Scott Parker sends message to Burnley fans pining for Vincent Kompany glory days

Some Burnley fans are muttering because Burnley have won only won two of their last seven league campaigns and are pining for two years ago when they walked the Championship under Vincent Kompany

Scott Parker has appealed to Burnley fans to stop comparing this campaign with their Championship romp under Vincent Kompany two seasons ago.

Some Burnley fans are muttering because Parker’s side have only won two of their last seven Championship games and scored just 18 goals in their 15 matches. They pine for two years ago when Kompany’s team, boasting loan stars Ian Maatsen, Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Nathan Tella, walked the Championship with 101 points.

Burnley are actually a point better off than Kompany’s side ahead of today’s trip to Bristol City and Parker says he is having to work with a totally-different team.

“Two years in football is a long, long time and if there’s one thing I’ve learned, you can get stuck in that nostalgia,” said the Clarets boss, who was visiting Holly Grove Primary School in the town as part of Burnley FC In The Community’s work, which saw them help 30,000 people last year.

“Football moves so, so quickly and two years ago what happened was nothing short of incredible. The job everyone did, Vinnie coaching the players, it was an incredible, incredible achievement.

“But that was two years ago and you have to look at the hard facts, and they are this is a difficult league to get out of.

“If you look at the percentages, I think it’s probably 30 per cent of teams that come out of the Premier League get promoted in the first year. The numbers are stacked against you. History tells you it doesn’t work like that.

“I understand the world we live in today and I’m always only ever going to be judged on a W. But we’re in a good place. Fundamentally, we’re in a good place and psychologically, we’re in a good place.”

Burnley lost 17 players in the summer, while 16 came in, and Parker had to build a new team from September after the transfer window closed. “There were things happening here which were unprecedented, really,” he said.

“There was some things here, which in 20 years of me being in the game, I’d not seen. I understood that, and I realised what was presented to us could have been a real de-railer.

“We have a group of boys here now who, first and foremost want, to be here. They want to put the shirt on, they want to represent this football club.

“They spend every minute of every day on the training people, trying to improve. I couldn’t have said that to you 12 weeks ago and now we’re developing this young team.

“The most-stable team, the most-stable club, gets the job done nine times out of 10 and that’s what we need to be. Parker knows Burnley need to score more - even though the critics overlook their mean defence which has been breached just six times - and is working every day to make them more potent.

“My history has shown me since I was seven, and my dad forced me to go to training, forced me to do extra work, that dedication and commitment to improve pays off,” he said. “I always fall back on that knowing that we’ll get there, as long as you put that hard work in.”

* Burnley FC In The Community were participating in the EFL Week of Action, which is an annual event highlighting the impact of the 72 member clubs’ charity work, and 1.1million people were helped last year.

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