Burnley used to be Barnsley.

Some on here have actually said they would lose interest if we ever get back to the Premiership. The mind boggles.

 

Not a case of that - it's being realistic - many of my friends support lower league teams and many see the championship as out of their reach due to finance.

Those comments about us turning out like Blackburn etc have short memories ... didn't we go into administration once??

We can hope to reach the top but you needs tens of millions to achieve it - we don't have that

 

I can remember when Burnley had one of the best teams in England if not the best, in the early 60's with players like John Connelly, Ray Pointer, Alex Elder and Jimmy Adamson to name but a few.

 

Might as well pack in then.

 

Yes and then came the wilderness years.

 

Did burnley have tens of millions? A few bob but nothing fanciful.

 

I think you'll find a lot of clubs packing it in if the finances carry on like they are, and not through choice.

 

It is through choice though. They pay second rate players inflated wages (and do this down to the conference). I don't believe we will see many if any league clubs packing it in shortly though. In comparison to other businesses football survives well. 92 clubs survived as businesses last year.
How many out of 92 'other' businesses went bust last year? Probably around 15-20%.

 

In the last 4 years we have sold 3 premier league defenders,1 championship defender and 4 championship midfield\forwards.With some ambition we could have been alongside Burnley.

 

What about Bournemouth? One of the smallest clubs in the Championship when they won it. Not sure how much money they had but if they could dream then maybe one year we could.

 

But unfortunately it is all about the money. You can predict say six teams from which the top four will be for the next ten years, Leicester was a glorious freak season and may happen again but the days when a quality manager can take a team from the lower part of the second division and advance them into European champions are long gone, more's the pity.

 

If it was all about the money then man u would win the title every year. Never been out of the top 3 wealthiest clubs in the world alongside barca and real (real not having a good season by the way) If it was all about the money then burnley wouldn't be in 4th place.

 

I don’t think it’s changed that much though wealth is more concentrated in the Premier League. I’d say the recent TV deals have made it more competitive and more difficult to ‘buy’ success

 

Owner has a few bob ... clubs like Burnley might have one or two seasons doing well then will struggle... can't see them hanging around for 10-15 years.

 

Top 6 teams have been the same 6 for about 5 of the last 7 years that has never happened before in the entire history of the football.

 

Chairman is a billionaire

 

They've as much chance of hanging around as 15 other premier teams

 

I think it comes down to who takes over, how much wealth they have, what they are prepared lose and how they perceive football.

If it's a consortium or investment group then I think the main aim will be to make returns for the investors (or they'd be better off banking the investment).

If it's an individual they might not be bothered about making a return initially, might like th kudos of being involved and if wealthy enough could be quite happy to bank roll a straight forward promotion push - high fees and wages for established players (like Sheffield Wednesday). If they aren't overly wealthy then it will be working towards some kind of plan with slower progress (Huddersfield and Burnley).

We'd probably fall into this group, maintaining the plan but hopefully with a few tweaks and maybe going after young championship players rather then Div 1 & 2 players.

I dream of getting back to the Prem, but also can't really see it happening. And my main fear would be if promotion isn't achieved, the wage bill gets out of control, we lose a shed load of money each season and the owner has enough then what happens? Back to getting lower league players to reduce the wage bill to an acceptable level and going the way of Coventry, Blackburn, Bolton etc.

I don't think the question of how much investment is needed to get promoted can be answered until promotion is achieved.

 

The premier league winners since its inception are Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal, Man City, Blackburn (who were wealthy at the time) and the honourable exception of Leicester. The wealthiest clubs. I'm chuffed to bits about Burnley and long may it continue but what chance of them winning the league and then the Champions league next season as Forest did ?

 

Good point regarding the TV deals, but the wealth is still concentrated around say half a dozen teams. I'll wager no team will ever do a Forest or a Derby.