Honestly, I stumbled onto this thought watching the Prem last week. Everton just sacked Dyche, right? Got me thinking about all his teams over the years. Where did he really shine? Where was he maybe given a duff hand? Figured I’d dig in proper.
Starting the Hunt
First up, I needed a way to compare his squads, season by season. Win percentages feel too basic, you know? They don’t tell you what he had to work with. So, I decided to look at squad quality relative to the league before Dyche took charge. Basically, what state did he inherit?
- Step 1: Listed every team Dyche managed full seasons for: Watford (promotion season!), Burnley (twice!), and Everton.
- Step 2: Focused on the summer BEFORE each full season started. Who were the players? Where did the team finish the prior year? What kinda budget we talking?
- Step 3: Looked hard at player transfers – especially the freebies and cheap buys Dyche loves. Did he make those guys good, or did he just get lucky?
Grinding Through the Years
Started with Watford, 2011-12. Man, that squad! Average Championship level at best. Names like John Eustace, Adrian Mariappa, Troy Deeney… proper gritty players, nobody fancy. Dyche inherited chaos – loads of players gone after relegation scraps.
Then Burnley, first stint. Got them promoted in 2014? That squad was tiny! Players like Michael Duff, David Jones, Kieran Trippier was solid but raw. Budget? They sold Charlie Austin! Replaced him with… Lukas Jutkiewicz? Seriously? Squad depth was shocking.
Prem years with Burnley? Wow. Especially early on. Remember signing Joey Barton on a free? Getting Ben Mee firing? Arfield? Hecht?! Building that defence with Keane and Tarkowski for peanuts? Absolute masterclass squeezing blood from a stone.
Everton stint… feels different. He inherited Frank Lampard’s absolute mess in Jan ‘23. Scraped survival somehow, fair play. But this season, 23/24? Squad had some proper names: Pickford, Tarky back, Calvert-Lewin, Onana. Still flaws, yeah, but name-wise? Probably the highest “calibre” he’s ever had. And it didn’t really work.
The Big Realization
Here’s the kicker I landed on after looking at them all side-by-side:
- His BEST Work Wasn’t His Most Successful Season! Burnley finishing 7th in 2018 was amazing. But that squad was decent! Pope, Mee, Tarky, Cork, Defour, Gudmundsson, Wood. Solid! He got the best outta them, sure, but it wasn’t his biggest overachievement.
- His WORST Squad He Made AMAZING: That first promotion squad with Burnley in 2014. Bang-average players everywhere. Minuscule budget. Tiny squad. Everyone tipped them to go down. Dyche welded them into an absolute unit, got them UP, made ’em hard as nails. Turned Championship journeymen into Prem players. That squad had NO RIGHT getting promoted. That was peak Dyche-ball.
- Everton 23/24 Might Be His “Best” Squad… and His Worst Result: On paper, those Everton players? Internationals, big transfers (before he came), Prem experience. Yet they looked lost, disjointed. Didn’t play the Dyche way. Ended up in another relegation fight. Had the most resources relatively… and it felt like it worked least effectively.
Wrapping It Up
So, what’s my conclusion after this digging? Dyche is the absolute KING of taking what looks like garbage and turning it into something solid. The man thrives when expectations are low, the squad is threadbare, and he can build that intense, fight-for-everything spirit. Give him perceived ‘better’ players with bigger price tags and expectations? Seems to weigh them down. That Watford squad he got promoted? Gritty yes, quality no. Burnley 2014? Championship scraps. He turned coal into diamonds. Burnley 2018? He polished some semi-precious stones into jewels. Everton? Felt like he tried to polish gold with sandpaper and ruined both. Funny how that works, eh? Shows his magic works best when he’s got absolutely nothing to lose. Proper underdog builder.
