Peter Crouch is a columnist for Sportsmail
The first time that I crossed paths with Sean Dyche, the last thing I wanted to do was come away and give him compliments.
It was December 2001 and Portsmouth, who I was playing for at the time, had a trip to Millwall. You can imagine that a freezing cold Thursday evening at The Den was never going to be a game for the purists.
I was a young striker trying to make my way and Sean had the task of marking me.
There is no other way to say it: he was a big, horrible centre half and he let me know he was there from the first minute. Millwall won 1-0 and I don’t remember getting a kick of the ball. I do, however, remember getting kicked plenty of times by Sean. No, it wasn’t a great night.
What was a great night, on the other hand, was Kasabian’s show at the King Power Stadium in May 2016. I wasn’t going to miss the gig, but I didn’t expect to bump into Sean next to the stage. I had no clue that he liked the ‘right’ music and I came away thinking he must be all right!
Sean Dyche has worked wonders at Turf Moor with Burnley this season as they target Europe
In all seriousness, he has proven himself to be more than all right. For what he has achieved this season, there is every reason to believe that the Manager of the Year is not the man in charge at the Etihad Stadium (Pep Guardiola) but the one who is working wonders at Turf Moor.
I’m not trying to belittle Guardiola. I’ve said consistently in my columns all season that his Manchester City team are one of the finest the Premier League has ever seen, one that rightfully sits next to Manchester United’s Treble winners of 1999 and Arsenal’s Invincibles.
For the style of football, the points they have collected and the number of goals they have scored, Guardiola – if the League Managers Association chooses him – will be a worthy recipient of the award.
What Sean has done at Burnley, though, is remarkable. A good result in one of their last two games, at Arsenal or home next week to Bournemouth, and they will be guaranteed seventh place.
You should not underestimate what an incredible achievement that is. Look at Everton, the team directly behind them. They spent a fortune last summer to try to break into the top six. Burnley’s budget is a fraction of what they have available at Goodison Park.
But what Burnley lack in finance, they make up for in terms of chemistry. When I look at Burnley now, they remind me of what we had at Stoke City a few years ago – it is something we lacked at the start of this season and something from which we have struggled to recover. Sean has assembled a squad of players with the right work ethic, who are pulling in the right direction and fighting for each other.
What Burnley lack in budget for players, they make up for with chemistry and attitude
He knows the value of having players who want to work and get on with things. You won’t go far wrong if your squad is united.
Unity can help you overcome all kinds of things. Just look at how many Premier League goals Burnley have scored. Their combined total of 35 is only four more than Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah has managed on his own. Southampton have 35 but they are in the bottom three.
It is amazing to think they will probably qualify for the Europa League with so few goals, but the team function smoothly and are solid. I’m a big fan of James Tarkowski, for example. He is a proper defender, with whom I have had some real battles.
This week they were linked with Bristol City left back Joe Bryan. I have been following him all year – his highlight was scoring against Manchester United in the Carabao Cup – and it would not be hard to see him slotting in and helping Burnley improve again.
Everyone, of course, will expect this campaign to be a one-off and nobody will tip Burnley to do anything next season, but that would be a misjudgment and also disrespectful to the manager, who is building something.
I might not have wanted to give Sean a compliment 17 years ago but today I can only find words of praise. Should he be named Manager of the Year, I don’t think the decision-makers will have gone far wrong.
Although Pep Guardiola has been terrific with Man City, Dyche deserves manager of the year
Milner is magic… on and off the pitch
I love how James Milner has taken to tweeting and the first one he posted, with him standing in front of an ironing board, was class, as was the picture he uploaded after Liverpool’s win in Rome of a ball striking him in the face.
‘Does anyone know how to get rid of a Champions League logo?’ was a brilliant way to make light of his incredibly unlucky own goal.
I have had the odd decent tweet myself in recent times and it’s nice seeing another player having a laugh with it.
He also showed his sense of humour when he said after the game that he would celebrate with a Ribena and posed for a picture with ex-Liverpool player Stephen Warnock.
It is not just his tweeting skills that have impressed: Milner’s form for Liverpool has been excellent. He was the subject of ‘Caught My Eye’ in this column a couple of weeks ago and it is only right that he makes another appearance. His performances for his club in Europe have been impeccable.
James Milner was pictured with a bottle of Ribena on Thursday with friend Stephen Warnock
Milner is magic on social media, but more importantly has been brilliant on the pitch
Yaya rivals Drogba as best African in the Premier League
One of the great Manchester City careers will come to an end next week when Yaya Toure’s contract expires.
I know how much he means to that club. My mum’s side of the family are all City fanatics and I had heard all about the barren years, so when Yaya came along at the start of their revolution, they embraced everything he did. He and David Silva were the signings that were the catalysts for success.
There was a spell when he carried City. You could set your watch on him scoring goals in big games and his strikes in the FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United in 2011 and a double at Newcastle on the way to winning the Premier League in 2012 will always be remembered.
Yaya Toure will be regarded as an all-time Manchester City great when he leaves the Etihad
I used to love watching him play but when you were on the pitch, trying to contain him, there were times when he was absolutely unplayable. Sometimes as a striker you get asked to sit on the deep-lying midfielder, but Yaya could either pass it around you or hit a pass to take you out of the game.
It’s hard to split him and Didier Drogba in terms of who is the best African player to grace the Premier League. They had differing qualities but they were dynamite – men who you knew would produce something special when it mattered. For that reason, he is guaranteed to receive a proper emotional send-off at the Etihad Stadium.
Yaya will go down in Manchester City history, a figure who will be recalled in the same way as Colin Bell, Mike Summerbee and Francis Lee. That tells you everything about him.
Toure must be regarded as one of the best African players in England, with Didier Drogba
16,000 tickets for European final is a joke
What an achievement for Jurgen Klopp and his Liverpool side to reach the Champions League final, but the ticketing situation for the final is a joke once again.
Liverpool fans barely had time to celebrate the result in Rome before they were made aware of the great difficulties they would encounter in getting a seat in Kiev.
A figure of just over 16,000 for each clubs is a ridiculous allocation. Why can’t UEFA give Liverpool and Real Madrid 32,000 tickets each and provide the remaining 6,000 to the corporates? I really don’t like the fact some people in Kiev will potentially be seeing their first ever game at the expense of someone who has followed a team around for years.
Liverpool fans only have 16,000 tickets available for the Champions League final in Kiev
I know the corporate sector has a role to play in the modern game and I’m not saying they should be excluded, but devoting so many seats to them in showpiece occasions really doesn’t help the atmosphere.
It’s like the people who buy season tickets for Wembley, the ones who turn up to England games and take ages to come back to their seats at the start of the second half.
You know the real reason they have bought the tickets is so they can go and watch the Rolling Stones.
When Liverpool last made the Champions League final, I remember the mess that was made of tickets for our game against AC Milan in Athens and it’s clear they have not learned. These are global football clubs. The allocation they receive should reflect their status.