Burnley's Brian Jensen talks play-offs, being dropped and international heartache with Ben Collins.
As part of skysports.com's Championship spotlight, Ben Collins catches up with Burnley goalkeeper Brian Jensen.
Brian Jensen is anticipating an eventful finish to the season for Burnley. But the experienced keeper has come to expect nothing less in his eight years at Turf Moor.
The Clarets face two crunch games in the battle for promotion to the Premier League, beginning with Saturday's televised clash against Leeds.
Burnley's bid to go straight back up into the top flight has been hindered by an inconsistent campaign.
But Eddie Howe's men travel to Elland Road two points off the top six, with Leeds just a point behind, and next week the Clarets finish their league campaign at home to third-placed Cardiff.
"It's been a rollercoaster ride at Burnley but there's been way more ups than downs," Jensen told
skysports.com's Ben Collins. "I've really enjoyed it and I still do.
"We have been up and down this season but we are back on form again and hopefully we can get that little bit of luck to squeeze us into the play-offs. To do that, we need to win our last two games against Leeds and Cardiff, which is going to be really tough, and on top of that we need a couple of others to slip up."
Burnley looked out of the running after a six-match winless streak during March and April. And although automatic promotion is now beyond them, Jensen praised the character the side showed to get themselves back in contention for the play-offs.
"That's what we're all about," he said. "We never give up.
"That's how it is with the club too, it's always been a working club where everybody's working and fighting hard.
"We're pleased to be back in with a shout and we'll keep going all the way."
That touches on why Jensen, 35, has been at Burnley so long. He is now their longest-serving player and has almost reached his testimonial year - a rare feat in the modern game.
An honest, hard-working player, the big Dane quickly became a popular figure amongst the honest, hard-working folk of the Lancashire town, who affectionately refer to him as 'the Beast'.
Battle
Signed on a free from West Brom by Stan Ternent in 2003, there have often been question marks over Jensen's suitability to be first-choice keeper. The likes of Danny Coyne, Mike Pollitt (loan), Gabor Kiraly and last summer Lee Grant have all been brought in to give him competition for the goalkeeper's jersey.
Each time, Jensen has stood up to the challenge, earning his place back in the team. Yet remarkably for a man who has now played 301 games for the club, he has never been able to take his place for granted.
Howe is Jensen's fifth manager at Burnley and asked if he feels he has to prove himself to each one, he replied: "Every time. It's been hard. I've probably never had a manager who's backed me 100 per cent.
"The main thing I can say for my success is hard work. If you lie down and give up, you've lost the battle. You just have to keep going and eventually it'll pay off. That's what I'd say to any young players who've had a setback.
"All footballers have to be put under pressure a little bit to show their best qualities. I've been really unhappy and happy, so it's been a rollercoaster ride for personal reasons as well."
The biggest low came before Christmas when Brian Laws dropped Jensen following a 4-0 home defeat by Reading in October. Jensen is as honest with his statements off the field as he is with his performances on it, and he expects the same from those around him.
He felt he was made the scapegoat and handed in a transfer request but was happy to stay once Laws was replaced by Eddie Howe, before earning a recall by the new boss in early April.
"I was hung out to dry," said Jensen. "Every other time I'd been dropped, there's probably a reason or I've had an explanation. But this one was a really hard one to take because I was given no explanation for it.
"It wasn't because I made a mistake. If I had I'd hold my hand up and say 'I messed up, it's my fault, I'll take the blame'. But if anybody saw that game, there was nothing much I could do about the goals.
"He more or less did it because he could, because he was the boss. It was so unreasonable, I was gobsmacked. I couldn't see any light at the end of the tunnel.
"It (the transfer request) was a personal matter with the old gaffer. It was more like a recognition for everybody else to say 'listen, there's something going on here that's not right'.
"As soon as the new gaffer came in I didn't have a problem with staying because I'm happy here. He always said I've got a future here but as long as Granty was doing well I had to wait and take my chance when it comes. I think I've done that."
Loose
Burnley's penchant for open, attacking football has done Jensen few favours. That style means they tend to concede more goals than most teams in the league - but they also tend to score more.
"We are a team that are a bit loose," Jensen explained. "We score a lot of goals but we do concede as well. That's just our style of play.
"That can be frustrating because the main thing for a goalkeeper and the back four is to keep a clean sheet. But it's been like that for years. You have to find a balance between the two - attractive football and keeping a clean sheet - and the new gaffer's helped us tighten up. He's got us back on track again."
Owen Coyle also found that balance during the 2008/09 season, taking Burnley back into the top flight after a 33-year absence.
Like Jensen, the club has had to be patient and earn everything that has come its way. Burnley spent decades challenging in the first division and even though they dropped down to the fourth division in 1985, they never felt they had a divine right to be in the top flight.
They worked their way back up again and after having to settle for a series of mid-table finishes after Jensen's arrival in 2003, Coyle took the team to the next level.
Burnley knocked Fulham, Chelsea and Arsenal out of the Carling Cup before suffering a narrow semi-final defeat by Tottenham, while the Clarets recovered from a woeful league start to finish fifth and beat Sheffield United in the play-off final at Wembley.
"Owen made us believe we could win anything and everything," Jensen said. "That's how he was and how he got the best out of players. We played Arsenal in the Cup and he pulled the strikers aside and said 'listen, have a go at William Gallas because he's rubbish'.
"William Gallas is a World Cup player - everyone knows he's absolutely outstanding - but he made us believe that.
"It worked that season. The spirit that we had, the way we socialised together and worked for each other, it was a very good mixture. It was unfortunate that he had to leave us during the Premier League year and we went on to be relegated."
Emotional
Promotion to the Premier League gave Jensen the chance to finally earn international recognition. The Denmark coach was unwilling to consider anyone not playing top-flight football.
Jensen wasn't given a Premier League game with West Brom in 2002/03 but announced his arrival in the top tier with a penalty save against Manchester United as Burnley beat the defending champions 1-0 in their first home game.
Jensen was put on standby for a World Cup qualifier against Portugal and went on to be an ever-present in the Premier League campaign.
However, when Morten Olsen named his provisional 30-man squad for last summer's World Cup, he selected home-based trio Stephan Andersen, Jesper Christiansen and Kim Christensen as cover to Stoke's Thomas Sorensen.
"I actually cried when I didn't get picked," Jensen revealed. "It was a hard one to take because they said 'keep doing what you're doing and if you're still doing well you'll have a chance. It was just a complete lie.
"The third-choice keeper had been injured for 249 days back in Denmark but I'd already heard that if he played the last three games of the season, he'd be picked.
"It didn't matter what I'd done or how many games I'd played. I'd conceded goals, but like I said before, that was our style of play and I had the highest ratio of saves in the Premier League.
"I don't like people who lie. I'd rather have the truth, even if you don't like it, then you can work with it, you can accept that.
"They said they'd come back to me. I thought they could have at least had the courtesy to give me a call about the squad but they didn't. If people keep your hopes high on false pretences, I don't like it, I will say something - and I did, in my book last summer. I won't be in contention anymore!"
With hopes of one day representing his country now over, Jensen is focused on trying to get Burnley back in the big time and perhaps extending his stay at Turf Moor.
"I really enjoy it here, my family are settled, so it'd have to be something extraordinary or completely different for me to leave," he said. "I'm 36 in the summer and, as a goalkeeper, I'll probably continue for another three to five years.
"We've got a really good gaffer on board now that can help us to promotion - if not this season then next. We've got to look to the future."
