THE jump from the Championship to the Premier League was always going to present a challenge for Burnley, but boss Sean Dyche has been shocked by one aspect of the top flight in particular – the amount of diving.

The Clarets chief has admitted throughout the season that he has been told his players are ‘naive’ for not going to ground easily, but he has now called for retrospective bans to be introduced to eradicate the problem.

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Dyche believes the lack of action being taken by the authorities on the problem of simulation is setting a poor example to tomorrow’s generation of footballers.

“I see it constantly in this league, more so than I ever thought I would,” Dyche said of the diving in the Premier League.

“You hope in the future there will be retrospective bans to clear that up, because I don’t think any fan wants to see it.

“At this level we have been naive at times, in the right way, and that’s sad, I think it’s sad that players just can’t go out and play and get decisions that they should get.

“We’ve had a couple of them, probably the most obvious one this year is Vokesy’s penalty (against Swansea) when he doesn’t go down.

“Even on Match of the Day, I think it was Ruud Gullit, saying he hasn’t gone down. Gary Lineker said ‘hang on a minute, surely he should be applauded for that and the ref should give the penalty anyway’, but he’s saying ‘well yeah, but he should still go down’. Where does that leave you? We’re telling players to go down and then complaining about it.

“There’s little kids out there diving around playgrounds. I cannot believe that the British football fan who watches the Premier League wants people simulating and diving. I can’t believe in our psyche we think that would be acceptable.”

Burnley have had Danny Ings booked for simulation this season, in the 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace in September.

Dyche said he was aware that simulation was a problem in the Premier League before this season, but he has been surprised by the scale of it.

“On the TV, we all watch games, but you don’t see it as closely, you don’t see as much of it,” he said.

“This season there was one right in front of the dugout where he fell over and he was so embarrassed he got up to run after it again.

“I refuse to believe there are football fans out there who enjoy that .”

Despite diving being highlighted as an issue in the Premier League every season, the authorities are yet to introduce any bans to discourage offenders.

The Burnley boss doesn’t know why action is yet to be taken, and believes introducing three-match bans would see the problem disappear from view in a matter of weeks.

“I cannot believe that retrospective bans are not in place,” said Dyche.

“I’d like to know the reason it hasn’t been brought in, and if it is getting really looked at in depth.

“ It would evaporate out of the game within weeks, because managers who have some amazing players will say ‘we can’t be losing you for three games’ .”