Dyche takes charge at Burnley

Dyche fills a vacancy created when Eddie Howe left the Championship club earlier this month to return to AFC Bournemouth due to family reasons.

The 41-year-old has penned a two-and-a-half year contract on his first appointment since being controversially sacked as Watford manager this northern summer, after the Pozzo family's takeover at Vicarage Road.

Dyche led Watford to its highest Championship finish for four years in his first managerial appointment last term and returned to football as part of Stuart Pearce's England Under-21's coaching staff for September's EURO 2013 qualifier against Norway.

He is joined at Turf Moor by assistant Ian Woan, who also served as his number two at Watford, and first-team coach Tony Loughlan.

Having recorded back-to-back wins in its first two games under caretaker boss Terry Pashley, Burnley went down 4-0 to leader Cardiff City at the weekend and lies 14th in the table ahead of this weekend's clash with Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Burnley co-chairmen John Banaszkiewicz and Mike Garlick welcomed Dyche to the club, proclaiming his as the 'outstanding candidate' to replace Howe in a joint statement.

It read: "Sean was the outstanding candidate following an extensive and structured interviewing process to find the right manager to fit in with our vision for the club.

"He is a natural leader with real presence who did a marvellous job at Watford last season in his first managerial role at a club with its roots firmly in the community.

"His commitment to a very strong and successful youth system was clear at a club with close parallels to our own, and Sean is especially keen to develop stronger links between Burnley Football Club and the local community.

"These attributes, complemented by a fantastic ability to maximise resources in taking Watford to their highest position since relegation from the Premier League in 2008 (2007), make us confident Sean is the right man to take this club forward."

Speaking to Burnley's official website, www.burnleyfootballclub.com, Dyche claimed he had no hesitation in accepting the offer of a return to management at Championship level.

Having attended the Clarets' match at Cardiff over the weekend, the delay over confirming his appointment led to speculation that Dyche might have cold feet.

But the former Chesterfield, Millwall and Watford centre-back insisted the delay was down to nothing more than contractual formalities.

"It feels fantastic to be invited to be the manager of a great club," said Dyche after taking training for the first time at Burnley's Gawthorpe training base along with Woan and Loughlan.

"It didn't take me any time at all to accept the role, despite popular misconceptions.

"I wasn't at home having the weekend to think about it. I decided instantly and we got on with things as quickly as we could, but things still need to be put into place contractually.

"I was at Cardiff on Saturday to have a look at that and it was finally great to get out with the players on Tuesday.

"This is a club in some kind of transition after a spell in the Premier League, but it is clearly a club that wants to build and move forward and I desperately want to be a part of that and make sure that we do that."