To close out 2022/23 one last time.
We may well have gone beyond saturation point in reflecting on a spectacular season both off and on the pitch at Turf Moor, but I will allow our Clarets Mad feature writer Dave Thornley to have the last word and close the 2022/23 campaign out.
Last week, I had the good fortune to attend Bruce Springs****’s concert tour in Barcelona with my eldest son, and it struck me that the lyrics to one of “The Boss’” most famous songs applied neatly to the season we Clarets fans have just experienced:
“Glory days, well they’ll pass you by”.
As we now look forward to next season in the Premier League, we owe it to ourselves as supporters to make sure we fully absorb and reflect upon the 2022-2023 campaign as being nigh on perfect. These glory days must not pass us by but remain stored In the archives of our collective memories and regaled to future generations.
The cold hard statistics are impressive enough: A club record 101 points accumulated; a ten-point margin over second place; defeated a mere three times in league matches; a scarcely credible 19 different goal scorers (plus a couple of own goals); and of the teams they faced, only Watford and (bizarrely) Blackpool were not defeated in at least one of their encounters with Burnley.
What the statistics don’t reflect, however, is just what a transformative season this has been for the club.
Twelve months ago, Burnley slipped out of a Premier League that was frankly glad to see the back of them. Some pundits and a great many whose opinions were aired on social media, foretold of a grim short-term future for the Clarets.
Owner Alan Pace saw things differently.
Departures of popular stalwart players was sad, but inevitable, other departures however represented something of a relief. But the most pressing item in the Owner’s in-tray was the need for a new manager.
There was no shortage of experienced and competent Championship level managers available, plus a few slightly shop-soiled Premier League coaches, any one of whom would have had the credentials to do a solid job with the Clarets. But instead, Pace pulled off his biggest coup and appointed Vincent Kompany.
Kompany brought with him impressive credentials as a player, but beyond a short stint at Anderlecht, little to go on in terms of managerial and coaching experience. The wholesale departures had left him with very few players to work with, but equally had afforded him a clean slate, enabling him to construct a squad willing and able to put his vision of how Burnley would play into practice.
That vision involved a possession-based, high-energy, hard-pressing and fast-flowing brand of football that was both easy on the eye and, when performed effectively, a nightmare to play against.
As new signings arrived with bewildering frequency in pre-season, optimism (never a comfortable emotion amongst Burnley fans) began to emerge.
Josh Cullen, around whom the Clarets’ midfield would pivot; Manuel Benson, silky skilled and menacing on the right wing; Annas Zaroury, blinding pace and trickery on the left; Scott Twine, a dead ball specialist; Vitinho, a gifted full-back cum winger from Brazil and Aro Muric, a towering presence in goal, all arrived on permanent contracts; whilst Ian Maatsen, Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Jordan Bayer and Nathan Tella came in on loan deals.
Each arrival was announced with a skilfully composed and wittily conceived social media vignette, which in themselves hinted at a club heading in the right direction, raising both a smile and optimism amongst the fans.
It wasn’t all about the new arrivals, though, Josh Brownhill, Jack Cork, Jay Rodriguez, Johann Berg Gudmundsson and in particular Ashley Barnes were all fortified under the new regime and all played with renewed vigour. Barnes indeed marked his final season as a Burnley player by gleefully lashing in the second goal of the Clarets’ 3-0 final game win over Cardiff City.
Whilst it is always preferable to pit one’s skills in the top division, it was also something of a relief at the thought of a season away from the intense glare and scrutiny of the Premier League: away from ill-informed preconceptions about the club, its style of play, its fans and the town itself; away too from the all-seeing (when it suits!) eye of VAR.
Not only that, but there was also the additional enticement of renewing acquaintances with our old friends up the M65.
The matches themselves and how the season unfolded have been recorded in detail throughout the campaign both by myself and by more gifted chroniclers, but standout moments for me included overturning a 2-0 half time deficit to win at Sunderland; a league double over a tough Middlesbrough team, sealing promotion at the Riverside in the process; ten successive wins in the league, which propelled Burnley to the top of the table where they would remain; late winning goals to defeat Rotherham, Reading and an in-form West Brom; Manuel Benson’s cut-and-paste quartet of curling left-foot strikes late in the season and above all, a glorious league double over Blackburn Rovers, the second of which saw Burnley clinch the title in Rovers’ own back yard.
One year on from relegation, Burnley have re-invented themselves into a progressive, cosmopolitan, multi-national club in which all facets of the organisation seem to work in harmony: the marketing, the social media, the administration, the community involvement, the academy and the women’s team.
Who would have thought a year ago that not only would Burnley storm back into the Premier League, but would do so emphatically and with such verve? Who would have thought that Burnley would be fielding Brazilians; be the subject of fly-on-the-wall documentaries and receive support and investment from a legendary figure from the NFL? Burnley have done all this in twelve marvellous months and have done so whilst still mindful of the values and traditions of the club.
Have we ever had a better season? In 1921 the Clarets were Champions of England on the back of a then (and for many years to come) record unbeaten run of thirty games. That must have been quite a season, so too winning the old First Division in 1960. But of those successful seasons which fall within the span of my memory, this has been, in my opinion, the most complete and the most splendid.
Glory Days indeed, we must cherish the memory and not allow them to pass us by.
Editor’s note: Alan Pace and Vincent Kompany have a busy summer ahead; surely next season will not surpass this one. Could it? (TEC).
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