After Burnley sealed an immediate return to the Premier League by beating Middlesbrough on Friday night, Daniel Black, head of sport at the Burnley Express, describes the turnaround in fortunes and style that Clarets manager, Vincent Kompany, installed in less than a year.
Kompany's impact
Kompany left the Premier League as a champion. The Manchester City legend could well return as a champion, too.
The former Belgium international signed off from Man City with a domestic treble after netting an iconic match-winning goal against Leicester City four years ago.
That was the ex-centre back's parting gift for mentor Pep Guardiola, his team-mates and the City supporters as he took his tally of trophies into double figures from his 11-season stay at the Etihad.
Now, the 36-year-old is set to return to the competition as a coach with Burnley.
An inaugural managerial stint in England has exceeded all expectations, including those of Kompany, who was inducted in the Premier League Hall of Fame this time last year. Expectations that included his own.
Exceeding expectations
"I never expected this, ever," he had told the media at various stages of this season. "I don't think any one of us expected it to go this well. It wasn't part of the plan when we had our meetings here six months ago."
The ambition, however, is to earn Premier League immortality in his new capacity as a managers, joining celebrated Hall of Fame occupants Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger, who changed the landscape in the top flight during their highly decorated spells with Manchester United and Arsenal respectively.
Kompany, who made 265 appearances as a player in the Premier League, had started out as a huge outsider to become the long-term successor to Sean Dyche at Turf Moor after Michael Jackson’s temporary stint had failed to stave off relegation.
But once the rumour mill moved into overdrive, the Burnley faithful allowed themselves to get carried away on a flight of fancy.
The dream became a reality when chairman Alan Pace, who had led the takeover of the club less than two years previously, took a risk on the former Anderlecht coach, with ex-Wales striker Craig Bellamy as his No 2 appointed soon after. The rest is history.
Carrying out a big rebuild
The rebuild brought reinvention, in terms of personnel and style. Nick Pope, Nathan Collins, Dwight McNeil and Maxwel Cornet were the assets who could be sold to finance the restructure, while figureheads such as captain Ben Mee and James Tarkowski moved on without any compensation for Burnley.
A total of 16 players were recruited by Kompany in the summer, five of those on loan, as the new boss set out to drastically reduce the average age of the squad, with the intention of generating a youthful, vibrant, competitive and ambitious culture.
His blueprint worked, even if a pocket of supporters initially needed more convincing than others.
Playing out from the back hadn't been a familiar circumstance at Turf Moor under Dyche.
Anxious gasps of breath would be drawn in the stands whenever new Burnley goalkeeper Arijanet Muric, recruited from Man City, received the ball at his feet, and the Clarets didn't help the situation when occasionally shooting themselves in the foot.
One win in their first five matches, and that was the opening fixture, caused frustration, especially having fallen behind to Luton Town and Hull City at home, before squandering a couple of two-goal advantages against Blackpool.
Then commanding victories over Wigan Athletic and Millwall were followed by a spell of sacrifice, as Kompany saw his team relinquish leads against West Bromwich Albion, Preston North End, Cardiff City and Stoke City, with the equalisers in three of those matches coming in the dying seconds.
But Kompany adamantly reassured those listening in to "trust the process", a message he had continued to relay from the very beginning, as a brand-new squad slowly adapted to a fresh brand of football.
Thinking for the future
The four-time Premier League winner, who had collected his first title under Roberto Mancini in 2011/12, had signed a five-year deal with the aim of overseeing a long-term project.
That will still be the case, but his objectives were somewhat accelerated when the Clarets equalled a 10-match winning streak in the Championship, emulating what Fulham and Aston Villa had done in seasons before them.
That had been the table toppers' response to a 5-2 defeat at the hands of Sheffield United at Bramall Lane, only their second loss of the campaign after that suffered at Vicarage Road way back in August.
They eased to promotion at a canter, buoyed by an 18-match unbeaten run.
They have won over 60 per cent of their league matches, averaged just short of two goals-per-match, own the meanest defence in the division, keeping 17 clean sheets, and they're only nine points short of equalling the points total returned in both promotion seasons with Dyche.
Kompany, now a four-times recipient of the Championship’s manager of the month prize, has revolutionised the club, provided a new, aesthetically pleasing and effective identity, which has seen the league leaders dominate both possession and territory in the large majority of their matches.
Finding some brilliant talent
He's unearthed some hidden gems from scouting missions across the Continent, with Manuel Benson, Anass Zaroury and Jordan Beyer all excelling, and he's called on a few favours from those he's worked with in the past, including the impressive midfielder Josh Cullen, reunited from Anderlecht, and the equally outstanding defender Taylor Harwood-Bellis, on loan from Man City.
He's also taken a chance on a couple of youngsters desperate to enhance their own development, such as Chelsea's Ian Maatsen and Southampton's Nathan Tella, the club's leading scorer with 19 goals in all competitions.
The leading contender for the Sky Bet Championship Manager of the Year award has managed to catch lightning in a bottle; Burnley are unbeaten at Turf Moor in all competitions, scoring in every one of those matches bar one against versus Sunderland.
They've scored three or more goals 14 times, and they've been blessed with 19 different goalscorers.
Reading's record 106-point return in the 2005/06 Championship might take some overturning, but this version of the Clarets are on course to become one of the best teams the division has seen.
Only five clubs in the lifespan of the second tier have managed to reach three figures for points. Burnley will surely join Sunderland, Fulham, Newcastle United and Leicester City to make it six, needing only 13 more points from their remaining seven matches to do it.
That, in itself, demonstrates the impact Kompany has had in such a short space of time in Lancashire.
Getting the fans onside
With the frenetic nature of the summer, and the calmness he has brought to the role, it has been the perfect storm for the Clarets, and all the aforementioned scenarios and statistics have only strengthened his relationship with supporters.
His triple air punch in salute to those fans in the Cricket Field Stand at Turf Moor has become habitual. It's a routine that has filtered down through his squad, and that has brought a real sense of unity between those on the pitch and those watching on.
And his rapport with the press has been just as friendly and facilitating.
While Guardiola championed his former player as the natural heir to his throne, and links to become Antonio Conte's successor at Tottenham Hotspur surfaced, Kompany has continued to show himself as a classy and respectful operator.
Kompany is engaging, eloquent and engrossing with the media. He's reluctant to draw on his exploits as a player and instead insists that he is judged on his capabilities as a coach from here on.
He is intelligent, thoughtful, transparent and detailed in his responses.
He can be witty, humorous, serious, but always courteous, and possesses an admirable ability to make those in his company feel completely at ease.
Those in and around the club's multimillion pound training complex at Gawthorpe will verify his workmanlike approach, as he often burns the midnight oil in an attempt to get as close to perfection as possible. And they'll confirm the feel-good factor he's brought to the place.
In the eyes of those looking from the outside in, Burnley are No 1 in the Championship. To Kompany, Burnley are No 21 in England.
That's his mentality and that's the reason why the 19 other clubs in the 2023/24 Premier League will need to be on high alert. Burnley, under Kompany, are a different animal.
Daniel Black (@DanBlack84) is head of sport at the Burnley Express and has covered Burnley FC for 14 years