After getting relegated out of the English Premier League last season, Burnley wasted little time and have clinched promotion to get back to the top division in England next season.
Burnley is in the middle of a three-team fight for the top spot in the English Championship, the second division of English soccer. With Burnley’s 1-0 win against Queens Park Rangers, Burnley clinched promotion and took the lead in the Championship by two points entering the regular season finale on Saturday.
Middlesbrough and Brighton & Hove Albion are both tied for 2nd and play each other in their final game. While the winner has an opportunity to win the league if Burnley loses, what’s more important is that this is a winner-take-all contest where the winner (or if it’s a draw, Middlesbrough) gets the other automatic promotion spot while the loser enters the promotion playoff with Hull City, Derby County and Sheffield Wednesday for the third and final promotion spot. Not that that is a bad thing because the winner of this playoff will receive a lot more money than the other promoted teams but it comes with a bigger risk since it’s not automatic promotion.
Burnley has had a bit of a cult following among American EPL fans and in particular, fans of Men in Blazers. The Men in Blazers took a liking to local Lancashire entrepreneur Dave Fishwick and seeing ads for his local minibus and bank businesses competing for EPL ad space among the biggest corporations in the world. After clinching promotion, Fishwick made sure to say hi to the guys as he will no doubt be seeing more airtime in the United States.
@MenInBlazers
Hi to you all!
We are back!!
Looking forward to chatting to you all again soon!
Best Wishes
Dave— Bank on Dave (@FishwickDavid) May 2, 2016
As far as determining if Burnley can stay in the English Premier League, history shows some bad news. Burnley has seen a kind of yo-yo effect in the EPL. In the two previous times Burnley promoted to the EPL in the Premier League era, Burnley immediately relegated down to the Championship the next season. Burnley first entered the EPL in the Premier League era for the 2009-10 season and were immediately relegated. Four years later, Burnley got back to the Premier League in 2014-15 and were relegated once again after one season in the top league. Burnley will hope that the third time is the charm and they will survive in the English Premier League next season.
