Burnley boss relieved at window closure (From Lancashire Telegraph)

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Burnley boss relieved at window closure

2:10pm Friday 3rd February 2012 in News Photograph of the Author By Chris Flanagan, Sports reporter

RELIEF Eddie Howe

HIS squad still intact, Eddie Howe breathed a rather large sigh of relief when the transfer window came to a close at 11pm on Tuesday.

Burnley may not have been the busiest club in the country during January, but Howe was always well aware of the possibility of his plans being turned upside down at any moment.

As it was, bids for Jay Rodriguez and his other star men never materialised and the Clarets were able to tie up their own business comfortably ahead of the deadline with the arrival of Danny Lafferty from Derry on Monday.

Before that, Burnley had turned loan deals for Kieran Trippier and Ben Mee into permanent signings and brought in Josh McQuoid on loan from Millwall.

All in all, Howe admits it was a good transfer window for the Clarets, but that did not mean it was a relaxing one.

“I’m not a big fan of the window,” he said. “This last few weeks has been an incredibly busy time with agents.

“You’ve got to have contingency plans as well, ‘What if this happens, what if that happens?’ Your mind is constantly elsewhere rather than the

target="_blank">training pitch and working with the players you have.

“A lot of your time is really wasted in that respect.

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“So I’m pleased it’s shut, I’m pleased we know what we’ve got and more importantly the lads know, they know none of their team-mates will be exiting the building.

“The board have been brilliant in the fact that they made it clear that they were going to try to keep the squad intact.

“You can never say never because if you get a bid out of the blue that totally exceeds their valuation for a player I’m sure the board will have looked at it.

“But we’ve managed to keep everyone and we’ve added three really good signings in Ben and Kieran permanently and Daniel.

“It’s been a good window, although time will tell how good it’s been. We’ll be judged in the summer.”

Newcastle did make an enquiry for Rodriguez but Burnley were never tested by the sort of offers that Southampton produced in August.

“From my point of view I have to say I am a little bit surprised,” Howe said of the lack of bids for Rodriguez, who scored twice in Tuesday’s win at Nottingham Forest.

“I was bracing myself for interest and bids, because certainly his form of late has been outstanding.

“The last five or six weeks, his performances have really been taken on to another level in my opinion.

“He’s scored goals, he’s created goals, his all-round play in terms of helping the team has vastly improved so I’m a little bit surprised.

“But don’t get me wrong, I’m delighted that we’ve managed to keep him.”

Rodriguez now has 16 goals this season but Howe believes the striker still does not get the recognition he deserves.

“I certainly feel he perhaps doesn’t get the credit he deserves for whatever reason, whether that’s because he’s playing for Burnley I don’t know,” said the Clarets boss.

“Praise for him has been a bit quiet apart from really us championing his cause and the people in and around the area.

“But I think it’s a good thing because it means we keep him under the radar, and it’s typical of Jay really because he doesn’t shout from the rooftops either.

“His value keeps increasing in my opinion. I haven’t seen many better strikers this season so we’re delighted he’s with us and we want to keep him here for as long as we can.”

Rodriguez is one of a number of players whose current deals expire next summer and Howe’s next task will tie those stars to longer contracts.

“A lot of players have got 18 months left on their deals and we don’t want to get into a situation where they’re able to leave for nothing,” he said.

“So we’ll have a look at that and hopefully come to the right decisions.”

Burnley will now bid to follow their victory at the City Ground with three points at home to Peterborough, who beat them 2-1 at London Road in September.

But Howe believes his side are much changed since then and hopes that will be evident against Posh, as it was when the Clarets won at Middlesbrough last month following a demoralising home defeat to the same opposition earlier in the campaign.

“Peterborough have been hard to beat on their travels,” he said.

“They’ve had some really good results at some tough grounds, which is full credit to their players and their management staff for their attacking philosophy.

“They beat us earlier in the season, which was a really tough day, I remember that well.

“It’s a lesson for us to look back, to learn the lesson of that day and say again, like with Middlesbrough, let’s show them that we’re a better team now.”

Comments(37)

gudari says...
2:37pm Fri 3 Feb 12

Everything looking good. Good young manager, good chairman, good young team. three points on Saturday please!!