Football
Mark Ogden, Senior Writer, ESPN FC 6y

Sean Dyche: Burnley would welcome 'challenge' of Europa League

Burnley manager Sean Dyche has told ESPN FC the club are ready to embrace the "badge of honour" that would come with playing in Europe if they can hold seventh place and qualify for the Europa League.

Dyche's team face eighth-placed Leicester at Turf Moor on Saturday knowing a victory would put them nine points clear of their opponents in the race for the final Europa League spot.

An FA Cup final victory for relegation-threatened Southampton, who face Chelsea in the semifinal at Wembley on April 22, could yet deny the seventh-placed club a place in Europe next season.

But with qualification a growing possibility for Burnley -- whose last appearance in Europe was a run to the quarterfinals of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1966-67 -- Dyche said the club would be ready for its challenges.

"The obvious positive is the badge of honour," he said. "For Burnley to be playing in Europe, that's an incredible thing in itself, but it's not an easy thing.

"Certainly when I arrived here five years ago, if I had said that we would be talking about qualifying for the Europa League people would have said I was mad.

"There is a balanced view to it, we know there is a challenge and that there is a history of teams going into the Europa League and finding it tough, but what do you do?

"If we achieve European status that would be a marvellous thing for the club, if you take away the challenges.

"But just for the badge of honour, for a club like this to be recognised in European football would show the massive, massive strides that have been made in the past five years."

Competing in the Europa League, at the same time as attempting to survive in the Premier League, has proven to be a difficult juggling act for a number of clubs in recent years.

Birmingham, Portsmouth, Bolton, Stoke and Swansea ave all seen their league form badly affected, with some dragged into relegation battles, but Dyche believes Burnley's recent spell in the Championship would help them compete on both fronts.

"I think you have to be aware it's a tougher schedule," he said. "But you have to remember that our recent history has been in the Championship and that is relentless.

"It is really hard, the Championship -- it's hard physically, it's hard mentally and the demand is always on you.

"It is Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday-Tuesday and it just carries on and on. On the other side of that, with all due respect, it is not as powerful as some of the European clubs or the Premier League and the constant challenge against some of the highest-level clubs in Europe.

"I don't think it is something that should be over-thought, but we do need to have a thought about it and a realisation that the games programme would change, as would the depth of the support background we would need including the squad and the level of players we are maybe scouting.

"But all of that is still just eased back because we still want to finish strong and that is our main focus at the moment.

"A lot of work has been done and there is more work in front of us, and it continues against Leicester, who are right on our shoulders."

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