Burnley back in big-time

Burnley will become the 43rd different club to play in the Premier League.

The Lancashire side clinched promotion to the top flight by beating Sheffield United 1-0 in the Championship Play-Off final at Wembley.

The Clarets have a proud history having won the top division in 1920/21 and 1959/60 as well as the FA Cup in 1914.

But they have not played at the highest level of English football since 1976 and even had a seven-year spell in the bottom tier from 1985.

Two years later they avoided relegation to the Conference only by beating Leyton Orient on the last day of the season, although even then they also needed Lincoln City to lose their final fixture.

That narrow escape sparked a gradual upturn in fortunes which saw Burnley win the old Fourth Division title in 1992, the final year before the league re-organisation.

Two years later they won promotion to Division 1 beating Stockport County in the Division 2 Play-Off final at Wembley.

They were immediately relegated and almost returned to the bottom tier in 1998, surviving on the final day thanks to a 2-1 win over Plymouth Argyle.

In 2000 manager Stan Ternent led them to runners-up spot and promotion back to the second tier where they remained until this season.

Their position was consolidated by Steve Cotterill who was replaced in November 2007 by Owen Coyle.

He stabilised the club, leading them to a 13th-placed finish, just six points away from a play-off place and with cause for optimism ahead of the 2008/09 season.

But even the most ardent supporter would hardly have dared dream just how well the campaign would pan out - especially after heavy defeats in their opening two fixtures.

bigger upset

They went down 4-1 at Sheffield Wednesday and 0-3 at home to Ipswich Town, finding themselves bottom of the table.

The season was steadied by successive goalless draws at Crystal Palace and at home to Plymouth before a 2-1 victory at Nottingham Forest provided their first maximum points haul.

It sparked a run of four wins and a draw from the five league fixtures in September as the Turf Moor side climbed to fourth.

But it was in the Carling Cup where Coyle's side were beginning to catch the eye.

A 1-0 home win over Barclays Premier League side Fulham was followed by an even bigger upset at Chelsea where the Clarets won 5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw.

In the quarter-finals, Burnley became the first lower division side to beat Arsenal in a cup competition since the arrival of Arsene Wenger as they chalked up a 2-0 success at Turf Moor.

The Wembley dream appeared to have been killed off by a crushing 4-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur in the first leg of the semi-final.

But Coyle has instilled a gritty fighting spirit and his team roared back in the return leg.

On a truly remarkable night, goals by Robbie Blake, Chris McCann and Jay Rodriguez brought Burnley level on aggregate and forced extra-time.

The men from Lancashire were just two minutes away from going through to Wembley on away goals when Roman Pavlyuchenko scored for Spurs.

Burnley were forced to gamble on attack and conceded again to Jermain Defoe - but their battling qualities won many admirers.

strongly fancied

They also knocked West Bromwich Albion out of the FA Cup but went out 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium as Arsenal avenged their Carling cup defeat.

With a nucleus of just 19 players, the cup exploits appeared to have an adverse effect on their league form and they suffered five consecutive Championship defeats around Christmas and New Year.

However they turned things around with a 2-1 win at home to Charlton Athletic who had led until 14 minutes from time. Steve Thompson levelled and then grabbed the winner four minutes into stoppage-time.

From then on the Clarets lost just two more league matches, finishing with four wins and a draw from their final five fixtures to finish fifth.

That earned a play-off semi-final against Reading who for so long had been strongly fancied for an immediate return to the Barclays Premier League.

A Graham Alexander penalty gave Burnley a 1-0 lead from their home leg and they completed the job with a 2-0 success at the Madejski Stadium with goals by Martin Paterson and Thompson.

That put them through to the final at Wembley where they overcame Sheffield United 1-0 with a superb strike from Wade Elliott to secure a place in the Premier League for the first time.