sport news ON THE ROAD: Vincent Kompany's Burnley revolution is underway... he's thrown ... trends now
In the narrow streets around Turf Moor, they still can't quite let go. There's still the Royal Dyche pub, with the sign above its door depicting the man in question in breastplate and monarchical pose as he stares into the middle distance.
Still Royal Dyche lager selling inside, with 5p from every pint going to charity. Still the words 'Sean Dyche's claret and blue army' at the bar and a Maxwel Cornet scarf pinned up on the way to the door, even though he's at West Ham now.
Still the Dychian creed emblazoned on the programme sellers' huts outside on Yorkshire Street: 'Legs, hearts and minds.'
It was one thing to defenestrate the man but another entirely to replace him with something diametrically different. Vincent Kompany, his successor, has thrown out Route One and replaced it with what he knows: a circuitous, patient, elaborate, passing route to goal.
The revolution overseen by manager Vincent Kompany at Burnley is well underway
This can tend to make fans nervous. When the team were cautiously manipulating the ball around Preston's pitch on the way to their fifth draw of the season last week, one of the Burnley travelling contingent could be heard bellowing: 'Just lump it!'
It will take time to adjust to what Kompany has brought. On Saturday afternoon, Burnley's two young centre halves standing on the six-yard box to receive the ball from goalkeeper Arijanet Muric, signed from Manchester City, where they school their keepers to pass, the home fans were curiously quiet.
The Bristol contingent made the noise. This felt a whole lot like anxiety.
Manuel Benson celebrates with Josh Brownhill after scoring in a 2-1 win against Bristol City
Half an hour in the Royal Dyche says a lot about how the initial gruff scepticism is giving way to acceptance. Some supporters are done with the existential fight to survive and just want football to make the heart soar.
'How long could it all go on, the way that it was?' says Sarah, a teaching assistant in her 30s. 'We needed a new start.'
That start carried a heavy penalty. Relegation last season triggered a £32.3million early repayment penalty to investment house MSD Holdings, which loaned Burnley's American owner Alan Pace the money to buy the club.
Kompany subsequently wound up spending £45m less than he recouped on players in the summer window, despite requiring 16 additions to replace those who left. Necessity was the mother of invention.
Though the massed ranks of Nick Pope, Ben Mee, James Tarkowski, Dwight McNeil and Cornet are scattered to the four winds now, Kompany arrived with a reputation which
