As players around the globe are put through the paces in hopes of shaking off the rust ahead of their respective seasons, we here at UF fancy some pre-season training of our own… for the brain! In order to prepare properly for the next ten glorious months of hot club-on-club action, we’re previewing various leagues from around the globe.
Next up, our bread & butter, the best league in the world… the English Premier League (Suck it, Barclays!)
Let’s get our learn on.
Since they’ve been under the radar for such a long time, you can be forgiven for not being up on your Burnley FC knowledge. In case you missed their 10-day mini-tour of the US this summer, you may remember them dumping Liverpool out of the FA Cup in 2005, a win which earned Rafa Benitez a thorough battering from fans and the press. After a thirty-three year absence from English football’s top tier, the Clarets have now earned the right to be relegated from the Premier League by winning the Coca Cola Championship’s play-off, entering from the 5th-placed spot.
For a club founded in 1882, the trophy room at Turf Moor doesn’t boast much silverware. They have won each division (the Premiership being the exception) but their crown jewel win was the FA Cup back in 1914. (I think we all remember what a cracking match that was.)But, ascending to the Premier League for the first time is quite the accomplishment on its own… and it’s one they’ll likely get the chance to repeat in 2011. Not shockingly, this is a squad poised to make a U-turn right back into the Championship.
Owen Coyle’s men should have their hands full in their new tough neighborhood. Of those men, you may be familiar with a few of them, such as defender Tyrone Mears, Newcastle escapee David Edgar, Manchester United cast-off Chris Eagles and journeyman/crap striker Ade Akinbiyi (UPDATED: Whoops… as pointed out in the comments, Ade has been sucking in MLS most recently). But, the team will rely on last year’s leading goalscorer, Martin Paterson (18 goals, 12 league) and striker-turned-winger, Robbie Blake, who both scores (8 league goals) and creates goals (fantasy alert!). There’s also great hope for the club’s record signing, Steven Fletcher. Having seen him move from Hibs this summer for a cool £3m, Claret fans will hope the former SPL Young Player of the Year can add another dimension to a squad hoping to stave off relegation.
Defensively, the squad will lean on Steven Caldwell and Graham Alexander. Alexander will protect the back four from his midfield anchor position, but the Scot is a dead-ball specialist and chipped in for 9 league goals last campaign. Caldwell captains the squad from his centerback position and can use his PL promotion experience at Roy Keane’s Sunderland.
The good news for the Clarets is that they kick-off the season at Stoke, representing a quality chance to start the season with three points. Bad news is the next four matches are against Manchester United, Everton, Chelsea and Liverpool. The Premier League new boys could find themselves in the basement before they’ve even toured the whole house.
Quite simply, it’s going to be a tough ask for Burnley this season. 17th place would be a massive success.
Flush with promotion cash, Burnley plan to revamp their old ground, Turf Moor, starting next season. But, it’s old ‘charm’ will be forever captured for posterity in this video by The Fall:
Akinbiyi has been on the Houston dynamo for awhile… and he has been crap for them too.
Bad news is the next four matches are against Manchester United, Everton, Chelsea and Liverpool.
Well I know where they’ll be picking up one point in that stretch! *weeps*
That is one of the busiest crests I have ever seen.
He’s old.
Also Burnley say they have a budget of 16 million for this year including signings. I call bulls**t. Wolves budget for wages alone last year in the colaship was 10 mil. Norwich? 8 million. If its true then they will finish bottom for sure as incoming players will likely total 3-4 million in fees tops and that won’t be enough. I smell bs, they just want everyone to think they are skint. Promotion to the Prem is worth 60 mil right out of the gate and while they wont want to bust the bank and screw their finances should they go down, they will need to spend more than 3- 4 mil in players and offer competitive wages. I’m sure there are clauses to lowere wages in line with a colaship return anyhow.
Bigus are they the ones who said they won’t spend more on wages than they did last year, or something like that?
@Georger: Yes, they capped weekly wages at 15K. see next post.
They are toast. They should have just put a clause in the contract that relegation lowers salaries again. I understand their worry of being stuck in colaship with high salaries but you have to gamble a bit. What a waste of a promotion spot. They will be relegated by Christmas.