As the last day of the Premier League season approaches it is almost certain that the three promoted clubs will be going back from whence they came. This will only be the second time that this has happened in Premier League history. In the 1997/98 season Bolton, Barnsley and Palace survived just one season.
Sheffield United’s return to the Championship was sealed a few weeks ago but they have managed to plumb new depths by becoming the first club to concede over 100 goals in a season. This is more than Swindon Town’s Premier League record when they let in exactly 100 goals in 1993/94, but that was in 42 matches so the Blades have managed to out do them in five fewer matches.
Abdoulaye Doucore’s goal in their 1-0 defeat win at Goodison Park was the 101st goal they have let in during a troubled campaign. Even more remarkably they have conceded 54 goals at home in 18 matches, including losing 8-0 to Newcastle, 6-0 to Arsenal and 5-0 to both Aston Villa and Brighton, at an alarming rate of exactly three a game.
Burnley’s slim chances of survival disappeared in their 2-1 loss at Tottenham. The Clarets set their own ignominious record, when they became the only side in top flight history to lose seven successive home matches from the start of a season before thrashing their fellow promoted club Sheffield United 5-0 in early December.
While the last of the promoted clubs Luton Town are not mathematically down, an inferior goal difference of -31 compared to Nottingham Forest’s -19 would require an almost impossible swing of 12 goals, so they are effectively relegated. Between this beleaguered trio they have mustered a total of 66 points over 37 matches. With only one remaining game each, they will become the not so proud owners of the lowest points tally for the three relegated Premier League clubs. The previous lowest total was 76 by Cardiff, Fulham and Huddersfield in the 2018/19 season
While Luton are the only Premier League club to not have a player sent off this season perhaps the most remarkable feature of Burnley’s demise has been the seven red cards they have received over the course of 37 matches. That is the most in nine years since Newcastle United had seven players sent off in 2014/15 season.
Only five clubs have had more players sent off in a Premier League season – Leicester City (1994/95), Blackburn Rovers (1998/99) and Newcastle (2008/09) had eight dismissed. Sunderland and Queens Park Rangers hold the record for the most sending-offs, having received nine red cards in 2009/10 and 2011/12 respectively.
Prior to the current season the most red cards Burnley had received in any of their eight Premier League seasons was two. It seems odd that this should happen under Vincent Kompany’s watch. As a player, the Belgian was a cultured centre back who rarely needed to resort to the darker arts. He was sent off only three times in his 265 Premier League appearances. As a manager he has tried to implement a passing style and one would hardly associate him with such a robust approach, especially compared to his predecessor at Turf Moor.
Sean Dyche’s image is much more uncompromising, but his team were saints compared to Kompany’s sinners. Under Dyche, Burnley set a Premier League record of 119 matches, without having a player sent off. In over three years between Robbie Brady’s dismissal against Huddersfield Town in January 2019 and Nathan Collins receiving his marching orders against Brentford in March 2022 they did not have any sending-offs. Furthermore, in the seven Premier League seasons Dyche was in charge of Burnley, they had a total of just six red cards, one fewer than they have received in one season under Kompany.
In an interview with local paper The Burnley Express a few years ago, Dyche highlighted his team’s excellent disciplinary record. “They are allowed to compete, and that is a sign of that,” Dyche said. “We’re this ‘rough’ side with no sendings off in 90 games…How can you be rough if you have no sendings off in 90 games? I don’t know where the reputation comes from, because the manager has got a skinhead probably, and the players try hard! I’m bereft of reasons, I just marvel at the madness, just call it how you want, no problem…”
The pattern of Burnley’s indiscipline this season was set from the off. In their very first match, at home to Manchester City, substitute Anass Zaroury was sent off in injury time, after a VAR review, for a dangerous lunge on Kyle Walker. The Moroccan’s red card was a landmark in itself as, with all the previous nine Burnley players having been dismissed away from home, this was the first that they had received in the Premier League at Turf Moor, after over 300 matches. Additionally, as all their other six red cards this season have been dished out in away games, Zaroury remains the only Burnley player to be sent off at Turf Moor in 322 Premier League fixtures.
Burnley’s red cards this season:
Anass Zaroury, Manchester City, 11 August 2023
Lyle Foster, Nottingham Forest, 18 September 2023
Connor Roberts, Brentford, 21 October 2023
Sander Berge, Aston Villa, 30 December 2023
Josh Brownhill, Crystal Palace, 24 February 2024
Lorenz Assignon, Chelsea, 30 March 2024
Dara O’Shea, Everton, 6 April 2024
After Kompany was himself sent off for protesting to the referee over the decision to dismiss Assignon against Chelsea, he felt that his side had been on the wrong end of a series of poor decisions throughout the campaign. “When it’s one game or one event, it’s always debatable,” he said. “Just like this one could be debatable, but less so than other cases I think but you can always debate. But for us it’s the succession of it and the effects on points and the effects on our season. All of that gives you a feeling, it makes you more angry when the next one comes.”
Unfortunately for Kompany, this season he has had many such reasons to test his patience.
*This piece appeared in Guardian Sport on 17 May 2024.
‘It Started With a Kick’ Episode 6 – Chris Sutton
As the first ex-professional to be a guest on the podcast, Chris provided an illuminating insight into his early days at Norwich City, a club who rejected him at first and where he converted from a centre back to a centre forward. Sutton also reveals how he mastered the art of scoring from a yard off his shin, how Martin O’Neill’s scared all the Celtic players with his intelligence and his least favourite opponent, Ian Wright.
Part 1 – https://bit.ly/4aiQK19
Part 2 – https://bit.ly/4dFfROB
The Football Mine 