Arsenal hero Ian Wright has suggested that Sean Dyche should be considered a prime candidate to take over from Arsene Wenger as and when the wiry Frenchman vacates his post at the Emirates.
Discussing Dyche’s merits after Sunday’s 1-0 win over Everton elevated the Clarets to sixth in the table, Wright was asked if he’d be happy to see the Swarfega-gargling copper-top given a chance to manage his beloved Arsenal in the future.
The answer was a resounding ‘yes’, largely on the flimsy basis that Dyche will need training up in the art of knock-out football disappointment if he’s ever going to put away the Ranger of the North and become the England manager he was apparently born to be.
Sean Dyche – good enough for #Arsenal?
Ian Wright thinks so… pic.twitter.com/DbgMAY4flO
— BBC 5 live Sport (@5liveSport) October 3, 2017
Asked by BBC Radio 5 Live host Mark Chapman about Dyche’s potential, Wright replied:
If he (Dyche) carries on like he’s doing, they’ll probably start touting him for the England job.
I believe that he is somebody that, at some stage, needs to go to the next level in respect of a club that can play in Europe on a regular basis to learn that cup side of the game.
But because we are so bereft of any kind of manager that’s good enough to take on the England job, if he carries on like he is he’ll probably get pushed into the role.
Questioned again whether he’d accept Dyche as a replacement for Wenger, the former Arsenal striker answered:
Yeah. The fact is, would they give Sean Dyche that job?
In respect to how his team sets up when they’re defending, he’s obviously got acumen – but will he get a job like that? I don’t think he will.
While Dyche is doing an undeniably brilliant job at Turf Moor, he’s clearly a manager revelling in being adept at delivering micro-victories to supporters with tempered expectations – though that’s not to diminish his achievements thus far.
Arsenal would be an unfathomably big step up in terms of responsibilities, finances, demand, results, prestige, tactics, ego-management, marketing, etc, etc.
While they may be in the same division, one point apart, there are at least a couple of major stepping stones between the two clubs, let alone the England job – David Moyes’ travails at Manchester United being a good example of the perils of attempting to straddle the gap, and Everton are a far bigger enterprise than Burnley.
Dyche would likely bomb, and his reputation suffer a significant hit as a result, thus ‘condemning’ him to a career somewhere in the mid-table.
Anyway, he’ll probably retire long before Arsene Wenger ever calls it quits, so the whole debate is essentially moot anyway.