FORMER Claret Graham Alexander says Sean Dyche has the right mentality to guide Burnley through the current global health crisis, and then keep his side on the path to Europe once the season resumes.

Football clubs across the country have temporarily shut down amid the coronavirus pandemic, with the Premier League and Football League suspended until at least April 30.

The pause button was hit with Burnley on a seven-game unbeaten run, 10th in the table and on the fringes of the European spots, having overcome a four-game losing streak in the Premier League.

And Alexander says it is that capacity to recover that makes Dyche a model manager.

“There were a lot of question marks over them a couple of months ago, and now Sean has won manager of the month for February and they’re looking at possible European spots,” said the former Burnley man.

“That’s how quickly football can turn around.

“I don’t think anyone should be doubting Burnley and Sean Dyche’s resilience.

“In tough periods they always come back and come strong and do well, and now they’re looking at possible European spots.

“Burnley are in a situation where they’ve had a brilliant run of form. The break has come at a bad time for a lot of clubs, Burnley included.”

But Alexander believes Dyche’s measured and level-headed approach will stand the club in good stead, particularly in this period of uncertainty.

“When you’ve been in this game as long as we have been, certainly on the management side it’s really important to keep a level of consistency in behaviour and attitude and language and the message you get across,” he said.

“In football you’re going to have real good moments and low moments and if you swing from one extreme to the other I don’t think that works in the long run. I think Sean is along those similar lines.

“He isn’t at one end of the scale or the other, his feet are firmly on the ground.

“He understands Burnley and he understands the Premier League and he gives confidence to everyone around him, including the players.

“We have to be adaptable to good runs of form and bad runs of form, and things like this that we are going through right now.”

He added: “If you haven’t got a mentality that keeps you grounded and you don’t panic and you understand situations, that’s what gets you through this moment.”

Alexander, who served Burnley for four years – helping the club win promotion to the Premier League in 2009, made the move into management after retiring with more than 1,000 games under his belt.

Now boss of Salford City, he has welcomed the announcement of a £50million relief package from the EFL to help clubs struggling financial during football’s hiatus.

“There are clubs in different situations financially,” he said.

“As long as we are playing games clubs will be able to survive and get through this tough period, but without games for an unlimited amount of time it’s very difficult.”

And he has not been surprised by the decision to prolong the suspension until the end of April at least, which has meant the postponement of their Leasing.com Trophy final with Portsmouth which was scheduled for April 5.

“It is an unprecedented time, and it’s changing hour by hour, but at the bottom of it I would hope we would get to play all our league games, and the final,” said Alexander.

“Getting those games up and running when it is safe to do so will take precedence, and rightly so.

“Even if it is behind closed doors.

“Cup finals and cup competitions, you either win them or you don’t, and that’s where it ends.

“But it would be a nightmare certainly in the league programmes with promotion and relegation if those games weren’t played.

“It would be a different situation for everyone to handle if the season isn’t completed at some point or other.

“If we were 10 to 15 games in it might be a different story, but because we are so far in, with nine or 10 games left, it would be a shame not to finish it.

“Obviously there are bigger things going on in the world, but I think the repercussions would continue for a long time.”