Neil Mellor has said that it's no surprise to hear several clubs being linked with Sean Dyche at the moment, but he expects that the former Burnley manager will only go back into the game when the time is right.

Dyche and Burnley parted company earlier this month in what came as a surprise announcement to Clarets fans and the wider footballing audience.

Indeed, many have admired Dyche for the job he has done at Turf Moor in keeping the club inside the Premier League on a far inferior budget and, indeed, over the years there he was linked with moves away.

Now he is a free agent again, then, it's no shock to see clubs getting linked with him with the printed Sun recently stating that West Brom and Stoke might both be keen.

Mellor isn't surprised by that either, but he told OLBG he is backing Dyche to only come back into the game when he feels the time and opportunity is right:

"I like Sean Dyche and I think we've all admired the job he's done at Burnley.

"It's a community football club and he gave them several years of Premier League football.

"It was a surprise to see him go, but I don't think he'll be short of offers not only in the Championship but in the Premier League as well.

"There could well be interest there because of the job that he's done on such a small budget with a football club not expected to compete the way they have done.

"He won't be short of offers and when the time's right I'm sure he'll return to management and that best option for him.

"There's no doubt that there will be clubs interested in him and rightly so, but it'll depend on when the time is right for him to come back into management."

The Verdict

A lot of Championship and several Premier League sides would probably take Dyche as their manager but after so long at Burnley it might make sense for him to try and just take a step back from football and relax.

Certainly, he deserved to see the season out with Burnley as you cannot really see them staying up without him, and now we'll wait and see what his next step is.