotions to the top flight since 2014.

So is new boss Nicky Hayen to blame? Fan Natalie Bromley thinks the Belgian has "been handed the most impossible of tasks" after a late appointment and a "disastrous" summer transfer window.

However, Hayen is not off the hook either.

"He's not helping himself either. We've got very muddled team selection, players playing out of position, players who clearly are not performing well and not working in certain structures still being picked again the game after," Bromley said.

"He made six changes on Saturday talking about fitness and squad rotation - we are in September. It's game, what, five?

"He's very famous for high press, we haven't seen any of that yet. The players look like they don't know what they are doing, the shape and the tactics look disjointed and there is no energy."

Listen to the full episode of the Monday Night Club below or on BBC Sounds here.

It is 26 years since these two sides last faced each other in the league during which time Wrexham have dropped to non-league football before their rise back up the divisions.

Burnley are hoping to record a first win of the campaign, having managed only two points from their opening five games since relegation from the Premier League at the end of last season.

• Wrexham and Burnley last faced in the 1999-00 third tier season, with the Clarets completing a league double over the Welsh side.

• Burnley have won nine of their past 10 league matches against Welsh clubs (D1) since a 1-0 Premier League defeat by Swansea in February 2018.

• Last season, Wrexham only won one of their six Championship games against sides relegated from the Premier League the season before (D3 L2), beating Ipswich 5-3 at home in February.

• Burnley have lost each of their past seven away league games, last losing more in a row in March 2010 (10).

• Wrexham boss Phil Parkinson has managed two previous league games against Burnley and lost them both, first with Hull in October 2006 (0-2) and then with Charlton in January 2009 (1-2).

Marc Webber
Final Score reporter

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In a move which would make magician David Copperfield green with envy, Burnley's rabbit-out-of-the-hat signing of Jamie Vardy could be the one thing that saves the Clarets' season.

As fans made for the Turf Moor exit seconds after Bristol City's winning goal was being picked out of the net, they were not only despondent but also fearful.

Quite a few were considering a season where they would not move out of the relegation zone they currently find themselves in. Manager Nicky Hayen's appeal for patience as new signings bed in was not resonating.

Despite the manager saying they were looking to get some free agents in, no fan would have considered that could mean Vardy on a one-year deal.

He is a player who will more than understand the passion Burnley fans have for their club. He will live that on the pitch. He will be a leader and mentor, irrespective of what he might personally deliver in terms of goals or performances.

Former Leicester City and England striker Vardy, has found his new project. He feels he has something to prove. Burnley definitely have something to prove.

It seems like the perfect match.

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Burnley made a surprise move for 39-year-old striker Jamie Vardy on a deal until the end of the season.

The former Leicester City and England forward was a free agent after leaving Italian side Cremonese at the end of last season.

But, what do Burnley fans make of the signing and can Vardy help fire them to an immediate return to the Premier League?

We asked for Clarets supporters to give us their views and here is a selection of what they have had to say:

Tom: I think it's a good bit of business. He is a known finisher and can help us get some goals. Better than what we already have and he can also help be a leader and adds valuable experience to the side.

Steve: We don't currently have a single striker at the club who knows how to score a goal, so an ancient Vardy can only be an improvement.

Philip: He loved scoring at Turf Moor for Leicester so hopefully he can get our season up and running. Everything feels a bit late at Burnley thus far but Jamie Vardy could be a turning point. Good signing for both parties.

Bob: What a ridiculous thing to do! Not taking anything away from his past achievements but that was then and this is now. We've already got Kyle Walker, do we need another one at the end of their career?

Alex: Yes he's getting on, but his experience and goalscorer's instinct will be a great asset.

John: In the situation we are now in, I am happy we have signed Vardy. He may score some goals but we should never have got ourselves into this mess. If we knew we were letting Zian Flemming go, we should have signed a new striker weeks ago.

Derek: Strikes of desperation! Jamie Vardy and Ashley Barnes up front would be a great combo 10 years ago. I fear we will be following Leicester this season!

Martin: This might be a masterstroke. Yes, he's getting on now, but used wisely could prove to be the goalscorer we need.

Image source, Getty Images

Striker Jamie Vardy has returned to English football after signing for Burnley on a one-year deal.

The 39-year-old was a free agent after leaving Italian club Cremonese at the end of last season following 13 years with Leicester City previously.

Vardy has won the Premier League, FA Cup and the Championship twice in a career in which he has scored 324 senior goals in 727 games.

• Burnley fans, are you happy with the signing of Vardy?

• What are your expectations for Vardy this season?

Let us know your thoughts here and we will share a selection of the responses.

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Burnley manager Nicky Hayen spoke to BBC Radio Lancashire after their late 2-1 home defeat to Bristol City left them bottom of the Championship. For a written selection of his quotes click here.