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20 teams in 20 days – Burnley

By on July 29, 2014

Manager: Sean Dyche
Stadium: Turf Moor
Nickname: The Clarets (due to their colors)
Finish Last Season: 2nd (Championship)

Burnley were one of just twelve founding members of the English football league. At the start, it didn’t go so well for the club, and eventually found themselves in the second division just a few years after it was formed, and at the bottom of that by the beginning of the 20th century. Then, the club changed their colors from green to claret, to match that of the dominant club in football at the time Aston Villa, in hope for some luck. Then, the club won the FA Cup and over the next few seasons, slowly rose until they were at the top of English football. Throughout the years previous and following World War I, they went through one of the best periods in their club history, with multiple top three finishes and a 30-match unbeaten run that wasn’t bested for some eighty years.

More than 50 years on from those golden days, the club were once again at the bottom of English football. In 1987, only a win on the final day of their season in the Fourth Division and a result elsewhere kept Burnley from falling out of professional football into the Conference League. But then with a visit to Wembley the following season to contest the Football League Trophy. They lost to Wolverhampton Wanderers, but it was enough to spur the club. Slowly, Burnley worked their way back up into the Championship. Briefly, the Clarets were even back into the top tier for the first time in33 years. This coming season they are back up into the top level of English football. But so much has changed since their period at the top in the 1920s, that their goal is no longer to find quick success. Instead, Burnley just want to stay up. Stay up, and slowly establish themselves as a top division club once more.

Yet to do so, will be just as hard as the battle of reaching this point. The club go into the new season with the least valuable squad in the league, and also one of the oldest sides. From what the club can purchase with their transfer funds, the experienced players past their prime are always key for promoted clubs; with Burnley they have bought Steven Reid. The club allowed the least goals in the Championship last season, and with the signing of Reid they must rely heavily on tight defensive performances. Up front is where they really have to excel this season, though – Danny Ings among the youngsters in need of a breakthrough season. The club have made multiple signings up front like Michael Kightly from Stoke City, as well. It will be tough, but they just might have enough talent to pull of what Crystal Palace did last season.

The club have a tough start to the season, with fixtures against Chelsea and Manchester Unites, but if they can find their form after that and then impressive over the next few months, even the downside of another hard run at the start of 2015 might not be enough to take them down. And if Burnley can finish strongly in their winnable final month of matches, then a 16th or 17th finish is not out of reach.

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.