PUBLISHED
12:32 15 August 2012
History of The Club
Founder members of the Football League, Burnley Football Club began life as a Rugby Club. However, Burnley Rovers soon switched codes and became Burnley Football Club in 1882. They moved to their Turf Moor home shortly afterwards, at the invitation of the town's cricket club,
which is still situated next to the stadium.
FA Cup campaigns gave way to organised football in 1888 with the foundation of the Football League - and since then Burnley have claimed every major honour with the exception of the League Cup.
The first honour was a Second Division title in 1897-98 and the Club's improved fortunes were reflected in an F.A.Cup triumph in 1914, with a 1-0 win against Liverpool coming just months before the outbreak of the Great War.
Following the War, the Clarets continued to make their mark on the domestic game and in the 1920-21 season the team enjoyed an unbeaten run of thirty league matches as they led the club to a first-ever First Division title, having been runners-up the previous season.
That record stood for over 80 years until being bettered by Arsenal in the 2003/04 season.
By the outbreak of the Second World War, the Clarets were back in the Second Division.
However, the first season of organised football after the War saw them promoted as runners-up to Manchester City - and they also reached their first Wembley final where they lost the F.A. Cup to Charlton Athletic by 1-0.
This led to arguably the most exciting time in the club's history. By the late 1950's and early 1960's the Claret and Blue of Burnley had become the most feared colours in the domestic game. After several near misses, the First Division title again came Burnley's way on the very last day of
the 1959-1960 season and two seasons later the Turf Moor Club claimed the double nobody wants - runners-up to Ipswich in the League and Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup Final, losing 3-1 in an epic Wembley battle.
The 1960's also saw two European campaigns. The 1960 championship side beat French Champions, Reims, in the first round but then went out to Hamburg at the next stage.
Finishing third in the 1965-66 season was good enough to earn a place in the Inter- Cities Fairs Cup (now known as the U.E.F.A. Cup) and Burnley marched on splendidly. Stuttgart (Germany) and Lausanne (Switzerland) were early casualties before Burnley pulled-off a surprise win against Naples. Eintracht Frankfurt were the quarter final opponents and after a draw in Germany, a place in the last four looked very much on the cards but the Clarets were beaten 2-1 at Turf Moor.
That exciting decade ended with Burnley starting to struggle and they were eventually relegated in 1971. Two seasons later, they were back in the top flight after winning the Second Division title at Deepdale on the final day of the season, but within three seasons Burnley were relegated to the Second Divison again as Jimmy Adamson's 'Team of the Seventies' failed to deliver. as the decade drew to a close, Burnley found life back in the Second Division increasingly tough and they were relegated again in 1980.
Under Brian Miller, the Third Division title was cemented in 1982, but the following season, despite reaching the semi-finals of the League Cup and quarter-finals of the FA Cup, relegation resulted in Third Division football returning as the fallow years continued.
Two seasons later the unbelievable happened and Burnley found themselves dropping into the basement division - just ten years since their last game in the top flight!
Their second season in the Fourth Division saw the introduction of automatic relegation to the Vauxhall Conference for the bottom club and Burnley had to win their last game of the season to avoid the drop. Amid emotional scenes of drama of the very highest quality the Clarets
secured a 2-1 win against Orient and sent Lincoln City into the Vauxhall Conference.
That near miss sparked a revival in Burnley's fortunes with a trip to Wembley in the Sherpa Van Trophy coming just twelve months later. That match ended in a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Wolverhampton Wanderers... but Burnley were back!
The 1990's proved to be an interesting time in the club's history. In 1992 the Clarets created history by becoming only the second team to win all four divisional titles in domestic soccer -
Wolves being the first - when they won the Fourth Division and escaped from the league basement after seven seasons.
Two years later they were promoted to the new First Division via a Wembley play-off success against Stockport County, but unfortunately, lasted only one season in that Division before
suffering the blip of relegation.
Off the field, the club was now looking forwards. There was a £6.5 million redevelopment of Turf Moor, with two new stands giving Burnley an all seater stadium (capacity 22,619).
In the 1998 close season, Burnley also had a new playing surface laid incorporating under soil heating.
That was greeted by Stan Ternent, who was appointed as manager in June 1998, following on from former England star Chris Waddle, who was in charge as a player-manager the previous season.
Stan's successful reign would ultimately lay the foundations for a revival in the club's fortunes and cement him as a pivotal figure in recent history.
The 1999/2000 season went right to the wire before, on the very last day of the season,
Burnley won promotion back to the First Division by dramatically beating Scunthorpe United 2-1 at Glanford Park.
Promotion felt much more special to Burnley, as it meant that after a seventeen-year wait Burnley would be able to contest in the same division as arch-rivals Blackburn Rovers!
In February of that historic season, Burnley had made one of the biggest signings in their illustrious history, securing the services of former England and Arsenal prolific goal scorer Ian Wright.
Ian signed on a free transfer from Celtic until the end of the season, when he eventually retired from the game.
The 2000/2001 campaign saw the Clarets hold their own in the First Division. The club also reached another milestone when Stockport County striker Ian Moore became the first £1m signing.
Stan Ternent's eventful reign at Turf Moor finally came to an end in the summer of 2004, when the club decided not to offer him a new contract. he was rightly given a standing ovation at the
final game at Turf Moor, against boyhood heroes Sunderland.
After weeks of fevered speculation, Steve Cotterill was appointed as the new manager in June 2004.Each of the former Cheltenham man's first three seasons in charge saw progress halted in mid-term. However, one of the highlights of Cotterill's reign as Burnley boss was the 1-0 victory
over soon-to-be-crowned European Champions Liverpool in the FA Cup in January 2005. Yet the forced sale of many of the club's top goalscorers consistently saw the goals dry-up and, following a dismal 19-game winless run the previous season, in 2007/08 the club finally parted terms with Cotterill.
The front-runner to replace Cotterill was Owen Coyle, who in the previous two seasons lead his Scottish side St. Johnstone to both the Scottish League Cup and Scottish Cup semi-finals respectively.
It was to be a momentous appointment!
In November 2007, Coyle was finally named as the new Burnley manager and led the club to a mid-table finish just three wins short of the play-offs.
With ambitious plans to redevelop Turf Moor in full swing, the future under Coyle looked prosperous as he led his side into the 2008/09 campaign with Premiership ambitions.
And in May 2009, dreams were fulfilled as Burnley achieved promotion to the Premier League with a stunning 1-0 win over Sheffield United in the Championship Play-Off Final at Wembley, ending
the Clarets' 33-year exile from the top flight courtesy of Wade Elliott's wonder goal.
The Premier League adventure began in sensational style with a 1-0 win over reigning champions Manchester United at Turf Moor; Robbie Blake having the honour of scoring the club's first ever Premier League goal.
But despite a bright start - four successive home victories raising expectations - a bombshell hit the club in mid-season when Coyle, who had masterminded the incredible rise, was lured to
Bolton Wanderers as manager.
Former Burnley defender Brian Laws was soon installed as Coyle's successor, but was unable to halt the tailspin and Burnley, who ended the season in 18th place, were relegated back
to the Championship.
Following an inauspicious opening half of the 2010/11 campaign Laws was then dismissed in January 2011 to be replaced by Eddie Howe, who guided Burnley to an eighth place finish
in the Championship and remains in charge.