HE has earned praise from Sir Alex Ferguson and caused a stir simply by travelling on the London Underground. Even during an international break, Sean Dyche chuckles at the fact that he has still never been far from the public eye.

“There is a big profile difference now,” Dyche admits. He is a Premier League manager now.

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A few years ago no-one would have batted an eyelid had Dyche chosen to travel on the Tube.

A visitor in London last week after being invited to speak at the Leaders In Sport conference at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge, a picture of him travelling on the Underground – giving a comically suspicious look to a fellow passenger who was surreptitiously taking a photo – went viral and was covered by a number of media outlets.

While the likes of Roy Hodgson, John Terry and Rihanna have created such headlines by using the Tube in the past, Dyche was a little more bemused.

“Is there something wrong with going on the Tube? I found it very amusing,” he laughs.

“I was on the Tube and a young man said hello. I could see him and in the end I just laughed, although the picture of me grimacing looks more me, so they used that one!

“But I am just a bloke you know.

“It was just one of those strange funny quirks of life.

“It’s me, Roy Hodgson and John Terry who have all been on the Tube – and Rihanna. That’s as far apart as you’re going to get, Sean Dyche and Rihanna!”

The greater focus on Dyche this season has manifested itself in many different ways.

He said: “At the golf club where I live I have been going there for eight or nine years and it’s amazing the people who say, ‘Hello Sean’ now.

“I think, ‘I’m the same fella you’ve seen going in and out here for the last eight or nine years’.

“The difference of profile was slightly building last year because of what we did.

“All the players have noticed it.”

Despite his new fame, Dyche is not afraid to ask for advice from those who have achieved even more in the game.

Among those he keeps in contact with is Ferguson, arguably the greatest manager in British history and a man who was glowing in his praise of Dyche in an interview this week.

“I have been speaking to Sir Alex on and off for a while, for a few years,” said Dyche, who is also a friend of Ferguson’s son Darren.

“Me and Malky (Mackay) came into contact with him when we were at Watford.

“He has always got time for you. I remember our Youth Cup team played down there and at half time I had 15 minutes with him chatting about how I was finding it and living in the area.

“There are a number of people I speak to and he is one of them. He is obviously a very important figure and always gives you really good, honest, helpful advice - no holds barred reality as he sees it, and he has been very good to me like that.

“More of less whenever I’ve needed it he has answered the call.

“There are certain people in the game you gravitate towards for an opinion. I am aware that you need that, he is one of them and he has been very helpful for me and honest with any view I have asked him about.

“As you can imagine he doesn’t beat about the bush.

“Sometimes I touch on any different challenges. He has experienced virtually everything in the football world and I ask him advice and pick his brains.

“He was like that when he was active as well, it’s not just because he has retired.

“When he was manager he always took a phone call and always gave you sound advice.

“It’s great that he thinks, or hopefully anyway, that I talk a bit of sense and try and get the best out of what we have.”

years,” said Dyche, who is also a friend of Ferguson’s son Darren.

“Me and Malky (Mackay) came into contact with him when we were at Watford.

“He has always got time for you. I remember our Youth Cup team played down there and at half time I had 15 minutes with him chatting about how I was finding it and living in the area.

“There are a number of people I speak to and he is one of them.

“He is obviously a very important figure and always gives you really good, honest, helpful advice – no holds barred reality as he sees it, and he has been very good to me like that. More of less whenever I’ve needed it he has answered the call.

“There are certain people in the game you gravitate towards for an opinion.

“I am aware that you need that, he is one of them and he has been very helpful for me and honest with any view I have asked him about.

“As you can imagine he doesn’t beat about the bush.

“Sometimes I touch on any different challenges.

“He has experienced virtually everything in the football world and I ask him advice and pick his brains.

“He was like that when he was active as well, it’s not just because he has retired. When he was manager he always took a phone call and always gave you sound advice.

“It’s great that he thinks, or hopefully anyway, that I talk a bit of sense and try and get the best out of what we have.”

Among the issues Dyche has had to deal with recently has been an extensive injury list – albeit one that is now starting to subside.

The boss admits he has looked for the reasons why the Clarets were suddenly hit by so many injuries, after having a virtually fully fit squad throughout their promotion campaign.

“I don’t know how you define it,” he said. “Playing Saturday-Tuesday constantly last season then we have these longer breaks, we even spoke about that whether that alters training.

“You’re training more rather than playing.

“There were a couple of injuries that we couldn’t do anything about.

“The ones where it’s muscle injuries, they’re the ones you’re looking at because you always think you can do something about that, your training schedules, your rest versus work etc.

“In Premier League football the ball stays in play a lot more, it could be anything between three and seven or eight minutes which means you’re now covering more ground.

“You’re trying to put it all in the melting pot and pick the things out that count so that you don’t get injuries.

“At the minute we’re just putting it down to one of those things, but obviously we’ll monitor it going forward.”