Burnley’s ticking timebomb explodes after years spent defying gravity

The fixture list seemed to contain a cruelty to Burnley when Newcastle activated Chris Wood’s release clause in January. Some four months later, however, Wood did not relegate his old club, despite an 18-minute cameo at Turf Moor. Perhaps Burnley’s past did, though. It caught up with them.

They had long felt an anachronistic presence in the Premier League. That sense was exacerbated when moneyed larger clubs like Newcastle altered the equation. But it was past mistakes, past passiveness in the transfer market, past complacency and the reality too many of their players are not the forces they were in recent years.

Burnley had sleepwalked into this. The warning signs had been there all season for those watching closely enough; too few were, though, possessing an outdated image of Burnley, assuming their experience and battle-hardened qualities would be enough and ignoring mediocre displays. Slow starts were not actually a blueprint for survival but something they had overcome in the past: this year, it became a reason for relegation and extended into a run of one win in 21.

Then an assumption that everything would somehow, almost inexplicably, be OK was replaced by panic as Sean Dyche was sacked. And, illogically, the caretaker manager Mike Jackson almost rescued them. Manager of the month in April, he was relegated in May, but even his appointment seemed inspired more by desperation than inspiration. Owners ALK Capital almost got lucky. Now, given the context, it feels as though Burnley got unlucky with their takeover.

Their leveraged buyout should have come with the understanding that they had acquired a team in decline. Some of it felt obvious. Burnley were on a downward slide. They had the 17th best team last season