Nicky Hayen Sacked by Burnley After 14 Games and Just One Win

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Burnley have sacked head coach Nicky Hayen after 14 games, hours after a 4-1 defeat at Lincoln City left them 22nd in the Championship.
Hayen is the second Championship manager sacked this season, after Preston’s Paul Heckingbottom.
Burnley have conceded 25 goals in 12 league games, the worst record in the division, and have won just one of their past 24 league matches.

Burnley’s Yo-Yo Years Claim Another Head Coach

Burnley have sacked Nicky Hayen after only 14 games in charge. The Belgian’s final match was Saturday’s 4-1 defeat at Lincoln City, where the hosts came back from 1-0 down to hand the Clarets their sixth defeat of the campaign and leave them 22nd in the Championship. The club announced the decision in a two-sentence statement within two hours of the final whistle, according to BBC Sport.

Hayen was appointed on 10 July to succeed Scott Parker, who left at the end of April, days after Burnley’s relegation from the Premier League was confirmed. Owner Alan Pace brought him in to oversee a promotion bid, with the Clarets having gone up in their last two Championship campaigns, in 2023 and 2025. Hayen had won the Belgian title with Club Brugge in 2024.

How the Season Fell Apart

After a promising draw with West Ham on the opening weekend, Burnley’s season nosedived. They have not won a home league game in more than a year, and their last one came against Leeds United at Turf Moor in the Premier League.

The Clarets took a first win of the season in style earlier this month, beating struggling Watford 4-0 after the extended international break. They then drew with Charlton and lost to Wolves, scoring first in both matches. The defeat at Lincoln means they have won just one of their past 24 league games, and their 25 goals conceded in 12 Championship games is the worst record in the division.

Hayen had spoken about his future after the Lincoln defeat. “I’m not going to lose my energy as this is something out of my hands,” he said in his post-match press conference.

Wales full-back Connor Roberts was blunt about the team. He said, before news of the sacking broke, that performances had not been good enough for “98% of the season”. “We know it’s not good enough,” Roberts said. “We know the fans deserve a million times more, so we have to get on with it now and see if we can do better in the next game.”

A Left-Field Appointment

Chief football news reporter Simon Stone described Hayen’s appointment as left-field, as he had never worked in the English game. Stone also pointed out that Hayen’s success at Club Brugge came almost by accident. He stepped in as caretaker and had not been viewed as leading management material even inside the club.

The next appointment falls partly to new technical director Diego Lopez, once the arrival of the former Genoa sporting director is confirmed. Stone wrote that this should give the football set-up more alignment.

The Money Behind the Merry-Go-Round

Burnley are in the sixth season of a yo-yo existence, bouncing between Premier League relegation and Championship promotion. It has never been entirely clear what happens at the club if they fail to regain top-flight status at the first attempt. ALK Capital took control of Burnley in 2020 through a Glazer-style leveraged takeover, with a £65m loan from investment company MSD. That loan has been refinanced, but the club’s latest accounts, to July 2025, showed gross financial debt up by £30m to £142m, including outstanding transfer fees.

Parachute payments are guaranteed for a further two seasons after this one, though chairman Pace would evidently prefer not to use them. Everton’s appeal adds more uncertainty, as they are contesting a £35m compensation award to Burnley for breaching profit and sustainability rules in 2021-22.

For now, Burnley need a fourth head coach in little more than a year, and a result at the foot of the table to match.

WRITTEN BY

Jarrod

Jarrod Partridge is the Founder of Futbol Chronicle and an accredited journalist with over 30 years of experience following international football. A member of the AIPS International Sports Press Association, Jarrod has covered matches at stadiums around the world, bringing first-hand insight to every match report, player profile, and tactical analysis he writes.