The thread title is strange in as much as I can't believe that any Burnley fan would be happy for us to lose a game. However given our paucity of squad and our lack of quality in depth, coupled with our injury issues I am sort of relieved. But in a sad way because I think we are better than Celtic and Rangers. And it would have been great for younger Clarets to have been able to see the Team on a longer run. Hope we/I don't have to wait another 50 years. Mind, I'll still be alive in 50 years just 114!!!!

martin_p wrote:Trouble is, the gulf between where we’ve got to and the ‘next level’ is enormous. There’s a very good chance that, in terms of league position, we’ve peaked. That’s why making the most of our European adventure was important.

There’s also a chance that, with continued presence in the Money League we may develop enough to actually win an FA Cup, or a League Cup. We may even surprise ourselves and finish in the Top 7 again in the next few Seasons.
When it comes down to it, I am at least equally, if not more exited to have Man Utd, Man City, Liverpool, Arsenal et al as home and away fixtures on a Season by Season basis than I am about us being in European Competition.

Not happy to have dropped out at all.

Thing is, it's a two legged cup competition and you can get knocked out of those really easily if you don't perform over two legs.

End of the day are inability to defend two set pieces, a daft hsndball and failure to put the ball into the net whilst on top has lost us the game.

It happens and I hope we have a chance to do Europe again as it was great fun.

One good thing about being out of the Europa League is that I won't be subjected to their TV computer graphics electronically swiping my soul every few seconds and causing mental illness.

I'm sorry we lost the tie. Still plenty to play for. It's not about our expectations for the season, it's just a case of what happens. Let's hope for more good than bad.

We blew it, plain and simple and I doubt I’ll ever get to experience it again in my lifetime.

Being happy about dropping out of Europe has absolutely nothing to do with being knocked out of Europe, it wasn’t a referendum. Some will be happy and some will be sad about not playing cheating European teams. We got knocked out because our tactics, fair or foul, just weren’t good enough. However, I’m sure everybody is now more hopeful about improving our hitherto very sketchy results in the Prem. Personally I’m happy about getting knocked out but, equally, would have been intrigued to see how we faired in the group stages if we’d got through.

martin_p wrote:Yeah, winning stuff is for losers!

Where did I say I didn’t want to win? That’d be brilliant but I admit it’s unlikely.

My enjoyment of being a Burnley fan is not dependent on winning everything we take part in. As long as we give it our all and don’t disgrace the club, the fans, the town I’ll take that as a minimum.

I simply want my club to keep developing and moving forward. What happens as a result of that is out of my control.

We might finish 17th this year which looks initially a retrograde step but the money for doing that will further secure the club and allow it to bring in more players, to develop a better quality of youths- some of whom may make the step up to first team status with us, to improve the ground etc.

Feeling down this morning and I know we wouldn’t have been in same it as Olympiacos to now see them drawn with AC Milan is making it worse.

Grimsdale wrote:I agree we've got practically no chance of winning the Europa league, for one thing it would take another 15 games to be played, with potentially over half of them being overseas.

The League Cup is a much more realistic prospect, beat Burton (which we should), then it's four more wins and we're done.

That's why we should field a strong team at Burton,get through that tie and we're one win from the quarter-finals,sadly i don't think we'll pick our best available side,and could run the risk of crashing out.

I'd happily settle for finishing lower in the Premier League,mid-table would be fine,if we had a real crack at the domestic cups,remember the excitement in 2009 during our 'Capital Punishment' days.

HiroshimaClaret wrote:
Or simply have an opinion of their own based on the evidence of the season so far?

Arguably the chopping and changing of the defence/goalie is what has made us iffy at the back. Not fixture congestion.

Bottom line is we didnt get enough bodies in to cover the forward half of the side. Last night was more or less first team from midfield upwards.

largely i think that's down to the board. There's a lot of talk about pushing to next level in the Prem on rhis thread but we aren't - we are still pushing on the way we have over the last 5 years which has worked in the past but left us short to take advantage of the oppprtunity to have a go in Europe. The club effectively sacrificed it. Imagine being Lowton or Tarks - youve effectively not played in Europe and who knows when your next chance will be.

We had the opportunity and blew it through poor planning and preparation leaving us short. Its not often i agree with Talksport but it was hard to argue with their assessnent last night on the way back over the Pennines.

For this season i think we should aim for 7th again to see if we can qualify again (that's AIM) but i would like us to really try for one of the cups. Mid/lower table and a final would be a great season.

Winning a cup would be better than last year regardless of league position.

cricketfieldclarets wrote:What is your ambition now for this season? And beyond?

What is it about the premier league and finishing in a position where we will never win anything and our best hope is to finish in a position to get in Europe only to want to be knocked out when we get there that excites you?

What are you most excited about this season? Do you want us to compete in The League and FA Cups?

This isn't a dig at anyone. Just intrigued to understand the psychology behind it.

What has been your best moment watching the clarets?

Whilst it sounds good to be in europe, its not a place we can compete and do ourselves justice, a lot of fans are proud of the achievement that enabled us to enter, but we know our progress is limited. Not being equipped to challenge properly is not lost on us.

As for domestic trophies, it has long been the case that clubs regard them as irritants, its a shame with all the history and tradition, but the fact remains league status is THE thing thesedays.
I find it hard to understand enthusiasm in supporting a team from a lower who overturn a so called giant, knowing as they must, the bigger team have little or no interest in the competition. Its as if the smaller clubs fans are kidding themselves into believing something special has happened when it hasnt.
I want Burnley to evolve into a stable team in this division and hopefully get stronger each season.

We were a minimum of a central midfielder and left winger short in May when the season finished and that hadn't changed one bit when the transfer window closed in August.

The other signings are decent and i think the club has done very well with those but the need for the two priority signings didn't jump out and surprise us they were necessary long ago.

A massive frustration when we all know we should have had enough to get past Olympiakos and should really now be chewing over the league draw and planning our trips to some top European destinations.

All true and unarguable, but we should have beaten them with the team that put that performance in last night.

Chances in a plate spurned result in getting knocked out of cup competitions sadly

Wile E Coyote wrote:Whilst it sounds good to be in europe, its not a place we can compete and do ourselves justice, a lot of fans are proud of the achievement that enabled us to enter, but we know our progress is limited. Not being equipped to challenge properly is not lost on us.

As for domestic trophies, it has long been the case that clubs regard them as irritants, its a shame with all the history and tradition, but the fact remains league status is THE thing thesedays.
I find it hard to understand enthusiasm in supporting a team from a lower who overturn a so called giant, knowing as they must, the bigger team have little or no interest in the competition. Its as if the smaller clubs fans are kidding themselves into believing something special has happened when it hasnt.
I want Burnley to evolve into a stable team in this division and hopefully get stronger each season.

I dont agree. Had we say captured a couple from Rodriguez Bolassie Ward-Prowse and that Serbian winger we could have done ok. We were good enough last night but lacking that edge up front. Thats recruitment.

If we cant bring in the right people and/or manage the squad effectively to overcome Olympiacos (who lets face it were broadly 2nd best over the whole tie bar a 35 minute period when we went behind and svandalously had to play with 10) then thos dream of beong established on the top league is just that - a dream.

If we cant attract players to Burnley over Fulham or Stoke or get our transfer tarhets over the line on the back of last season and this season's opportunity in Europe then i think we can't compete long term. I think we will be back in the Championship by the next world cup if we dont learn from this and improve off the field.

Lancasterclaret wrote:All true and unarguable, but we should have beaten them with the team that put that performance in last night.

Chances in a plate spurned result in getting knocked out of cup competitions sadly

That's correct but those two areas i mentioned with the additions of Vydra, Brady and then Defour to the ranks at various stages of August, September and October would have seen us imo capable of fighting on both fronts without anyone having the thoughts of 'this is Europe get me out of here'.

Let's see if Europe was what was holding us back in the Premier League over the coming weeks.

Just an opinion mind.

Aye, when I saw the team for last night my first thought was "its probably the best we can put out there" based on injuries and the complete loss of form in our front line.

The performance from them was startling good so I'm a lot happier this morning than I probably should be as I know that we did more than enough to win.

If it had been another performance like in the in the second half of the first leg, I'd have been gutted and worried.

Hey ho, fun while it lasted and who knows? We might get there again

Any Burnley fan who is happy at being out of this competition needs their head feeling.

The negative ones are the folk saying this is a once every 50 year cycle, rubbish.
We need to know our place, thankfully the board do. This is a babysteps building programme that can give us long term sustainability in the PL. From that can come another 7th or a cup success that will see us back in Europe. We have an excellent first team and decent back up but not decent enough to get us dragged into another 6 Thursday matches. Now we can get back on the training ground, sort out a few of the current problems and get back to winning matches.

piston broke wrote:The negative ones are the folk saying this is a once every 50 year cycle, rubbish.
We need to know our place, thankfully the board do. This is a babysteps building programme that can give us long term sustainability in the PL. From that can come another 7th or a cup success that will see us back in Europe. We have an excellent first team and decent back up but not decent enough to get us dragged into another 6 Thursday matches. Now we can get back on the training ground, sort out a few of the current problems and get back to winning matches.

piston broke wrote:The negative ones are the folk saying this is a once every 50 year cycle, rubbish.
We need to know our place, thankfully the board do. This is a babysteps building programme that can give us long term sustainability in the PL. From that can come another 7th or a cup success that will see us back in Europe. We have an excellent first team and decent back up but not decent enough to get us dragged into another 6 Thursday matches. Now we can get back on the training ground, sort out a few of the current problems and get back to winning matches.

What a load of sycophantic nonsense we could have been off to the SAN Siro but for the short sightedness of the board

I throughley enjoyed our foray into the Europa league, but it was never going to be anything other than dipping our toes into it given the size and quality of our squad. Will be interested to see how they play on Sunday, now they have clear minds on what is ahead. The mini league running alongside the PL cannot gave been easy.

piston broke wrote:The negative ones are the folk saying this is a once every 50 year cycle, rubbish.
We need to know our place, thankfully the board do. This is a babysteps building programme that can give us long term sustainability in the PL. From that can come another 7th or a cup success that will see us back in Europe. We have an excellent first team and decent back up but not decent enough to get us dragged into another 6 Thursday matches. Now we can get back on the training ground, sort out a few of the current problems and get back to winning matches.

Spot on.

Don't think Mr Garlick reads this board, but would be interesting to hear why he was happy for us not to be taking part in the group stages

joey13 wrote:What a load of sycophantic nonsense we could have been off to the SAN Siro but for the short sightedness of the board

It’s got more to do with the short sightedness of our strikers last night.

I'd never wish for us to lose and be out of a competition. Pragmatically, getting to the prem was a once in a lifetime thing, and we progressed to where we are now.

This was progress.

Now lets try to do it again, get stronger and hopefully go further in the comp.

Why do you guys react so badly to progress?

BabylonClaret wrote:I dont agree. Had we say captured a couple from Rodriguez Bolassie Ward-Prowse and that Serbian winger we could have done ok. We were good enough last night but lacking that edge up front. Thats recruitment.

If we cant bring in the right people and/or manage the squad effectively to overcome Olympiacos (who lets face it were broadly 2nd best over the whole tie bar a 35 minute period when we went behind and svandalously had to play with 10) then thos dream of beong established on the top league is just that - a dream.

If we cant attract players to Burnley over Fulham or Stoke or get our transfer tarhets over the line on the back of last season and this season's opportunity in Europe then i think we can't compete long term. I think we will be back in the Championship by the next world cup if we dont learn from this and improve off the field.

you say you dont agree, then cite examples of why we cant compete.

joey13 wrote:What a load of sycophantic nonsense we could have been off to the SAN Siro but for the short sightedness of the board

If you are so keen to go to the San Siro they do a tour but I wrote what is best for Burnley not what is best for you.

.

piston broke wrote:If you are so keen to go to the San Siro they do a tour but I wrote what is best for Burnley not what is best for you.

You know best

KRBFC wrote:I struggle to understand how any real Burnley fan wanted us to drop out of Europe, I'm gutted we didn't qualify for the tournament, back to boring Thursdays.

I was starting to question myself until I saw your post KRBFC.

I am absolutely fine with bouncing out. Looking historically at how clubs do in the league when they have a little Europa cup run on relatively small budgets and it isn't great.

What is our ambition for this season? For me, avoid relegation and allow me to get excited about having the odd unexpectedly good result. Don't underestimate the value of remaining in the Prem. Stoke would be very happy with that, as we type.

joey13 wrote:You know best

Know I don’t but I know we haven’t won a match in 90 minutes this season. The chopping and changing can’t have helped. But SD has had to chop or we’d be on our last legs by November.

JimmyRobbo wrote:I was starting to question myself until I saw your post KRBFC.

I am absolutely fine with bouncing out. Looking historically at how clubs do in the league when they have a little Europa cup run on relatively small budgets and it isn't great.

What is our ambition for this season? For me, avoid relegation and allow me to get excited about having the odd unexpectedly good result. Don't underestimate the value of remaining in the Prem. Stoke would be very happy with that, as we type.

I loved the European football, new and exciting, 2 Burnley games a week, now we go back to one game a week. Great to remain in the PL for finances but for me, football is about winning things, creating a legacy and moments to tell your Grand kids (or for your kids to tell their Grand kids). If we pulled the comeback out Yesterday that would've been a talking point for a very long time.

Finishing 17th in the PL and winning £140M isn't quite the same achievement as lifting the Championship league title, accolades and trophies is what I desire not how much money my club can milk from the system. I know this will get taken out of context by one of the boring mob so just to clarify, I don't mean I expect us to win PL titles or even FA Cups, I mean accolades like reaching a semi final, or European group stage. Something we can look back on as a proud moment in the Sean Dyche era.

Many would say finishing 17th in the PL is a harder task that winning the Championship title, I understand that but I think a bigger accolade and talking point will be how we won the Championship title. Again, I expect this to be taken out of context by one of the boring mob, so I'll clarify again, no I'm not suggesting I want us relegated to give us a shot at another Championship title.

I'm gutted we failed to qualify for the tournament, we should've beaten Olympiakos comfortably, we just shot ourselves in the foot in the 1st leg (negative and naive) and poor finishing cost us in the 2nd leg. We are now the nearly men, I don't consider reaching the qualifiers a massive accomplishment and certainly i'll hope to forget this quickly especially now that Rangers have even qualified comfortably.

I expect us to dominate the League and finish first now we're out of Europe which is the reason we weren't winning and was nothing more than a distraction.

Sad to go out, but now it's focus on the league time. Would be good if Dyche went for the League Cup though, winning that, staying in the PL and qualifying for the Europa League would be another incredible season. Burnley lifting a cup is one dream I'd love to see Dyche achieve.

Olympiakos
Milan
Real Betis
Dudelange

GUTTED

4:20 wrote:Sad to go out, but now it's focus on the league time. Would be good if Dyche went for the League Cup though, winning that, staying in the PL and qualifying for the Europa League would be another incredible season. Burnley lifting a cup is one dream I'd love to see Dyche achieve.

But cups detract from survival, can't have it both ways

Burexit means Burexit.
I didn't want to go to bloody Europe anyway, my season ticket money went on laying them new cobblestones outside Milan's ground.
We spent 350 quid last week on travelling to Greece, we could spend that money on the Cricket Field stand instead.

give me 30 years above bastards rather than a group stage of the Europa League any day of the week

KRBFC wrote:I loved the European football, new and exciting, 2 Burnley games a week, now we go back to one game a week. Great to remain in the PL for finances but for me, football is about winning things, creating a legacy and moments to tell your Grand kids (or for your kids to tell their Grand kids). If we pulled the comeback out Yesterday that would've been a talking point for a very long time.

Finishing 17th in the PL and winning £140M isn't quite the same achievement as lifting the Championship league title, accolades and trophies is what I desire not how much money my club can milk from the system. I know this will get taken out of context by one of the boring mob so just to clarify, I don't mean I expect us to win PL titles or even FA Cups, I mean accolades like reaching a semi final, or European group stage. Something we can look back on as a proud moment in the Sean Dyche era.

Many would say finishing 17th in the PL is a harder task that winning the Championship title, I understand that but I think a bigger accolade and talking point will be how we won the Championship title. Again, I expect this to be taken out of context by one of the boring mob, so I'll clarify again, no I'm not suggesting I want us relegated to give us a shot at another Championship title.

I'm gutted we failed to qualify for the tournament, we should've beaten Olympiakos comfortably, we just shot ourselves in the foot in the 1st leg (negative and naive) and poor finishing cost us in the 2nd leg. We are now the nearly men, I don't consider reaching the qualifiers a massive accomplishment and certainly i'll hope to forget this quickly especially now that Rangers have even qualified comfortably.

This, pretty much.

LoveCurryPies wrote:I never understood those who wanted out of the Europa League so we could play it safe in the Premier League. It was fabulous seeing the European teams and players.

Fabulous seeing the players. Are you a fan of comedy pratfalls and inventive time wasting ? Up until last nights games the Europa league game were dull and tedious affairs.

In reality we have avoided being humiliated in every game in the group stages and faced exiting from the premiership. As a club we were not prepared or equipped to play in Europe which was proved by our performances.

But if SD stays with us for a few more years he will know what is required to succeed in European competitions and he may be able to be successful.

If we want to keep the club in its current community centred form we need to be realistic. So we need to accept that a "good" season is a mid table finish with a semi final cup appearance. Without massive foreign investment through foreign ownership this is best we can hope for.

Burnlexit - good for the club

Wile E Coyote wrote:you say you dont agree, then cite examples of why we cant compete.

Actually I said we could compete if we had done what was needed to do so. My examples are prefixed with IF.

Clearly Rodriguez was happy to return but we balked at the asking price. Theres been a lot of debate about the window but it is quite clear that we are worse off as a squad right now rhan we were this time last year. Mistakes perhaps and as i said we need to learn quickly.

Last night we played well and perhaps a bit more of risk taking would see us compete. We bottled it.

BabylonClaret wrote:Actually I said we could compete if we had done what was needed to do so. My examples are prefixed with IF.

Clearly Rodriguez was happy to return but we balked at the asking price. Theres been a lot of debate about the window but it is quite clear that we are worse off as a squad right now rhan we were this time last year. Mistakes perhaps and as i said we need to learn quickly.

Last night we played well and perhaps a bit more of risk taking would see us compete. We bottled it.

Are we worse off?

I think it's also worth pointing out that anyone who thinks we can become an established club and 'move onto the next level' (what ever that means) needs to look at the table from the end of last season.

All established clubs - Swansea, West Brom & Stoke gone in an instant!

We need to grab moments of history whenever we can. Sadly, the opportunity to play AC Milan has gone forever, most likely.

KRBFC wrote:I loved the European football, new and exciting, 2 Burnley games a week, now we go back to one game a week. Great to remain in the PL for finances but for me, football is about winning things, creating a legacy and moments to tell your Grand kids (or for your kids to tell their Grand kids). If we pulled the comeback out Yesterday that would've been a talking point for a very long time.

Finishing 17th in the PL and winning £140M isn't quite the same achievement as lifting the Championship league title, accolades and trophies is what I desire not how much money my club can milk from the system. I know this will get taken out of context by one of the boring mob so just to clarify, I don't mean I expect us to win PL titles or even FA Cups, I mean accolades like reaching a semi final, or European group stage. Something we can look back on as a proud moment in the Sean Dyche era.

Many would say finishing 17th in the PL is a harder task that winning the Championship title, I understand that but I think a bigger accolade and talking point will be how we won the Championship title. Again, I expect this to be taken out of context by one of the boring mob, so I'll clarify again, no I'm not suggesting I want us relegated to give us a shot at another Championship title.

I'm gutted we failed to qualify for the tournament, we should've beaten Olympiakos comfortably, we just shot ourselves in the foot in the 1st leg (negative and naive) and poor finishing cost us in the 2nd leg. We are now the nearly men, I don't consider reaching the qualifiers a massive accomplishment and certainly i'll hope to forget this quickly especially now that Rangers have even qualified comfortably.

So you don't actually mean "winning" things ? You mean getting to a semi final or a european group stage.

That does not really sound that different to finishing 7th, getting to the play off stage in Europe and getting to the 5th round or quarter final of the FA Cup (all of which we have done).

Or am i taking things out of context ?

Oh and btw we played against Olympiakos - a team with an excellent and recent European pedigree with far more experience in Europe than Burnley. And Rangers played against a team nobody had ever heard of. We are miles ahead of Rangers but we had a very tough draw in every round.

If we finished 17th in the Premier League for the next 5 seasons, the crowds would drop through the floor.

Lucrative yes, entertaining, no.

I wouldn’t stop going, but there’s a portion who definitely would.

Spoke to a Wigan fan a few years ago would said that’s exactly what happened to them.. less and less people every year. Granted they were never super well supported, points still valid though.

LoveCurryPies wrote:I never understood those who wanted out of the Europa League so we could play it safe in the Premier League. It was fabulous seeing the European teams and players.

all about personal choice, europe did nothing for me, league is THE thing in my view, but i understand why it isnt for other clarets.

Granny WeatherWax wrote:Olympiakos
Milan
Real Betis
Dudelange

GUTTED

Nope. The draw is worked differently in the group stage. We wouldn't have simply replaced Olympiakos in the same pot.

Granny WeatherWax wrote:Olympiakos
Milan
Real Betis
Dudelange

GUTTED

Don't be, we wouldn't have been in the same pot...

GodIsADeeJay81 wrote:Are we worse off?

Squad wise we are. We lost 3 back up squad and a semi regular wide player. We broight in arguably 1 better forward a goalie and a CB. We are worse off numbers wise, with better options now at CB and arguably a better foward option.

We've also added Dwight McNeil to the starting eleven possibles.