SEAN Dyche has hit out at the decision to ban Burnley striker Andre Gray for four games for historic homophobic social media posts.

Dyche said Burnley were ‘very disappointed’ in the Independent Regulatory Commission’s decision to ban the 25-year-old.

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Gray had been charged by the FA for posts dating back to 2012 and after a hearing last Thursday the ban was confirmed on Friday.

But Dyche is angry with the length of ban dished out to last season’s Championship top goalscorer.

“Just to make it clear we of course know the tweet was unacceptable. Andre came out and said that, he apologised and said how far he’d moved forward,” said the Clarets chief.

“So it’s fair to say we’re disappointed, very disappointed. Andre misses 12 per cent of our games now.

It’s a hard one to take, it’s as simple as that, but the decision has been made and we have to get on with it.”

Dyche said Gray himself was upset at the four game ban and stressed his development from when the comments were posted, when he was playing for non-league side Hinckley United.

"He's disappointed,” Dyche said of Gray’s reaction to the ban.

“It's an interesting one, we talk about development, about learning, improving, he's a young lad who didn't have any education four years ago, he wasn't worldly wise, and I think he had 50 followers on his Twitter.

"That's not to do down the comments, I've already made that clear, but that's a fact, and if someone hadn't brought that up, you wouldn't have bothered with it.

"But I must make it clear, the comments were poor and he's apologised.

"But it's a tough one to take. He's a resilient character, he's still learning and improving.”