10 Reasons Why Burnley Are Unexpectedly Back In The Premier League

6. Players That Had Their Best Ever Season

Someone commented that Burnley's season was a Moneyball type situation where a group of journeymen players come together so that the sum is greater than the parts, which is partly true. There is a Moneyball element to the story but these were no journeymen where the term implies jobbing, very average players. What was true was that these were players most of whom had spent time at several clubs, sometimes successfully, at other times not achieving their full potential. In 2013/14 they all achieved that potential and each had a superb season. Tom Heaton for example in the previous season had been relegated at Bristol and let in a shedload of goals, but at Burnley he conceded a miserly 37, part of an utterly mean defence. Meanwhile Sam Vokes had loan spells at several clubs and shone at none of them. Even when Eddie Howe bought him, Howe thought he would make more goals than he scored. He went on to score 20 league goals even though he missed the last 7 games and was a revelation with his work rate and coverage of the pitch. Add the word consistency to all the players and therein lay another secret of their success.