How Burnley went from the brink of collapse to ‘best of the rest’ In 1960 Burnley were English champions. Twenty-five years later they nearly folded – but now they are back at the […]

In 1960 Burnley were English champions. Twenty-five years later they nearly folded – but now they are back at the top table, defying expectations under Sean Dyche

Twelve games in and the Premier League has a familiar look. Crystal Palace, West Ham and Swansea are struggling, while the ‘Top Six’ are just that.

But sitting seventh is ‘plucky’ Burnley.

Their 2-0 win over the struggling Swans on Saturday ensured that they stayed level on points with both Arsenal and Liverpool, and maintained a four-point gap over Watford in eighth.

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Prior to this season Burnley had spent only three of the last 41 campaigns in the English top flight.

“There is still a feeling that Burnley are in a false position,” Tim Quelch, author of ‘From Orient to the Emirates: The Plucky Rise of Burnley FC’, tells i. “A Cinderella situation, and the clock is going to strike midnight any time soon and the whole thing is going to fall away.

“For me this is a standout story. It’s just incredible that a club with so little and – no exaggeration – were on the brink of extinction, could recover so dramatically and so triumphantly.”

Much has been made about Bournemouth’s financial troubles and subsequent rise through the leagues under Eddie Howe, and Swansea’s famous escape from the perilous drop from the Football League.

Despite their continued ability to punch well above their weight, rattle cages and put more moneyed clubs to shame, Burnley FC’s story has been at best forgotten, at worst ignored.

‘A leading edge club’

Burnley FC has a storied history in English football. One of the 12 member clubs which took part in the inaugural Football League, they’ve won the top division twice, most recently way back in 1960.

“When we won the championship in 1960 the population was only 78,000, which makes it the smallest town or city to host a top division winning side. I don’t think that record will ever be beaten,” says Quelch.

“It was only sustained by the artificially level playing field that they had in those days, before the abolition of the maximum wage.

“They were a really leading edge club. That was the irony, that you had a decaying mill town and then you had one of the brightest exponents of modern football, not only in the country but on the continent.”

Burnley continued to compete in the upper echelons of the English league, but by the mid-Sixties they were stagnating. And between 1971 and 1985 there would be five relegations and two promotions across four divisions.

Economic factors and the abolition of maximum wage meant the club struggled to hold on to their best players. They had been shrewd in developing talent, such as the clutch of players who won the FA Youth Cup in 1968.

“The economic status of the town faltered,” explains Quelch. “Two major industries were lost, which meant that more people went into exile elsewhere to find jobs.

“Burnley had survived very well by recruiting young talent, particularity from the north east and Ireland, turning them into top grade performers which enabled them to compete with some of the better funded clubs.

“John Bond is vilified in the town for having almost destroyed the club, but quite frankly that is totally unfair to him.”

“They were no longer attracting the calibre of young talent that they once did. And they found it difficult to afford some of the better players on the revenue they had available to them.”

Ironically, it was ambition, spending beyond their means, which nearly sounded the death knell.

By the early 1980s Burnley were languishing in the fourth tier, losing £10,000 a week with “barely two or three thousand” turning out to watch them.

The 1980s, and a do-or-die situation

“The crucial thing which almost finished them off was a well-intentioned attempt to try and return to the glory days, appointing John Bond as manager,” Quelch says.

“He thought he could spend his way to triumph and the board of directors at the time simply weren’t together enough to prevent him from doing that. He’s vilified in the town for having almost destroyed the club, but quite frankly that is totally unfair to him.

“Although he made wrong decisions, the directors really have to bear the responsibility, they are in charge of the purse strings.”

Quelch adds: “One director disagrees with this, everyone else is very clear that had they not beaten (Leyton) Orient in May 1987 the club would not have been able to sustain itself in that lower division because the debts were so high. It was do or die that afternoon.”

That afternoon goals either side of half-time gave Burnley a 2-1 win and, coupled with results elsewhere going their way, the club avoided dropping into the Conference, and possible extinction.

From the Sherpa Van trophy to ITV Digital losses

Survival had positive long-term ramifications. It allowed the club to rebuild.

The attendance and media interest encouraged the bank to extend credit that they wouldn’t have previously, which allowed them to build a better side for the following season, where they reached the final of the EFL Trophy (then known, rather wonderfully, as the Sherpa Van trophy), losing 2-0 to Wolves.

“It may sound like a tinpot cup but that afternoon in May 1988, 81,000 turned up for it, 30,000 more than England and Scotland got in their Home International a few days before.

“The money derived from that was enough to keep the club going for a number of years.”

It may have taken them more than 20 seasons, but through managers Jimmy Mullen, Stan Ternent and Steve Cotterill they became a stable tier two side, even challenging for promotion under the combative Ternent.

Yet the collapse of ITV Digital in 2002 hit Burnley harder than it did many clubs.

“The money they lost in that amounted to over 30 per cent of their income,” says Quelch. “Only by the skin of their teeth did they avoid administration.

“Once that hit, the whole momentum pushing towards the Premier League ended immediately.

“Stan’s last act was to keep them up in 2003/2004 and he reckons it was his most notable achievement in football, surviving on loans and people who weren’t entirely fit.”

“Dyche has out-thought a lot of vaunted Premier League managers with some of his tactical innovations.”

Back at the top table

Owen Coyle, who followed Cotterrill, “inspired such self-belief and confidence” when he took over, according to Quelch.

The club reached the semi-finals of the League Cup in 2009, beating Premier League Fulham, Chelsea and Arsenal on the way.

The momentum carried into the following season as Burnley reached the Premier League in its current guise for the first time.

Coyle made a controversial mid-season move to Bolton Wanderers and Burnley were relegated. But they have returned twice since then and are now one of the division’s most obdurate teams under the impressive and canny Sean Dyche.

“He has out-thought a lot of vaunted Premier League managers with some of his tactical innovations,” says Quelch. “He puts a great stall on defence, it is so well organised.

“Stephen Ward says he has never been at a club where so much detail is given to positioning. It may be a yard one way or another but that yard is crucial. It is part of the reason why they are so skillful at dispossessing better teams.

“I don’t think there is a real belief [outside the club] that they are capable of sustaining this, and I think that’s what’s affected Dyche’s credentials.”

‘It’s not all hoofball – there is skill there’

Perhaps due to their location, the make-up of their squad and perhaps Dyche’s gruff demeanour, it is fair to say that Burnley are still overlooked and unheralded.

More was made of last season’s poor away form than their excellent home form.

An opening day away win at Chelsea set the club up for positive results at both Spurs and Liverpool this season, dispelling the myth that they don’t travel well.

They are now putting in performances and results at the top table not seen since the 1960s.

“They’ve not been fazed by anybody,” says Quelch. “The mentality has changed, they really believe it is possible to go away and get points.

“It is not all bump and grind and hoofball, there are some deft touches as well.

“I think there is a sense that Burnley have been lucky. You don’t have that degree of success against some of the best clubs in the country by luck. There is skill there; tactical skill as well as technical skill.

“It does feel a bit like dreamland, a club used to grubbing around the lower divisions playing with such sophistication.”