Clarets boss Dyche won't undermine Carabao Cup

The Burnley boss, enjoying his third season with the club in the top flight, has seen what the riches of the division can bring with last season's record £5.14 billion TV rights deal raking in more than £100m at Turf Moor.

That windfall, married with the earnings from previous campaigns, has seen the club transform both on and off the pitch and that's the kind of security that contributes to the preservation and evolution of a football club.

Dyche enjoys a cup run as much as the next man but he understands that journeys in those formats are a flash in the pan.

"I’ve tried to be brutally honest about it," he said. "The fact is the Premier League is where everyone wants to be.

"It’s nothing to do with downgrading a cup, everyone is clamouring to be in the Premier League, players are clamoring to be in the Premier League, clubs are clamoring to be in the Premier League, it’s one of the most powerful leagues to be in the world.

"It hasn’t downgraded the cups, it’s just that is the thing that everyone wants. It’s the kudos and what being in the Premier League brings from a club and brand point of view.

"It’s just a fact that the PL has become such a powerful thing for clubs, it can be good for a whole area, the town of Burnley will benefit from the club being in the PL in some way or another, usually financially."

Dyche alluded to Wigan Athletic's shortcomings since lifting the FA Cup in 2013 as they suffered relegation from the top tier to League One.

"From one cup run you might get that, but it is fleeting, whereas in the PL it’s consistent," he said.

"I’ve had some great times in cups, I don’t look at it as a lesser competition, I just look at it as a competition we want to do well in.

"Of course it’s worth a trade off, but it’s not a planned trade off. Would you win the FA Cup or stay in the PL is a huge debate. If fans were honest it’s a really tough one.

"Winning a cup is a big honour and a big thing and it’s there forever, but being in the PL brings a constant stream of well being to a club and good health to a club.

"We all think ‘why aren’t they trying to win a cup?’ Like it’s that easy. You don’t just say ‘let’s this season go and win a cup’.

"You can’t just say we’re going to have a good cup run. A lot of cup runs are stumbled upon. Ours at Chesterfield was stumbled upon, things fell right at the right time. John Duncan didn’t say ‘right lads, we’re going to make the semi-finals of the FA Cup’.

"It's become part of it. It's hard to define. I never personally do down the cup and what it means because I've been part of that myself. But there's still a reality to my job.

"My job is to help that team to continue to be successful in the Premier League. If we can have a good cup run then fantastic. Is it more important than the reality of the Premier League?

"In the grand scheme of the club and the health of it - no. In the kudos world, if you go and win a cup, it's fantastic for clubs like this. It was Wigan wasn't it that won a cup and went down? Since then what has happened to Wigan? Which would their fans take?

"It would be a brilliant debate. They won it, went down and have had a tough time recovering from that. And Birmingham did it as well with the League Cup."

Dyche is expected to shuffle his pack once again for this evening's visit of Leeds United, as he did for the second round tie against Rovers at Ewood, but maintained that those changes wouldn't detract from the strength of his side.

"I think against Blackburn you saw a team there that had been put together properly, a balanced side who had cost a lot of money for this club," he said. "Money doesn’t guarantee anything but if you cost a few quid you’re usually a good player.

"The idea of a squad is that competitive edge. It doesn't mean they're miles away, it's literally paper thin for some of these situations and I think we've done really well to create that. It's important for a club like this.

"We haven't got the outstanding 20 players over there and then some over here like some teams in the Premier League do have; we've got a group who we think are really tight in how good they are and who can do what for the team. I wanted it like that and that's where it's at.

"In our case, the margins are so fine, who I'm playing in the first team is so delicate for who isn't. I'll put out a team that is really strong like I did against Blackburn."