BURNLEY co-chairman John Banaszkiewicz admits he has been surprised at recent criticism of Sean Dyche in some sections of the national media – insisting the club have always been 100 per cent behind their manager.

Dyche guided the Clarets to their first win of the season at home to Hull City on Saturday but a run of 10 games without victory at the start of the campaign had seen the Burnley boss come under fire from some pundits.

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The Clarets remain bottom of the Premier League table but Dyche has always retained the backing of supporters and directors, who are well aware of the superb job he did to unexpectedly guide the club into the top flight in the first place.

Banaszkiewicz says criticism aimed at the manager and the team has only served to provide the club with more motivation.

“It’s a bit negative really and obviously we like to prove these doom mongers wrong,” said the co-chairman.

“We proved them wrong last season and it gives a bit of lift to the players and the manager.

“They’d kind of wrote us off before we’d even started.

“The manager has done a fantastic job and we’re 100 per cent behind him.

“He’s done a great job for the club and brought us to the Premier League.”

Banaszkiewicz believes Burnley have deserved more than the seven points they have picked up from their opening 11 matches.

The Clarets have given a good account of themselves in most matches – even if the 4-0 loss at West Bromwich Albion in late September was a real low point.

After beating Hull Dyche’s men have to wait another 10 days for their next game because of the international break.

But then they travel to Stoke City before hosting Aston Villa.

“We’ve done quite well apart from at West Brom, but sometimes we’ve been unlucky,” Banaszkiewicz said.

“The Hull result was a tremendous result for us. It’s been a long time coming for us and we’ve been a little bit unlucky in some other games.

“But you could just see the atmosphere on Saturday. The crowd was just buzzing, although the game got a bit hairy in the last couple of minutes.

“Some of the other clubs around us didn’t do as well at the weekend, so it proved a very important three points for us.

“I think it’s just a bit of a confidence boost to the team and we’ve got some interesting fixtures now against Stoke and Aston Villa.”