Are Burnley sleepwalking into the Championship?

Burnley
(Image credit: Getty)

It was on New Year’s Eve that the takeover was completed. Burnley began 2021 with new owners and ended it with the fewest points (34) and wins (seven) of the 92 Premier and Football League clubs in the calendar year. The chances are that 2022 will bring an end to their longest spell of top-flight football in more than half a century.

Maybe Burnley will have sleepwalked into the Championship. Certainly ALK Capital, their new owners, might have done. When acquiring Burnley, they described “an established Premier League club.”

True as that was, a leveraged buyout of a debt-free club surely came with the expectation of the future revenues from participation with the elite. The numbers may not add up for a second-tier outfit, but realism ought to have dictated that demotion was a possibility every year and that circumstances were making it more possible.

Maybe Burnley themselves have not acknowledged the severity of their plight. Perhaps that makes sense: Sean Dyche rarely panics, preferring to repeat his tried-and-trusted methods with the players who have served him so well before. And yet, inside and outside Turf Moor, the past may have camouflaged the problems.

Burnley had two points from six games this season, but they began last with one from six. They are on 11 points from 17 games now but they had 12 points at the half-way stage in 2018/19. In both previous campaigns, they stayed up with something to spare.

Outsiders can suppose their experience, know-how and pragmatism will be enough without recognising that Burnley are in a more perilous position than before, and not merely because it seems that three of four teams will go down and one of the others have the resources to spend heavily.

There is an assumption that will get out of it, that their inherent Burnleyness will bring forgettable, efficient home wins, stemming from clean sheets and set-piece expertise.

But Burnley have one home league win in 348 days; they stayed up last season because of some brilliant away victories, but that has not proved a sustainable formula. They only have three clean sheets this season. They have conceded as many set-piece goals as they have scored. Chris Wood, a guarantee of a goal tally in double figures every Premier League season, only has three so far. 

And now Dyche’s good senior pros may be too senior. Burnley named their oldest team since World War 2 against Huddersfield on Saturday. They have fielded the oldest sides in the Premier League this season. When most of their opponents are more talented, they always required a physical edge and it is harder to outrun opponents when they are older than them. Years have taken their toll on players who have had to work ferociously hard.

Some are in decline. Ashley Barnes has lost his threat completely. Ben Mee, Jack Cork, Jay Rodriguez and Johann Berg Gudmundsson are past their best. The squad is populated by players such as Aaron Lennon, Erik Pieters and Phil Bardsley who are older still.

In the summer of 2020, when their only recruit was the cheap Dale Stephens, it seemed as though the previous regime’s budget policy as they sought to sell the club was to rely on Dyche to keep them up. It is something he has done skillfully, but it meant the squad went into a state of disrepair.

Burnley actually bought well last summer, in the revelation Maxwel Cornet and the promising Nathan Collins, while Connor Roberts promises to be a third fine acquisition. Yet between September 2017 and May 2021, their acquisitions had been a handful of largely ageing qualified successes, in Rodriguez, Lennon, Pieters and the younger Josh Brownhill, and failures. 

Burnley

(Image credit: PA Images)

Dyche may have sounded the alarm in private but years of neglect mean Burnley needed at least one more good-quality striker, winger and central midfielder by now. Meanwhile, pursuing a very different game plan meant they were rarely judged by the same criteria as other teams. 

They came seventh in 2018 without scoring highly for possession or pass completion or chance creation. But, within their own parameters, Burnley often played well. 

Now they often don’t: they can look tired, with more errors creeping in, especially at the back. They were outclassed by Championship opponents in the FA Cup this season, in Huddersfield, just as they were last season, by Bournemouth. Now when they are found in the bottom three of virtually every attacking or possession statistic, it feels an accurate reflection that they are one of the worst teams on the ball. And two of their poorest performances, against Newcastle and Leeds, came against their peers near the bottom.

They have a solitary league victory all season. Even teams who draw a lot tend to require at least eight to stay up meaning Burnley would have to win seven of their remaining 21 games. If it were another club, the obituaries would have already been written. Instead, many have been lulled into a false sense of security that they will revert to being the Burnley of old. The greater likelihood is that an old Burnley team will go down.

Subscribe to FourFourTwo today and get three issues for £3.

Restock your kit bag with the best deals for footballers on Amazon right now

ALSO READ

LIVERPOOL Why do so many people underrate Mohamed Salah?

JANUARY TRANSFERS Where does every Premier League club need to strengthen?

FA CUP 30 things you never knew about the FA Cup

Richard Jolly

Richard Jolly also writes for the National, the Guardian, the Observer, the Straits Times, the Independent, Sporting Life, Football 365 and the Blizzard. He has written for the FourFourTwo website since 2018 and for the magazine in the 1990s and the 2020s, but not in between. He has covered 1500+ games and remembers a disturbing number of the 0-0 draws.

Read more
Daniel Farke
Daniel Farke spells out the details required for Leeds United to win Premier League promotion
Sean Dyche on the touchline for Everton
Sacking Sean Dyche could either make or break Everton, with no in between
Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim has signed off on a bizarre transfer at Old Trafford
'The reality is, it's Manchester United in name, the Man United we grew up with and I played against and were giants, is gone': Frosty prediction made amid Manchester United struggles
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola
Pep Guardiola’s transfer admission shows change is on the cards for Manchester City
Bodger, mascot of Wycombe Wanderers
Only 4,095 people watched a crunch EFL fixture this week – is lower league football slowly losing the battle against the cost of living?
 West Bromwich Albion Fans celebrate on the pitch after avoiding relegation at the Premier League match between West Bromwich Albion and Portsmouth at The Hawthorns on May 15, 2005 in West Bromwich, England.
‘Bryan Robson took us to Florida to unwind before 2005’s Great Escape, then results changed’ to this day Robert Earnshaw admits he has no idea how West Brom avoided relegation 20 years ago having been bottom at Christmas
Latest in Stories
Fulham manager Marco Silva looks on from the dugout ahead of the FA Cup fourth round tie against Wigan Athletic at the Brick Community Stadium in Wigan, England on 8 February, 2025
'I think Marco Silva is the best manager in London - he managed to really maintain the desire to play attractive football, which was really hard over the years': Former Fulham talisman showers praise on 'impressive' Marco Silva
Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim looks on following his side's defeat against AFC Bournemouth
Report reveals 10 Manchester United players leaving this summer
Tottenham Hotspur back row (L-R) Dele Alli, Mousa Dembele, Eric Dier, Davinson Sanchez, Hugo Lloris, Jan Vertonghen; front row (L-R) Son Heung-min, Christian Eriksen, Harry Kane, Kieran Trippier, Ben Davies during the Champions League match against Juventus at the Wembley Stadium on March 7, 2018 in London United Kingdom
Tottenham cult hero calls retirement - to avoid 'painkiller dependency'
Thomas Tuchel will take charge of England for the very first time this evening
'He pushed us. It was tough love, but that's Thomas' Former player reveals that the new England manager will be HARD on his players
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola holds aloft the Premier League trophy at the Etihad in May 2023.
Quiz! Can you name every Premier League champion... in just 90 seconds?
LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 19: manager Ange Postecoglou of Tottenham Hotspur FC and Micky van de Venand Cristian Romero during the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur FC and West Ham United FC at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on October 19, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Sebastian Frej/MB Media/Getty Images)
Tottenham star Cristian Romero 'willing to do everything' to LEAVE: report
Latest in Features
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola holds aloft the Premier League trophy at the Etihad in May 2023.
Quiz! Can you name every Premier League champion... in just 90 seconds?
 Sheila Garcia of Real Madrid CF battle for the ball with Alessia Russo of Arsenal FC during the UEFA Women's Champions League Quarter Finals First Leg match between Real Madrid CF and Arsenal FC at Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano on March 18, 2025 in Madrid, Spain.
'Over two legs I expected Arsenal to beat Real Madrid in the Champions League, I still think they can despite being 2-0 down,' says former Lioness Izzy Christiansen
Luiz Diaz of Colombia celebrates with James Rodriguez of Colombia after scoring his team's first goal during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Qualifiers match between Brazil and Colombia at Arena BRB Mane Garrincha.
How to watch Colombia vs Paraguay: Live streams for World Cup qualifier
Uruguay's Argentine head coach Marcelo Bielsa (R) gives instructions during the 2026 FIFA World Cup South American qualifiers football match between Uruguay and Argentina at the Centenario stadium in Montevideo, on March 21, 2025.
How to watch Bolivia vs Uruguay: Live streams for Conmebol World Cup qualifying
BRASILIA, BRAZIL - MARCH 20, 2025: Vinicius Junior of Brazil in action during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Qualifiers match between Brazil and Colombia at Arena BRB Mane Garrincha.
How to watch Argentina vs Brazil: Live streams for blockbuster World Cup qualifier
Mohamed Salah of Liverpool celebrates scoring his team's second goal during the Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Southampton FC at Anfield on March 08, 2025 in Liverpool, England.
Quiz! Can you name FourFourTwo's greatest Premier League players ever?