Dyche unhappy at Gray suspension

Sean Dyche admits Burnley are very disappointed by the four-match ban handed down to Andre Gray.

Gray was handed a four-match suspension and fined £25,000 by the Football Association after he was found guilty of bringing the game into disrepute for homophobic tweets he posted in 2012 when he played for non-league Hinckley Town.

As well as missing Monday's defeat of Watford, Gray will sit out the games against Arsenal, Southampton and Everton and Dyche has questioned the decision to ban him for something that happened before he moved to Turf Moore.

"We had a big knock this week with Andre," he said. "To make it clear we of course think the tweet was unacceptable. But it's fair to say we're disappointed for a four-game ban, very disappointed.

"We talk about development, learning, improving. This is a young man who never had any education for years, he wasn't worldly wise back then. He only had about 50 Twitter followers - and that's not to undermine the fact of the comments, which have been apologised for.

"Sir Dave Brailsford is famous for his 'one per centers', well Andre is missing 12 per cent of our games now. It's a hard one to take but the decision is made and we have to get on with it and be ready, and here we were ready.

"They didn't just step up for that reason but sometimes there's a galvanising thing that happens to a group."

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