The bizarre reason why Sean Dyche’s voice is so gravelly

Sean Dyche has one of the most distinctive voices in football and one of his former teammates has offered a bizarre explanation for how he developed his earthy tones.

Sören Andersen, who played with the Burnley coach at Bristol City in the 1998/99 season, believes an unusual ritual could be the cause.

He claims Dyche would eat worms before every training session with the Ashton Gate club, in scenes that would not be out of place at a bushtucker trial.

Andersen told the Danish podcast Fodboldministeriet: “He had exactly the same voice.

“Maybe the voice comes from eating earthworms (Danish word for earthworms), because every time we trained he ate earthworms.

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“Yes, he did. It was horrible, I’ve never experienced anything like it. It was like, ‘Oops, there’s an earthworm,’ and then he ate it.

“It was a bit gross and very strange. He was a good player and I enjoyed being around him, but the thing with the worms was really weird.

“There were always these worms there. And everyone always said they were disgusting and complained a little.

“I think maybe it was some kind of provocation and to show us that it wasn’t something we should focus on or care about, he just ate one or two.”

Dyche has earned widespread praise this season for leading Burnley to their best start to a Premier League season.