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“He’s just a sort of bloke you’d run through brick walls for.”
Former Republic of Ireland and Burnley winger Keith Treacy has spoken out about the influence manager Sean Dyche had on him as a player from his time with the Clarets.
Speaking on SportsJOE’s House of Football podcast, Treacy noted the human element that Dyche brought to his managerial style and revealed how it helped him as a player.
Keith Treacy on how Sean Dyche helped him.
“I remember him saying ‘Keith, I don’t care if you play for Burnley. I don’t care how many appearances you make. I care about you as a human being.
“For a manager to say that in the height of – we were going for promotion that year and the pressure he was under, what the board must have been saying to him.”
Treacy moved to Burnley in the summer of 2011, with the current Everton manager joining up over a year later in October 2012.
Sent to Burnley’s development squad by Eddie Howe after poor performances, the Dubliner was recalled to the first team and given a second chance under Dyche.
Noting that the club wanted a good return of the £1m they paid for him, Treacy said Dyche told him he just wanted ‘the person to be right’.
“Obviously if the person is right, the footballer will come but everybody’s more worried about the footballer. So, for him to take a different angle on it and try and get me fit and speak to me about things.”
“I don’t care if you play for Burnley, I don’t care how many appearances you make. I care about you as a human being.”
Former Ireland winger Keith Treacy on why Everton manager Sean Dyche is one of football’s good guys.
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Sean Dyche put his trust in Keith Treacy.
After only one appearance for Burnley in the 12/13 season up until Dyche took over, the Irish player got a new lease of life under new management, making 14 more appearances after Eddie Howe left.
“He very rarely played me. I think the season we got promoted I played 38 games but I started about 15. And notoriously it was like QPR at home, the big teams at home and I was thinking he really trusted me in a defensive manner which nobody else really did.”
“He’s just a sort of bloke you’d run through brick walls for.”
Dyche, now at Everton, will oversee the return of Dele from his loan move at Besiktas as he tries to reignite his career.
“He just did his own thing.”
Former Ireland winger Keith Treacy on the brilliance of Tugay – the chain-smoking maverick who lit up the Premier League with Blackburn ⭐️
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Treacy says Dyche is the perfect manager to bring Dele back to his best, and revealed he even tried to reach out to the 27-year-old.
“Even now, people are saying to me ‘What’s Dele Alli going to be like?’ because of the stuff that has come out about him. There’s no better guy than Sean Dyche to try and sort him out.
“When the Dele Alli interview came out I text Dyche and I said ‘Listen, maybe there’s one or two similarities there between me and Dele Alli. If you want to pass on my number, we can chat.’ And his text back was that Dele’s in a really good place at the minute and long may it continue.”
You can watch the full interview with Treacy below.
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