Lancashire

Burnley interim boss Mike Jackson has been speaking to the media before Sunday's Premier League game against Aston Villa at Turf Moor (14:00 BST).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Jackson confirmed he has a full squad available aside from long-term absentees Enock Agyei, Josh Cullen and Connor Roberts.

• Cullen is "coming along really well", while Roberts "will be playing in an under-21s game at some point in the next week".

• Reflecting on a week in which the Clarets lost at Leeds in their first match since relegation was confirmed, Jackson said: "A bit emotional at the start of the week. We just have to get on with it, be professional, respect the competition we are in, find a way of getting the lads going and getting some energy around the place. It's been a good week."

• On the mentality of the team following relegation: "It's a difficult situation but in the grand scheme of things we're privileged. We play football, we're in a great industry. It's been tough but there's a lot of things out here tougher than this. This week is just about reconnecting, getting some energy and identity back in and start working hard again."

• On the challenge posed by Villa: "After the result last night [Europa League semi-final win] it will bring a bit of confidence back into the team. They're a very good team, very well coached. They have improved year-on-year and I enjoy watching them play as well. They have a good style of play and are very good at what they do."

• On the importance of the Turf Moor crowd: "Let's be honest, we haven't been good enough at home this season. They deserve more from us but we really need them and we owe them. For us at home to try and create some intensity, be on the front foot and make a game of it we need them. We want to finish the season in a positive way."

• Jackson paid tribute to former Burnley defender Ben Mee, who made over 350 appearances for the club and announced his retirement on Thursday: "He was incredible for Burnley, he was the captain of the group we had. I wish him all the best in his retirement but no doubt we will see him around somewhere in coaching. If he puts as much into that as he did playing then I am sure he will be very successful."

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Andy Bayes
BBC Radio Lancashire sports editor

Image source, Shutterstock

Preston North End finished 14th - a position that, on paper, suggests progress. In reality, it feels like a season that quietly slipped away.

An improvement of 10 points to 60 is not insignificant, but numbers alone do not tell the story. This was a campaign defined less by where North End finished and more by where they might have finished - and why they didn't.

For half a season, this was one of the Championship's most convincing sides.

The summer 2025 rebuild was extensive and, initially at least, hugely effective.

Harrison Armstrong, Alfie Devine and Lewis Dobbin all arrived on loan ready to contribute, while Daniel Jebbison offered glimpses of the potential that first caught Paul Heckingbottom's eye at Sheffield United.

Daniel Iversen provided authority and calm in goal, Pol Valentin delivered consistency on the right and Andrija Vukcevic looked entirely at home at Championship level. Thierry Small added energy and end product, scoring three times before Bonfire Night.

They had a nine-match suspension for striker Milutin Osmajic to negotiate too, but after 26 games, the numbers were increasingly difficult to ignore.

Only Ipswich, Middlesbrough and Coventry had more points. The 4 January win at Bristol City felt like a statement that North End belonged in the promotion conversation.

Heckingbottom was unambiguous. It would be "criminal", he said, not to kick on from such a position, but the rest of January didn't blunt momentum - it dismantled it.

From being the fourth-best side in the division across the opening 26 matches, only four teams collected fewer points than North End over the final 20. That collapse demands explanation.

Two absences loom large.

Armstrong's recall by Everton on New Year's Day was pivotal. North End lost just three of the 17 league matches he featured in, winning six. The void was never properly filled.

Then came Iversen's injury. Without him, North End lost six out of 10 games, winning just one while Osmajic added another three matches to his suspension chart with a crazy sending off against Hull.

Recruitment in January will be defended - rightly, to a point. The club broke its transfer record for Callum Lang and signed Andrew Moran permanently from Brighton.

On the face of it, good business and part-funded by the departures of Mads Frokjaer and Stefan Thordarson, but spending is not the same as impact.

Moran waited far too long for opportunities despite deteriorating results. Lang's time was relentlessly disrupted by injury, his season ending in early March.

Not being available for 30 matchday squads across two clubs tells its own story. His aim now will simply be a reset.

The decision to gamble on Milos Lukovic looks, in retrospect, emblematic of a January that never quite aligned with the team's needs. One half of football, nine unused substitute appearances - a punt that failed to shift the needle.

On reflection, Heckingbottom was frustrated with the window activity.

"You're fourth in January and we didn't kick on and try and get in the top," he said. "We just rolled with it, and I said all along that that's not what I wanted here... not what I'd accept here."

So North End arrive at the summer looking neither broken nor fulfilled, but uncertain. There appears to be a fork in the road.

Plan A is continuity: a Hemmings family-owned club still seeking a buyer, operating within tight margins and Championship realities.

Plan B is upheaval: a takeover that could reset ambition, budget and trajectory - albeit still constrained by profit and sustainability rules.

Criticism of the Hemmings family often centres on spending, but that only skims the surface.

Holding ground in the Championship is increasingly expensive, and financing stasis can be as demanding as chasing progress. Their backing, particularly this season, should not be dismissed lightly.

What is clear is this: North End were good enough to aim higher. They proved it for half a season. What they couldn't do was protect that position when circumstances turned.

Whether this campaign becomes a foundation or a missed opportunity will depend entirely on what comes next.

Everton will have to step up their efforts to sign Burnley defender Maxime Esteve as Bayer Leverkusen are keen on the Frenchman. (Football Insider, external)

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