Vincent Kompany, former Manchester City captain has revealed his secret as he guided Burnley back into the English Premier League.
Burney have returned to the Premier League following their 2-1 victory against Middlesbrough on Friday, 7th of April, 2023.
Vincent Kompany’s side sealed their 25th league victory of the season, thanks to goals from Connor Roberts and Ashley Barnes at Riverside.
The Clarets are 11 points ahead of second-place Sheffield United in the Championship, having only lost twice all season.
They were relegated from the Premier League last year after six seasons in the English top flight.
Kompany has greatly exceeded expectations in his first season as Burnley’s manager, leading the team to the FA Cup quarterfinals before losing to his former side, Manchester City.
Burnley’s dynamic style of play has translated to tremendous success on the field.
Secret to Vincent Kompany’s success at Burney.
When Vincent Kompany took over as manager, he put a stop to a practice that had been common under Sean Dyche.
Reports indicate that throughout Dyche’s 10 years at the club, it was customary for teammates to bring in birthday cakes for team members.
This was revealed to Kompany when the team reported to preseason training on the day when Jack Cork turned 33 years old.
The new boss put an end to all of that, and cakes were outlawed for everyone, even the birthday lad.
On the other hand, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has tipped Vincent Kompany to succeed him at the club.
He revealed in a comment that reads; “Had he enjoyed it? What had he learned from his debut season in England?
“And is he really good enough to be City boss one day, Guardiola added by saying it’s writing in the stars”?
However, Vincent Kompany responded to his former manager’s comment;
He said ” Sometimes it is a leap of faith”, he admitted, “There are two ways to look at it. One, it is daunting, it is difficult and how are we going to do it”?
“The second is the way we looked at it, it’s filled with opportunities. What if we do this? What if we managed to convince this players”?
“There were hard things, there were decisions we had to make that were hard but they were the only reasonable decisions to restock and replenish the talent pool in the club”.
After last season, Kompany, then 36 years old, returned to English football after having spent the previous two years as manager of Belgian club Anderlecht.
Although his playing career in England was limited to the Premier League with City, his transfer to Turf Moor drew some curious looks. Yet, the appointment proved Burnley was serious about the position.
After being relegated last season from the Premier League, the team was demoted to the second division and was simultaneously required to repay a “substantial amount” of a £65 million loan from the American financing corporation MSD Holdings.
This was helped by the departures of several key players, including England goalkeeper Nick Pope to Newcastle, center-back Nathan Collins to Wolves, and winger Dwight McNeill to Everton.
Ben Mee and James Tarkowski, both longtime defenders, left for Brentford and Everton, respectively, on free transfers.
Many Belgian players were brought in, including Anderlecht midfielder Josh Cullen and Charleroi winger Anass Zaroury.
In addition to acquiring goalkeeper Ari Muric and defender Taylor Harwood-Bellis through Kompany’s connections at Manchester City, Burnley brought in forward Nathan Tella from Southampton and full-back Ian Maatsen from Chelsea on loan.
It speaks a lot about Kompany’s leadership, though, that the team’s financial woes have been mostly overlooked.
Despite taking some time to get steam, Kompany has turned around what could have been another forgettable campaign.
After starting the season with a win over Huddersfield, Burnley proceeded to draw three of their next four games and lose one.
This included blowing a 3-1 lead at home against Lancashire rivals Blackpool in a contentious match.
Kompany’s team improved after he remade Sean Dyche’s squad in his own image, and they have since lost the league championship to their rivals only once this season.
His tactics have been thriving, and now the club is on track to become the first in the Championship since Newcastle United in 2009–10 to go the full season without a home loss and win the league title.
What’s next for Burnley and Vincent Kompany?
Vincent Kompany and his team need 11 points of their remaining 7 games to clinch the Championship title, and if they can earn 13 points, they will become the first team in the Championship to reach 100 points since Leicester in 2013/2014.
