Burnley FC's relegation: Shakespeare himself could not have plotted a worse ending / Dave Thomas column

Consigned to the Championship by the Saudi millionaires. The little club that at the end of the day cannot compete with the billionaires.

Football is cruel. The last three games decided by VAR and penalties.

But that should not cover up the fact that overall Burnley deserved to go down. Just not good enough in too many games. And why was that?

The answer is not rocket science. The roots of all this lie on the sale of the club and the way in which the team was starved of funds to renew and refresh it. The bank account was fattened to enable the sale. The three directors responsible for that know who they are. The chairman and manager stopped speaking.

Dyche must have wondered what am I doing here?

As he lost his own edge, so did the players. Michael Jackson did a great rallying job but in those last three games the football gods decided that Burnley would suffer. Shakespeare couldn’t have plotted a worse ending.

The sad thing is that this was a self inflicted relegation and a leveraged sale, the worst possible kind. The accounts revealed a debt of over £100million.

Of course they had every right to sell their shares but in going along with a leveraged deal, they chose the worst possible way. A way that just does not suit a small club like Burnley with such a limited income level. A way that the FA is now considering should it be banned.

The directors have not been fully paid. Payments have again been rescheduled. The Academy faces a loss of status and with this the loss of grants.

How has this happened? It is reasonable to think that parachute payments will be swallowed by repayments to Dell.

How many players will have to be sold and who? The new season is only nine weeks away. An ageing squad needs rebuilding but with what? The jar on the mantelpiece may well be empty again. All terribly sad.