How many trophies have Burnley won?

A rich history for a famous old club…

Proud founder members of the Football League, Burnley Football Club began life as a rugby club.

However, ‘Burnley Rovers’ soon switched codes and became Burnley Football Club in 1882. They moved to their Turf Moor home shortly afterwards, at the invitation of the town’s cricket club, which is still uniquely situated next to the stadium.

FA Cup campaigns gave way to organised football in 1888 with the foundation of the Football League – and since then Burnley have claimed every major honour, with the exception of the League Cup.

The first honour was a Second Division title in 1897-98 and the club’s improved fortunes were finally reflected in an FA Cup triumph in 1914, with a 1-0 win against Liverpool coming just months before the outbreak of the Great War.

The Crystal Palace: FA Cup Final 1914, Burnley v Liverpool

Following the War, the Clarets continued to make their mark on the domestic game and in the 1920-21 season the team enjoyed a remarkable unbeaten run of 30 league matches as they led the club to an inaugural First Division title, having been runners-up the previous season.

That magnificent league record stood for over 80 years, until being battered by Arsenal in the 2003/04 season.

League Champions: 1921

By the outbreak of the Second World War, the Clarets were back in the Second Division. However, the first season of organised football after the War saw them promoted as runners-up to Manchester City – and they also reached their first Wembley final, where they lost the FA Cup 1-0 to Charlton Athletic.

This led to arguably the most exciting time in the club’s history.

By the late 1950’s and early 1960’s the claret and blue of Burnley had become the most feared colours in the domestic game and, following several near misses, the First Division title again came the club’s way on the very last day of the 1959-1960 season at Manchester City

League Champions: 1960….

And the celebrations that followed.

Two seasons later the club claimed the double nobody wants – runners-up to Ipswich in the League and Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup Final, losing 3-1 in an epic Wembley battle.

Wembley: FA Cup Final 1962 Burnley v Spurs

The 1960’s also saw two European campaigns. The 1960 title-winning side beat French Champions, Reims, in the first round, but went out to Hamburg at the next stage.

Finishing third in the 1965-66 season was then good enough to earn a place in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (later known as the UEFA Cup and Europa League) and Burnley marched on splendidly. Stuttgart (Germany) and Lausanne (Switzerland) were early casualties before Burnley pulled-off a surprise win against Naples. Eintracht Frankfurt were the quarter final opponents and, after a draw in Germany, a place in the last four looked very much on the cards, but the Clarets were beaten 2-1 at Turf Moor.

That exciting decade ended with Burnley’s influence at the very top beginning to wane and they were eventually relegated in 1971.

However, two seasons later, they were back in the top flight after winning the Second Division title with a 1-1 draw at Deepdale on the final day of the season.

Deepdale 1973

Within three seasons Burnley were relegated to the Second Divison again as Jimmy Adamson’s ‘Team of the Seventies’ failed to deliver. And as the decade drew to a close, Burnley found life back in the Second Division increasingly tough and slipped into the third tier in 1980.

Under club stalwart Brian Miller, the Third Division title was cemented in 1982, but the following season, despite reaching the semi-finals of the League Cup and quarter-finals of the FA Cup, relegation resulted in Third Division football returning as the fallow years continued.

Two seasons later the unbelievable happened and Burnley found themselves dropping into the basement division – just 10 years since their last game in the top flight!

The second season in the Fourth Division saw the introduction of automatic relegation from the Football League to the Vauxhall Conference for the bottom club – and dramatically Burnley had to win their last game of the season to avoid the dropping out of the Football League they, along with 11 other clubs, helped to found.

Amid emotional scenes of drama of the very highest quality the Clarets secured a 2-1 win against Orient and sent Lincoln City down instead.

That near miss sparked a welcome revival in Burnley’s fortunes, with a trip to Wembley in the Sherpa Van Trophy coming just 12 months later. The final ended in a 2-0 defeat at the hands of fellow Fourth Division rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers in front of over 80,000 supporters… but Burnley were back!

The 1990’s proved to be an interesting time in the club’s history.

In 1992, the Clarets created history by becoming only the second team to win all four divisional titles in domestic soccer (Wolves being the first) when they won the Fourth Division and escaped from the league basement after seven seasons.

Two years later they were promoted to the new First Division via a 4-2 Wembley play-off final success against Stockport County; but unfortunately, lasted only one season at a higher level before
suffering the blip of relegation.

Off the field, the club was now moving forwards. There was a £6.5m redevelopment of Turf Moor, with two new stands giving Burnley a 22,000-plus all-seater stadium.

On the field, Stan Ternent was appointed as manager in June 1998, following on from former England star Chris Waddle, who was in charge as a player-manager the previous season.

And Stan’s successful six-year reign would ultimately lay the foundations for a revival in the club’s fortunes and cement him as a pivotal figure in recent history.