Burnley FC got it spot on with £500k Hull City transfer | OneFootball

Brian Laws didn't do much good for Burnley, but he got it spot on by signing Dean Marney

Any positive impact from Brian Laws at Turf Moor during his Burnley spell was few and far between, but signing Dean Marney was one of few things he did get right.

Laws took over from Owen Coyle when he left for Bolton Wanderers midway through Burnley's maiden Premier League campaign in 2009/10, and he ultimately oversaw the decline which resulted in relegation.

Although Burnley were struggling for results when Coyle left, there was an expectation that things would turn around when Laws came in, owing to a 'new manager bounce', but there was no honeymoon period for the former Sheffield Wednesday boss, who soon saw Turf Moor turn against him.

There were banners within the ground calling for him to be sacked on the final day of the season, but it was his first move after relegation that ultimately proved to be arguably his most successful in the post.

His first summer recruit ahead of the 2010/11 Championship season was to sign Marney from Hull City, with the Clarets paying a mere £500,000 to bring him to East Lancashire.

Hull City were relegated from the Premier League alongside Burnley in 2010, so it was a little surprising to see Hull so willing to part ways with Marney, particularly as they were strengthening a side who were likely to be a direct rival.

As it turned out, the pair were rivals in the 2010/11 season, but only in mid-table, as neither threatened the promotion picture, so they weren't left too red-faced.

Marney played 36 times in the Championship in his first season at Burnley, scoring three goals and assisting a further three from midfield, but contributing in the final third was never really what his game was about, and that season was merely a snippet of what was to come.

After Laws departed, and Eddie Howe came and went also, it was under Sean Dyche where Marney really found a new gear, becoming a regular in the team and in truth, one of the first names on the teamsheet.

He struck up a great partnership with David Jones in the 2013/14 season which ended in promotion and the duo worked perfectly together - Jones did the pretty passing and Marney was the combative partner who did the dirty stuff that allowed Jones to do what he needed.

Those type of players often go unnoticed, but Marney didn't, because in an industrious Burnley team, the system struggled to function without him in it.

Injuries blighted the end of Dean Marney's Burnley career

The Premier League season which followed the 2013/14 promotion campaign was where Marney's Clarets career began to unravel a little, with a cruciate knee injury keeping him out of almost half the season.

He made a patchy return towards the end of the 2015/16 promotion campaign, and then after a full pre-season, became a regular again in 2016/17, before a repeat of that prior injury away to Arsenal again cut his season short.

From there onwards, Marney could only watch on as his teammates secured Premier League survival, and from there the club catapulted into a new stratosphere the season after when they got into Europe, and with an unbreakable midfield trio, Marney was never able to get back into the side.

It was a sad way to end what was a stellar career at Burnley, and it was a shame that his efforts in the lead up were never rewarded with a European appearance, but he did at least get a proper send-off on the final day of the 17/18 season when it was announced he would depart on a free transfer.