BURNLEY joint chairman Mike Garlick has confirmed that manager Sean Dyche will retain full control over signings when a new ‘dir-ector of football’ figure arrives at the club next month.

Lee Darnbrough is due to start work at Turf Moor on December 1 as the Clarets hon-our an agreement to bring in West Brom-wich Albion’s head of technical recrui-tment.

The appointment had previously been made at the request of Eddie Howe, be-fore Burnley’s boss decided to return to Bournemouth.

And the Clarets board believe Darn-brough’s arrival will help the club’s new manager in his search for players.

Dyche operated in similar circumstances during his time in charge of Watford and will be the man who makes the decision over which players join the club.

“We’ve got someone coming in who will be heading up our recruitment function for play-ers,” Garlick said of the new man’s role.

“I think Sean has been used to that sort of structure at Watford and at other clubs he has been at.

“Ultimately he will be the guy who chooses the players that come in.”

Dyche will be keen to fend off interest in key players such as Charlie Austin and Kieran Trippier in the January tran-sfer window.

And Garlick says the new boss will assess his squad in the next few weeks before deciding whether he wants to bring in signings.

Dyche will already inherit Jamaican international win-ger Dane Richards, who joins Burnley from Vancouver Whitecaps in January aftersigning a pre-contract in August.

On the subject of strengthening the squad, Garlick said: “I think we just have to see how we get on in the next couple of months.

“The first thing Sean has to do is have a good look at what he’s got.

“I think if you look at managers in the past, mistakes were often made when they come in and try to change things too quickly and bring people in too quickly.

“So at this stage it’s have a look at what we’ve got, see how we can improve that and take it from there.”

Darnbrough has spent the past nine years working at West Bromwich Albion after seeing a promising career as a goalkeeper at Oldham Athletic cut short by injury at the age of 19.

The 35-year-old moved into performance analysis with ProZone, working for Bolton and Aston Villa before joining West Brom.

He will work closely with Dyche, who was appointed as Burnley boss a fortnight ago after a lengthy interview process involving a number of candidates.

Former Clarets defender Steve Davis, currently in charge of League One side Crewe, was one of those interviewed but has now claimed he never planned to leave Gresty Road.

“I went for the experience more than anything,” Davis said of his interview.

“I have never gone through an interview as such and I wanted that experience to be sat there opposite three guys, talking about what they would expect and their plans.

“It was never my intention to leave here at all. I have always said that I will try and take Crewe as far as I can and I am very happy here.”