Vincent Kompany hoping to cushion Burnley’s fall from the Premier League

But on the pitch, Clarets boss Vincent Kompany hopes to pull the cord at the right time at Turf Moor to make sure the club doesn’t fall too far, before starting their intended climb back.

As has been the case at Burnley this summer, the loss of vast top flight revenue streams upon dropping back into the Championship often means clubs are forced to offload key players, and big earners, as they try and drastically cut wage bills.

Last time out, in 2015, the club stayed strong in that sense, and despite the sales of captain Jason Shackell, Danny Ings and Kieran Trippier, used that money to bring in Andre Gray, Joey Barton and then James Tarkowski, on their way to winning the title.

However, as in 2010, the knock-on effect of relegation sees the squad weakened, leading to a fall down the table, and lower crowds – with an average crowd going from 14,807 to 12,905, to 12,928 as Burnley went from eighth in 2011, to 13th the year after, and 11th in 2013.

In their final year of parachute payments, Sean Dyche unexpectedly guided the side to automatic promotion, after selling Charlie Austin on the eve of the season.

But while things can quickly spiral out of control financially, Kompany is trying to build something with a foundation at Burnley, rather than chase the dream immediately.

He says, not referring to the payments, that Burnley will not be “a parachute team”, and explained his thinking: “It just means we’ve got to make sure we have to jump from a little bit of a lesser height.

"The problem is, if you jump without a parachute and people are saying ‘do it now, do it now’, there’s a great buzz around the place.

“Every big team who has come down and kept plummeting has made that gamble.

"I can’t undo what’s happened. All I can do is come in and see what the solution is going forward – and the solution is to make sure that the fall is not from too high.

"Make sure those players on the pitch grow.”

Kompany and chairman Alan Pace have tried to lower expectations, not promising the world in a new era, and while there will be those who expect Burnley to be among the frontrunners this season, Kompany is dealing in reality: “I think you’ll have seen it, happening through the transfer window, clubs going down, big wages and expensive players will come in, no resale value, then you know something is happening.

"Those are not the types of deals we’ve done, we’ve done deals that we’ve tried to be smart.

"You can’t fault us for trying. We try to do deals where we are not exposed to the downsides if it doesn’t happen.

"If it works, then we are buzzing, but if not, we get the chance to go again.

"I think you should see that in the types of deals we’ve done.”

And as he said when he was unveiled, the intention is that this is a long-term project for the Belgian: “I’ve signed a long term contract of four to five years.

"That was one of the big selling points for me to come here.

"The club was very transparent with all the issues.

"I said it feels familiar, I’ve been there.

"if you are consistent and go through certain phases eventually, you look at examples like Brighton and Brentford in the Premier League.

"Everyone who knows me will know I’m prepared with everything I do but I’m not delusional. I try to stay very in control.”