TWO years ago today Sean Dyche was confirmed as manager of Burnley Football Club.

No-one, not even the man himself, could have envisaged the journey that he and the club would go on in the space of just 24 months.

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But it doesn’t end here. There is plenty of road still ahead.

The Clarets go into their 10th Premier League game on Saturday still waiting for their first win of the season. Against Arsenal at the Emirates the chance of those elusive three points are slim.

Yet while many outsiders might think Burnley’s start to the season would be cause for some kneejerk reactions in the Turf Moor boardroom nothing could be further from the truth.

There are no guarantees in football, but whatever happens this season – however it ends – Dyche is the man the chairmen and directors will want to see them through the summer and into the following campaign.

Talk of relegation is still premature given the turnaround in fortunes of previously newly promoted sides Sunderland and Crystal Palace. It is possible to survive sticky starts.

But even if the outcome is a return to the Championship, then who better to plot the path back to the Premier League than the one who has already been there and done it with them?

It is not just about what the manager influences on the field either. There is plenty going on behind the scenes that Dyche is orchestrating, such as sports science, training ground improvements, player recruitment and spreading the scouting net.

It can do a club no good to keep ripping it up and starting again. That’s why Leeds will languish and another shot at the Premier League will not be possible at Blackpool – certainly not in the current climate.

There have been financial constraints put on Dyche and the board know that. They, after all, imposed them.

Burnley might have been blessed with a multi-million pound bonus by virtue of being a Premier League team, but it is drip-fed, and it by no means makes them rich at the top level of English football.

The board have come in for criticism for not spending big in the summer. Some has been kept back for January transfer business, but preserving the long-term future of the club is a primary objective.

The compromise is two-fold. Dyche is fully aware of it too, and instead of coveting a move away, to so-called bigger and better things as a previous incumbent did after winning promotion (look how that turned out!), Dyche instead signed a new deal.

It would have been easy for him to capitalise on his enhanced reputation, with an endorsement from Sir Alex Ferguson on his CV, as well as a promotion.

Whether Sean Dyche remains at the Turf Moor helm in another two years, only time will tell.

But you sense this could be just the start; solid foundations laid ready to build again.