It’s been far from a vintage season for Vincent Kompany and his Burnley side during 2023/24.
As if to emphasise the growing gap between the Premier League and the Championship, the Clarets currently find themselves second from bottom, and a cavernous 11 points from safety with just 12 games left to play.
Compare that to last season when they strolled to the title in England’s second tier by 10 points from Sheffield United who, coincidentally, are the only team currently below them in the top-flight.
They ended last season 21 points ahead of third-placed Luton Town, and now the Hatters find themselves seven points above Burnley but only one place ahead of them and still in the bottom three.
Unless one of those footballing miracles that occur once in a generation happens to lift Burnley out of their current malaise, then they’re going to tumble straight back to where they came from at the end of the season.
This is precisely the point where the manager earns his stripes. When all appears lost he’s able to galvanise the troops and turn things around, however hopeless that may seem.
Think Alan Curbishley and West Ham in 2007. Ten points adrift with nine games to play, they survived on the last day thanks to a win at Man United, recollected by the official West Ham website.
Relegation would be considered an absolute failure on Kompany’s part, and it appears that his paymasters have already made a decision about his future.
According to The Athletic (h/t Sports Mole), the club have no plans to dispense with the Belgian’s services at this point in time.
Whether that stance will change at the end of the current campaign is unknown at this point.
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