Nicky Hayen has admitted he does not know if he will still be in charge of Burnley at the end of the international break after their winless run continued with a 1-1 draw at home to Derby County.
Hayen is facing increasing hostility from Burnley’s support – and questions over his future, barely two months after arriving as head coach – with his team bottom of the Championship.
Zeki Amdouni’s 34th-minute header, bounced in at the far post after goalkeeper Josh Vickers had flapped at a Lucas Pires corner, had put Burnley on course for a first league win since February.
But Derby substitute Mohammed Fuseini drilled in a stoppage-time equaliser, taking fellow substitute Rhian Brewster’s pass on the run.
Burnley, relegated from the Premier League in May, are bottom of the second tier and have conceded more league goals in their opening eight matches – 17 – than in the whole of their last Championship campaign two seasons ago, when they were promoted as runners-up.
Asked if he expected to be in charge when Burnley return from the three-week international break for their next league match, away to Watford on October 10, Hayen said: “I don’t know.
“I really hope so because I really work really hard for this club and I want to give back to the fans for their patience. I really understand how disappointed they are and that they even blame me. I don’t have a problem with it.”
Hayen had described the Derby game beforehand as “must-win” – against a team also in the relegation zone – but said he could not forecast the consequences of failing to claim victory.
“I don’t know,” he said.
“You have to ask this question to other people, but I speak a lot with those people also.
“We always do like a recap of the game and have feedback and always have an honest conversation.
“So I don’t know what’s going to happen. I know the fans are disappointed. We have had a really bad start and this is also not what I expected.
“But I’m always resilient. I’m always a fighter. Tomorrow I come back with a new positive energy. That’s always how I’ve worked. And that’s the energy that I want to bring towards the players and towards this club.”
Fuseini’s goal was his first for Derby, having arrived on loan from Belgian club Union Saint-Gilloise on transfer deadline day, and ended a run of three straight defeats for head coach John Eustace.
Eustace said: “We defended properly for the majority of the game, apart from the goal, which is another soft goal on our part, and limited Burnley to no opportunities, really.
“David Ozoh switched off for their goal. Part of his development is learning. Games are won and lost on set pieces, which everyone knows. And if we’d have lost today from that, it would have been a real kick in the teeth.
“It was a great finish from Mo for the equaliser.
“I’d obviously seen in his highlights reel that he likes to do a cartwheel when he scores and I said… He won’t be doing it again. But when he scored, I asked him if he did his cartwheel, and he said yeah. So I hope there’ll be a few more cartwheels to come.”
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