It was a little like those times when politicians bury bad news on an eventful day although for Burnley, securing promotion on Monday was the best news imaginable. What chance did it have, though, of getting much attention when Tottenham dropping points at Chelsea a few hours later meant Leicester had won the Premier League.
"We were joking," says Stephen Ward, "that we got a couple of hours making the headlines after going up before Leicester sort of took the gloss off it."
The 30-year-old Dubliner was speaking almost 48 hours after the event but the persistent frog in his throat might just be an indication that Burnley also staged a bit of a celebration that evening. The numbers for Claudio Ranieri’s side have been pored over in the days since with strikingly low possession percentages and pass completion rates for what is now officially the best team in England prompting debate and some consternation.
Ward, meanwhile, is pretty much at the heart of the standout stat for Sean Dyche’s outfit. The team had lost three and drawn four of their previous eight in the league when the Irishman was finally recalled to the side after a long time out on December 28th. They have not lost a Championship game since with the 15 intervening wins and seven draws enough, in the end, to give them a critical edge over Brighton and Middlesbrough with one game remaining.
Slightly embarrassed
The slightly embarrassed Irishman is quick to make clear that he is not claiming sole credit for the achievement: “A few lads have said the odd thing,” he says when asked if the “coincidence” has been noted around the club, “but I think as a collective, we’ve only lost four or five games all season. We’ve been on good runs all season. This one has just been outstanding and it’s been the backbone of us getting promoted.
“It’s been great for me but when I started to come in things had started to click with the team and the squad. Andre (Gray) had started to score every chance that he got, we started to keep a few clean sheets and the confidence then just started to build.”
His certainly seems to be in better shape than it was heading into Euro 2012 off the back of relegation at Wolves. The team shipped 82 goals that season and Ward acknowledges now that it probably took more of a toll than he liked to admit, even to himself, back then: “I think that at the time, when it was happening with Wolves, I didn’t feel like it was going to have the sort of effect that it did,” he says. “Obviously, though, the stress and everything that goes with a season like that that ends in relegation is probably a lot tougher on the body and on your mind, a lot more than I probably thought.”
The subsequent trip to Poland cannot have done much to cheer him up and the road back only started when Wolves were relegated again and new manager Kenny Jackett started looking to offload Premier League earners from what was now a League One club.
During a good year on loan at Brighton – nearly 50 games in a side that made it to the play-offs – Ward did enough to catch the eye of Dyche and in August of 2014 he returned to the top flight when he completed a move to Turf Moor.
That season was cut short by an ankle injury sustained against Newcastle in early December and ended in relegation. Dyche then started this campaign with much the team that had finished last “as he was entirely entitled to do,” says the left back without the slight hint of rancour. “I had to bide my time,” he says, “but once I got in and I thought I did well, I kept my place and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it.”
Dyche, a former defender himself, has helped him develop as a player, he says, and the manager’s work with the back four was a key factor, he reckons, in the increasing regularity with which the team kept clean sheets.
The purchase of Gray, though, and Joey Barton both proved to be key moves by the manager as he looked to guide Burnley back up at the first attempt and Ward believes the club’s decision to keep faith with the 44-year-old when most other boards would have switched horses, amounted to the decisive signing last summer. It has certainly all made for a timely return.
“With the promotion, they’re building a new training ground that’s going to be ready for next year. It’s definitely a club on the rise and it’s a great football town. Everyone in Burnley supports Burnley. It’s brilliant like that and it adds to the incentive, you really want to give them something back.”
The players have done that done that and the icing on the cake now would be to win the Championship title tomorrow at Charlton; something, he says, Dyche and a lot of the players see as unfinished business from two years ago when they were promoted as runners up.
For Ward, there might be more of a point to prove at the Euros. The left-back is reluctant to acknowledge he will even be there for fear of tempting fate before Martin O’Neill names his squad.
