Burnley

Image source, Opta

A new era begins at Turf Moor as Portsmouth visit Burnley seeking to heap more woe on the Clarets on Saturday (15:00 GMT).

Fabio Celestini has been appointed as Burnley boss in the wake of Nicky Hayen's departure following Saturday's abject 4-1 defeat at Lincoln which left the Clarets third-bottom with just one win in their opening 12 games and without a home win in more than 12 months.

Pompey have climbed into the top-half off the back of a run of 10 points from four games, culminating in the 2-1 win over Millwall last time out, and another victory here could see them climb into the top-six depending on other results.

• Burnley are unbeaten across their past three league games against Portsmouth (W2 D1), they haven't gone four unbeaten in this fixture before.

• Portsmouth have lost just one of their past eight away league games against Burnley (W4 D3), though that did come on their last visit to Turf Moor, a 2-1 defeat in September 2024.

• Burnley are winless in their past 21 home league games (D10 L11). Only Sheffield Wednesday (23 between 2025 and 2026) have ever had a longer run in English Football League history.

• Portsmouth have lost just one of their past eight league games (W4 D3), having lost three of their first four in the Championship this season.

• Burnley have conceded six goals from corners and nine goals from set piece situations in general in the Championship so far this season – both the highest totals of any side in the competition.

Four days after sacking Nicky Hayen, Burnley have wasted little time in bringing in Fabio Celestini to replace him as their new head coach.

The 50-year-old from Switzerland won the domestic double in his home country with FC Basel in the 2024-25 season and has never managed in English football.

So, are Clarets fans excited to see what Celestini can bring to the table, or has his appointment raised more questions than answers?

Let us know your thoughts here and come back later to see a selection of your responses.

Andy Bayes
BBC Radio Lancashire sport editor

Image source, Getty Images

It's all change at Turf Moor.

Saturday's crushing 4-1 defeat by Lincoln City proved to be the final straw for Nicky Hayen, whose reign came to an end after a nightmare start to Burnley's return to the Championship.

By Monday, the club had moved quickly, appointing Diego Lopez as chief football officer and handing him the task of finding a manager capable of sparking an immediate turnaround.

It soon became clear that Rob Edwards, the early favourite, wasn't going to take the role, and attention quickly shifted to Fabio Celestini.

The 50-year-old former Switzerland international arrives having won silverware with Basel and, most recently, CSKA Moscow. Now, though, he faces arguably the toughest challenge of his managerial career.

Burnley have won just one league game all season and are desperately searching for momentum.

Celestini's first opportunity to make his mark comes on Saturday, when Portsmouth visit Turf Moor, with the Clarets looking to end their wait for a home league win that has stretched beyond a year.

We asked you who you would like to see take charge of Burnley after Nicky Hayen's departure.

Here are some of your thoughts:

Mike: Sean Dyche knows the club and its values and is strong enough not to take any nonsense from players or owners. He should be our main target now.

Ian: We need a proven manager with Championship experience, but also let them bring a coaching team with them. Our last two head coaches seem to be on their own and are expected to change things, yet have no choice but to work with the existing coaching staff.

Image source, Shutterstock

Tom: I would go for [Steven] Gerrard if he really wants to give his all to Burnley. This would mean forgoing the strategic ambition that cost him the Aston Villa job - Burnley simply don't have the young, intelligent players who could make up the flexible back four and there isn't the money to buy players good enough.

What Burnley do have, though, is competent players desperate for experienced leadership to give them a realistic objective to get them out of the hole the club is in. In the first place, that would be making Burnley a side following lessons of the Dyche era - a team that is very hard to score against but capable of winning matches 1-0, or better, once they have worn down the opposition's fruitless efforts. This could be done quite quickly using the current squad, at the same time weeding out the older, unfit players who simply are not fast enough to surround the opposition's strikers before they can do any damage.

The immediate objective must be to stop conceding 'soft' goals at the same time as turning draws into wins - 1-0 is worth three points, 3-3 is worth one point. The arithmetic is very simple!

Philip: Burnley have always been a small market team. With a 20,000 capacity stadium and a total population of around 80,000, the club has always relied upon astute financial management to survive. Our next coach must understand and embrace these realities and rebuild the team focused on hard effort, teamwork, fitness, and a passion for the game.

Sean Dyche embodied those qualities and it is not too late to reclaim them, despite our disastrous start to the season. We have a nucleus of excellent players, and a new coach must find a way to harness the skills and knowledge that already exist.

Of course we will not attract a Pep Guardiola to our small town, but there are some great candidates out there such as Carlos Corberan who are proven Championship contenders.

Nicky Hayen's appointment as Burnley head coach came as a surprise and, as it turns out, not a good one after he was sacked following just 14 underwhelming games.

Do the club take another gamble? Or should they bring in a Championship expert?

Could a new big name boss be just what the club needs or is practicality required?

Rob Edwards, Steven Gerrard, Sean Dyche and Carlos Corberan are some of the names who have been linked since the weekend.

Let us know your thoughts on which direction Burnley should take here and come back later to see a selection of your responses.

Burnley head coach Nicky Hayen said his future at the Championship club is "out of my hands".

The Clarets were thrashed 4-1 by Lincoln on Saturday, and now sit four points adrift of safety in the table.

Hayen's side looked the brighter of the two in the first half and even took the lead, but just before the break they conceded "another easy goal".

"A throw-in goes towards the second post and no-one takes responsibility to clear it, and they react quicker than us," Hayen told BBC Radio Lancashire.

"It's the story of the season - you feel it in the confidence, and in the second half you saw it."

When asked whether he would still be in charge next week, Hayen said: "I don't know.

"I know it's a really hard defeat and something to think about for the board also.

"In the past maybe I lost my energy but I'm not going to lose my energy because this is something out of my hands."

In this week's edition of The Football Interview, Kelly Somers speaks to the former Burnley, Everton, and Nottingham Forest manager Sean Dyche.

They speak about life after management, being a football dad, his love for cooking and Brian Clough's influence.

Listen to the podcast by pressing play above, or on BBC Sounds

Burnley will aim to pull themselves out of the bottom three again when they visit Lincoln City on Saturday (15:00 BST).

The Clarets are just one point from safety and have only lost one of their past four matches (W1 D2).

But the Imps are winless in four (D1 L3) and will be hoping to capitalise on Burnley's injury woes to help build more distance between them and the relegation zone.

• This is the first league meeting between Lincoln City and Burnley since the 1998-99 third tier campaign, with both matches finishing 1-1 between the pair that season.

• Burnley are unbeaten in each of their last two league visits to Lincoln City (W1 D1), as many times as in their previous eight trips (W1 D1 L6).

• Lincoln City are one of three sides in the Championship this season without a home league win (D2 L3), while they could lose three in a row at home in the same league season for the first time since December 2021.

• Burnley won their last away league game against Watford; the Clarets haven't won successive league matches on the road since April 2025.

• Burnley have already dropped 15 points from losing positions in the Championship this season – the most of any side in the competition.

Sheffield United legend Billy Sharp joins the pod following his retirement after a 22-year-long career. He tells us what made him an EFL bagsman and how he knew it was time to hang up the boots.

Burnley have not won at home in the league for an entire year- how real is the threat of back-to-back relegation? What's the root of their problem?

Where's it going wrong at Derby County and Norwich City?

Plus, there's been a sacking in League Two: having been let go by Crawley Town, what next for Colin Kazim-Richards?

Listen to the full episode above or on BBC Sounds here - and don't forget to subscribe to get each episode into your My Sounds feed.

Burnley boss Nicky Hayen spoke to BBC Radio Lancashire after their loss against Wolves.

For a written selection of his quotes, click here.