Burnley are staring at a problem English football used to treat as a freak event. In the first 20 seasons of the Premier League, a top-flight club was relegated in successive seasons just once. Since then, the double drop has happened four times in 14 seasons, and Burnley could be the third team in three years to suffer it.
The recent pattern around Burnley
Jobi McAnuff, speaking to BBC Sport, said: "Despite the fact we've seen Luton and Leicester suffer back-to-back relegations in recent years, I don't see it as a trend that will continue."
He added: "For both of those clubs, in my opinion, it was a case of mismanagement of the playing squad."
The recent cases do point to clubs struggling to reset after relegation. McAnuff said of Luton: "From Luton's perspective, there were a few players there who maybe felt an entitlement to stay in the Premier League. They didn't readjust to being back at the Championship, where most of their players had actually been previously."
On Leicester, he said: "And for Leicester City, they kept hold of too many that didn't really want to be there and then obviously weren't equipped to deal with a relegation battle."
Burnley's own form is not helping their case. They have taken just one point from their last five Premier League matches, and they will reach 378 days without a home victory when they host Portsmouth on Saturday.
The club's 2024-25 revenue was £71.7m, and it also received £48m in parachute payments. Even with that cushion, the warning sign is still there, and Burnley remain the next club with the most to lose if the pattern keeps repeating.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
