SEAN Dyche had just given the television cameras a guided tour of Burnley’s Gawthorpe training ground, outlining the plans for the future. Surprisingly, his desire to improve things for the long term was met with criticism.

While pretty much everyone in Burnley stands squarely behind the man who miraculously guided the Clarets into the Premier League, elsewhere some look only at the league table.

In a world where everyone wants everything yesterday, the Premier League has become ever more dominated by the desperation for short-term results.

Never more was that illustrated than by the reaction of the Sky pundits, most notably former Blackburn Rovers boss Graeme Souness, to the feature interview that Dyche gave to Geoff Shreeves on Sunday.

“Burnley may have a fantastic training ground in a year’s time, but that’s not going to help Sean Dyche,” Souness said.

“I think it’s lovely but it’s a wee bit naive, unless he’s got the most ridiculously strong chairman and the most ridiculously strong board who are going to stand by him through no matter what.”

All season, Dyche has been at pains to stress that his approach to management is about thorough planning of every aspect of a football club, and certainly not naivety.

“I’m not naive, I know we need to win football matches,” has been a sentence he has uttered at pretty much every press conference since the start of the season.

In the world of the Premier League, Dyche knows criticism will come his way from time to time.

As he speaks before this afternoon’s match at Arsenal, he insists he has no problem with the opinions of Souness and others – even if he may not agree with every word they say.

“The pundits have an opinion and they’re allowed to have that,” he says. “I manage in the appropriate fashion for me and for the football club.

“The number one thing is to make a group of footballers win football matches. That’s a given.

“Take that aside, then I think it’s appropriate how you handle yourself in the media, on behalf of the players, the staff and the club.

“I think it’s also important to be aligned and I think the club is aligned.

“Whether people deem it appropriate or not is entirely up to them, that’s a pundit’s job, to give an opinion.

“Let’s face it, everyone has a thousand opinions about the Premier League, the bloke walking his dog down the road past my house, the bloke at the golf club, Graeme Souness, Geoff Shreeves, myself, yourself.

“I’ve got no problem with it.

“They’re people trying to do a job and they say what they think.”

The desire to look long term as well as short term is something that Dyche’s opposite number today, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, has been criticised for in the past too.

“To be fair I think Arsene Wenger has done all right,” Dyche said, full of admiration for the approach that the Frenchman has taken – and the success he has had – since taking over as Gunners boss in 1996.

“I think Arsene took it forward, built his own version of it, Sir Alex did it too.

“I’m not suggesting I’m trying to do that at Burnley, but the club is absolutely important.

“As well as being a manager, managers are custodians for whatever period of time, and I know for sure in my current period of time that this club is in a whole better place from when I got here.

“That’s progress, but that’s up to this day and it’s more important what we do going forward.”

Wenger is credited with changing the approach to football in this country, off the field as much as on it.

Dyche admits that the game has changed greatly since early in his playing career, when teams he was part of might enjoy the odd pint during a week.

“I used to just head it and kick it, there’s a little bit more talent now!” he joked. “A lot was made in the very early days about dietary requirements, fluid intake and that kind of thing, and rightly Arsene is one of the leaders of that.

“The game was on the change at that time anyway and he probably enhanced that by giving those open opinions about what he felt was appropriate for football in general, but certainly his own club.

“He’s certainly one of the forerunners for that more in-depth science background, dietary requirements, lean players, fit players.

“I think it was generally turning and he accelerated that I think.

“Lads are in great shape now, they’re in better shape than ever.

“Even when I was playing only seven or eight years ago there would always be a couple of players who were a little bit of out of shape or heavy.

“You very rarely see it now, I can’t even think of one.”

Dyche’s Burnley side – still seeking their first win of the Premier League season – had to deal with the threat of world class strikers Samuel Eto’o and Romelu Lukaku last weekend against Everton.

Today they are expected to face Alexis Sanchez, the Chile World Cup star who moved to Arsenal for around £35m from Barcelona in the summer.

“He looks decent,” Dyche admits. “They’re very good players but you could go through the whole division, there are very good players in virtually every club – including our own.

“It’s important to give a really good performance.

“That’s what we built on last season and we’re still building on it now because performances, whenever that day comes, lead to wins.

“It’s really a story about winning, but it’s not like it’s one and that’s it – ta da!

“It’s not like that. It’s a league season, it’s a marathon not a sprint.

“Whenever that days comes, because it will come, then it’s the next one after that, then the next one.

“It’s an ongoing process.”