List of Burnley F.C. seasons

Burnley Football Club, an English association football club based in Burnley, Lancashire, was founded on 18 May 1882 as Burnley Rovers.^[a] The suffix "Rovers" was soon dropped, and the club was simply known as "Burnley Football Club" at the time of its first recorded match on 10 August 1882.^[3] For the first six years of its existence, there was no league football, so matches were arranged on an ad hoc basis, supplemented by cup competitions organised at local and national level.^[4] The club won its first trophy in 1883: the Dr Dean's Cup, a knockout competition between amateur clubs in the local area.^[5] Burnley turned professional at the end of 1883, first entered the FA Cup in the 1885–86 season, and were one of the 12 founding members of the Football League in 1888.^[6] The team have played in the top four tiers of English football from 1888 to the present day.^[7]

Burnley have been champions of England twice, in 1920–21 and 1959–60, have won the FA Cup once, in 1913–14, and have won the FA Charity Shield twice, in 1960 and 1973.^[7]^[8] They have been runners-up in the First Division twice, in 1919–20 and 1961–62, and FA Cup runners-up twice, in 1946–47 and 1961–62.^[7] Burnley were the second, and are one of only five teams to have won all four professional divisions of English football, along with Wolverhampton Wanderers, Preston North End, Sheffield United and Portsmouth.^[9]^[10]

As of the end of the 2022–23 season, the team have spent 59 seasons in the top division of English football, 47 in the second, 11 in the third, and 7 in the fourth.^[7] The table details their achievements in domestic and international competitions, and records their top goalscorer and average home league attendance, for each completed season.

Key

Key to divisions:

Key to rounds:

DNE – Did not enter
QR4 – Fourth qualifying round
IntR – Intermediate round (between qualifying rounds and rounds proper)
PO – Play-off round
Group – Group stage
Group(N) – Group stage Northern section
R1 – First round, etc.
R1(N) – First round Northern section, etc.
QF – Quarter-final
QF(N) – Quarter-final Northern section
SF – Semi-final
SF(N) – Semi-final Northern section
P3rd – Third place
F – Finalists
F(N) – Finalists Northern section
W – Winners

Details of the abandoned 1939–40 Football League are shown in italics and appropriately footnoted.

Seasons

List of seasons, including league division and statistics, cup results, top scorer and average league attendance
Season	League^[7]^[11]									FA Cup^[12]^[b]	League Cup^[14]^[c]	Other^[14]		Top scorer(s)^[d]		Avg.^[e] attend.
Season	Division^[f]	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts	Pos	FA Cup^[12]^[b]	League Cup^[14]^[c]	Competition	Result	Player(s)	Goals	Avg.^[e] attend.
1882–85	Burnley played only friendly matches or in local cup competitions.^[19]
1885–86	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	R1^[g]	—	—	—	n/a	—	—
1886–87	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	R1^[h]	—	—	—	Walter Place^[i]	2	—
1887–88	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	R2	—	—	—	Bill McFettridge	2	—
1888–89	FL^[j]	22	7	3	12	42	62	17	9th^[k]	R2	—	—	—	Pat Gallocher	9	4,200
1889–90	FL	22	4	5	13	36	65	13	11th^[l]	R1	—	—	—	Robert Haresnape	6	5,400
1890–91	FL	22	9	3	10	52	63	21	8th	R2	—	—	—	Claude Lambie	17	7,580
1891–92	FL	26	11	4	11	49	45	26	7th	R2	—	—	—	Tom Nicol	18	6,125
1892–93	Div 1^[m]	30	13	4	13	51	44	30	6th	R2	—	—	—	Billy Bowes Robert Buchanan	8	6,805
1893–94	Div 1	30	15	4	11	61	51	34	5th	R1	—	—	—	Peter Turnbull	15	6,300
1894–95	Div 1	30	11	4	15	44	56	26	9th	R1	—	—	—	Tom Nicol	11	6,235
1895–96	Div 1	30	10	7	13	48	44	27	10th	R2	—	—	—	Hugh Robertson	12	5,875
1896–97	Div 1 ↓	30	6	7	17	43	61	19	16th^[n]	R1	—	—	—	Billy Bowes	11	5,250
1897–98	Div 2 ↑	30	20	8	2	80	24	48	1st^[o]	QF	—	—	—	Jimmy Ross	24	4,125
1898–99	Div 1	34	15	9	10	45	47	39	3rd	R1	—	—	—	Wilf Toman	12	6,355
1899–1900	Div 1 ↓	34	11	5	18	34	54	27	17th	R1	—	—	—	Edgar Chadwick	10	5,880
1900–01	Div 2	34	20	4	10	53	29	44	3rd	R2	—	—	—	Bill Jenkinson	11	3,275
1901–02	Div 2	34	10	10	14	41	45	30	9th	R1	—	—	—	Cornelius Hogan	12	2,225
1902–03	Div 2	34	6	8	20	30	77	20	18th^[l]	IntR	—	—	—	Cornelius Hogan	7	1,500
1903–04	Div 2	34	15	9	10	50	55	39	5th	QR4	—	—	—	William Jackson	10	4,100
1904–05	Div 2	34	12	6	16	43	52	30	11th	IntR	—	—	—	Doug MacFarlane	13	4,260
1905–06	Div 2	38	15	8	15	42	53	38	9th	R1	—	—	—	Doug MacFarlane	10	4,975
1906–07	Div 2	38	17	6	15	62	47	40	7th	R1	—	—	—	Dick Smith	16	5,275
1907–08	Div 2	38	20	6	12	67	50	46	7th	R1	—	—	—	Dick Smith	24	7,725
1908–09	Div 2	38	13	7	18	51	58	33	14th	QF^[p]	—	—	—	Dick Smith	18	6,815
1909–10	Div 2	38	14	6	18	62	61	34	14th	R2	—	—	—	Benny Green	19	6,555
1910–11	Div 2	38	13	15	10	45	45	41	8th	QF	—	—	—	Benny Green	14	7,700
1911–12	Div 2	38	22	8	8	77	41	52	3rd	R1	—	—	—	Bert Freeman^[q]	33 ♦	14,000
1912–13	Div 2 ↑	38	21	8	9	88	53	50	2nd	SF	—	—	—	Bert Freeman^[r]^[s]	36 ♦	12,970
1913–14	Div 1	38	12	12	14	61	53	36	12th	W^[t]	—	—	—	Bert Freeman	19	21,820
1914–15	Div 1	38	18	7	13	61	47	43	4th	R3	—	—	—	Teddy Hodgson	20	11,415
1915–19	The Football League and FA Cup were suspended until after the First World War.^[u]
1919–20	Div 1	42	21	9	12	65	59	51	2nd	R2	—	—	—	Bert Freeman	12	19,530
1920–21	Div 1	42	23	13	6	79	36	59	1st	R3	—	Charity Shield	F	Joe Anderson	31	31,535
1921–22	Div 1	42	22	5	15	72	54	49	3rd	R1	—	—	—	Joe Anderson	21	23,640
1922–23	Div 1	42	16	6	20	58	59	38	15th	R1	—	—	—	Bob Kelly	17	16,885
1923–24	Div 1	42	12	12	18	55	60	36	17th	SF	—	—	—	George Beel	21	14,890
1924–25	Div 1	42	11	12	19	46	75	34	19th	R1	—	—	—	Tommy Roberts	16	15,890
1925–26	Div 1	42	13	10	19	85	108	36	20th	R3	—	—	—	Louis Page	26	17,857
1926–27	Div 1	42	19	9	14	91	80	47	5th	R5	—	—	—	George Beel	27	19,422
1927–28	Div 1	42	16	7	19	82	98	39	19th	R3	—	—	—	George Beel^[v]	35	17,408
1928–29	Div 1	42	15	8	19	81	103	38	19th	R4	—	—	—	George Beel	32	17,239
1929–30	Div 1 ↓	42	14	8	20	79	97	36	21st	R3	—	—	—	Louis Page	15	14,726
1930–31	Div 2	42	17	11	14	81	77	45	8th	R4	—	—	—	George Beel	25	11,493
1931–32	Div 2	42	13	9	20	59	87	35	19th	R3	—	—	—	George Beel	12	8,410
1932–33	Div 2	42	11	14	17	67	79	36	19th	QF	—	—	—	Tommy Jones Cecil Smith	16	9,401
1933–34	Div 2	42	18	6	18	60	72	42	13th	R3	—	—	—	Cecil Smith	18	11,403
1934–35	Div 2	42	16	9	17	63	73	41	12th	SF	—	—	—	George Brown	24	10,825
1935–36	Div 2	42	12	13	17	50	59	37	15th	R3	—	—	—	Cecil Smith	10	10,402
1936–37	Div 2	42	16	10	16	57	61	42	13th	R5	—	—	—	Charlie Fletcher	13	12,041
1937–38	Div 2	42	17	10	15	54	54	44	6th	R4	—	—	—	Bob Brocklebank	16	13,394
1938–39	Div 2	42	15	9	18	50	56	39	14th	R3	—	—	—	Gordon Clayton	10	13,731
1939–40	Div 2	2	0	1	1	1	3	1	^[w]	—	—	—	—	Ron Hornby	1	—
1939–45	The Football League and FA Cup were suspended until after the Second World War.^[x]
1945–46	—^[y]	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	R3^[z]	—	—	—	Harry Jackson Peter Kippax Billy Morris^[aa]	1	—
1946–47	Div 2 ↑	42	22	14	6	65	29	58	2nd	F^[ab]	—	—	—	Harry Potts	17	25,856
1947–48	Div 1	42	20	12	10	56	43	52	3rd	R3	—	—	—	Harry Potts	14	33,621
1948–49	Div 1	42	12	14	16	43	50	38	15th	R5	—	—	—	Jackie Chew	11	30,290
1949–50	Div 1	42	16	13	13	40	40	45	10th	R5	—	—	—	Harry Potts	12	27,631
1950–51	Div 1	42	14	14	14	48	43	42	10th	R3	—	—	—	Bill Holden	12	28,296
1951–52	Div 1	42	15	10	17	56	63	40	14th	QF	—	—	—	Billy Morris	19	26,624
1952–53	Div 1	42	18	12	12	67	52	48	6th	R5	—	—	—	Bill Holden	22	28,480
1953–54	Div 1	42	21	4	17	78	67	46	7th	R4	—	—	—	Billy Gray	20	28,151
1954–55	Div 1	42	17	9	16	51	48	43	10th	R3	—	—	—	Bill Holden	14	25,094
1955–56	Div 1	42	18	8	16	64	54	44	7th	R4	—	—	—	Peter McKay^[ac]	27	23,397
1956–57	Div 1	42	18	10	14	56	50	46	7th	QF	—	—	—	Jimmy McIlroy	16	22,493
1957–58	Div 1	42	21	5	16	80	74	47	6th	R4	—	—	—	Jimmy McIlroy	19	22,251
1958–59	Div 1	42	19	10	13	81	70	48	7th	QF	—	—	—	Ray Pointer	29	23,733
1959–60	Div 1	42	24	7	11	85	61	55	1st	QF	—	—	—	John Connelly	24	26,978
1960–61	Div 1	42	22	7	13	102	77	51	4th	SF	SF^[ad]	Charity Shield European Cup	W ^[ae] QF	Jimmy Robson^[af]	37	23,827
1961–62	Div 1	42	21	11	10	101	67	53	2nd	F	DNE^[ag]	—	—	Ray Pointer	26	27,125
1962–63	Div 1	42	22	10	10	78	57	54	3rd	R4	DNE	—	—	Andy Lochhead	20	25,180
1963–64	Div 1	42	17	10	15	71	64	44	9th	QF	DNE	—	—	Andy Lochhead	14	19,755
1964–65	Div 1	42	16	10	16	70	70	42	12th	R5	DNE	—	—	Willie Irvine	25	15,739
1965–66	Div 1	42	24	7	11	79	47	55	3rd	R4	QF	—	—	Willie Irvine^[ah]^[ai]	37 ♦	19,968
1966–67	Div 1	42	15	9	18	66	76	39	14th	R3	R3	Inter-Cities Fairs Cup	QF	Andy Lochhead	24	20,508
1967–68	Div 1	42	14	10	18	64	71	38	14th	R3	QF	—	—	Frank Casper	17	17,435
1968–69	Div 1	42	15	9	18	55	82	39	14th	R4	SF^[aj]	—	—	Frank Casper^[ak]	21	16,073
1969–70	Div 1	42	12	15	15	56	61	39	14th	R4	R4	—	—	Steve Kindon	18	16,452
1970–71	Div 1 ↓	42	7	13	22	29	63	27	21st	R3	R2	Texaco Cup	R1	Frank Casper Eric Probert	5	16,156
1971–72	Div 2	42	20	6	16	70	55	46	7th	R3	R3	—	—	Frank Casper	19	12,893
1972–73	Div 2 ↑	42	24	14	4	72	35	62	1st	R3	R2	Watney Cup	SF	Paul Fletcher	15	14,083
1973–74	Div 1	42	16	14	12	56	53	46	6th	P3rd^[al]	R3	Charity Shield Texaco Cup	W ^[am] F ^[an]	Paul Fletcher	21	20,670
1974–75	Div 1	42	17	11	14	68	67	45	10th	R3	R4	—	—	Leighton James	17	19,641
1975–76	Div 1 ↓	42	9	10	23	43	66	28	21st	R3	QF	—	—	Peter Noble	17	18,120
1976–77	Div 2	42	11	14	17	46	64	36	16th	R4	R2	Anglo-Scottish Cup	Group	Peter Noble	15	12,173
1977–78	Div 2	42	15	10	17	56	64	40	11th	R4	R3	Anglo-Scottish Cup	Group	Steve Kindon	13	11,581
1978–79	Div 2	42	14	12	16	51	62	40	13th	R5	R3	Anglo-Scottish Cup	W	Peter Noble	16	10,748
1979–80	Div 2 ↓^[ao]	42	6	15	21	39	73	27	21st	R4	R2	Anglo-Scottish Cup	Group	Martin Dobson Billy Hamilton	7	8,118
1980–81	Div 3	46	18	14	14	60	48	50	8th	R2	R2	Anglo-Scottish Cup	Group	Steve Taylor	17	6,469
1981–82	Div 3 ↑^[ap]	46	21	17	8	66	45	80	1st	R4	R1	Football League Group Cup	SF	Billy Hamilton	19	6,936
1982–83	Div 2 ↓	42	12	8	22	56	66	44	21st	QF	SF	—	—	Billy Hamilton	19	9,085
1983–84	Div 3	46	16	14	16	76	61	62	12th	R3	R1	Associate Members' Cup	SF(N)	Billy Hamilton	21	6,625
1984–85	Div 3 ↓^[aq]	46	11	13	22	60	73	46	21st	R3	R2	Associate Members' Cup	QF(N)	Kevin Hird	22	4,177
1985–86	Div 4	46	16	11	19	60	65	59	14th	R3	R1	Associate Members' Cup	Group(N)	Alan Taylor	21	3,204
1986–87	Div 4	46	12	13	21	53	74	49	22nd^[ar]	R1	R1	Associate Members' Cup	R1(N)	Leighton James	12	3,342
1987–88	Div 4	46	20	7	19	57	62	67	10th	R1	R2	Associate Members' Cup	F^[as]	George Oghani	19	6,282
1988–89	Div 4	46	14	13	19	52	61	55	16th	R1	R2	Associate Members' Cup	R1(N)	Brendan O'Connell	18	7,062
1989–90	Div 4	46	14	14	18	45	55	56	16th	R3	R1	Associate Members' Cup	Group(N)	Ron Futcher	10	6,222
1990–91	Div 4	46	23	10	13	70	51	79	6th^[at]	R3	R2	Associate Members' Cup	SF(N)	Ron Futcher	20	7,882
1991–92	Div 4 ↑	42	25	8	9	79	43	83	1st^[au]	R3	R1	Associate Members' Cup	F(N)	Mike Conroy^[av]	28	10,519
1992–93	Div 2^[aw]	46	15	16	15	57	59	61	13th	R3	R1	Football League Trophy^[ax]	QF(N)	Adrian Heath	23	10,537
1993–94	Div 2 ↑	46	21	10	15	79	58	73	6th^[ay]	R3	R2	Football League Trophy	Group(N)	David Eyres	28	11,317
1994–95	Div 1 ↓	46	11	13	22	49	74	46	22nd	R4	R2	—	—	David Eyres Liam Robinson	10	12,063
1995–96	Div 2	46	14	13	19	56	68	55	17th	R1	R2	Football League Trophy	QF(N)	Kurt Nogan	26	9,064
1996–97	Div 2	46	19	11	16	71	55	68	9th	R3	R2	Football League Trophy	R2(N)	Paul Barnes	25	10,053
1997–98	Div 2	46	13	13	20	55	65	52	20th	R1	R2	Football League Trophy	F(N)	Andy Cooke	20	10,481
1998–99	Div 2	46	13	16	17	54	73	55	15th	R1	R1	Football League Trophy	R1(N)	Andy Payton	23	10,604
1999–2000	Div 2 ↑	46	25	13	8	69	47	88	2nd	R4	R1	Football League Trophy	R1(N)	Andy Payton^[az]	27 ♦	12,937
2000–01	Div 1	46	21	9	16	50	54	72	7th	R3	R2	—	—	Andy Payton	15	16,234
2001–02	Div 1	46	21	12	13	70	62	75	7th	R4	R1	—	—	Gareth Taylor	16	15,948
2002–03	Div 1	46	15	10	21	65	89	55	16th	QF	R4	—	—	Gareth Taylor	17	13,977
2003–04	Div 1	46	13	14	19	60	77	53	19th	R5	R3	—	—	Robbie Blake	22	12,541
2004–05	Champ^[ba]	46	15	15	16	38	39	60	13th	R5	R4	—	—	Robbie Blake	13	12,640
2005–06	Champ	46	14	12	20	46	54	54	17th	R3	R3	—	—	Ade Akinbiyi	14	12,462
2006–07	Champ	46	15	12	19	52	49	57	15th	R3	R1	—	—	Andy Gray	14	11,956
2007–08	Champ	46	16	14	16	60	67	62	13th	R3	R3	—	—	Andy Gray	13	12,365
2008–09	Champ ↑	46	21	13	12	72	60	76	5th^[bb]	R5	SF^[bc]	—	—	Martin Paterson	19	13,082
2009–10	Prem ↓	38	8	6	24	42	82	30	18th	R4	R3	—	—	Steven Fletcher	12	20,654
2010–11	Champ	46	18	14	14	65	61	68	8th	R5	R4	—	—	Chris Eagles Jay Rodriguez	15	14,931
2011–12	Champ	46	17	11	18	62	61	58	13th	R3	R4	—	—	Jay Rodriguez	21	14,048
2012–13	Champ	46	16	13	17	62	60	61	11th	R3	R3	—	—	Charlie Austin	28	12,928
2013–14	Champ ↑	46	26	15	5	72	37	93	2nd	R3	R4	—	—	Danny Ings	26	13,719
2014–15	Prem ↓	38	7	12	19	28	53	33	19th	R3	R2	—	—	Danny Ings	11	19,131
2015–16	Champ ↑	46	26	15	5	72	35	93	1st	R4	R1	—	—	Andre Gray^[bd]	23 ♦	16,823
2016–17	Prem	38	11	7	20	39	55	40	16th	R5	R2	—	—	Sam Vokes	12	20,558
2017–18	Prem	38	14	12	12	36	39	54	7th	R3	R3	—	—	Chris Wood	11	20,688
2018–19	Prem	38	11	7	20	45	68	40	15th	R4	R3	UEFA Europa League	PO^[be]	Ashley Barnes Chris Wood	13	20,534
2019–20	Prem	38	15	9	14	43	50	54	10th	R4	R2	—	—	Chris Wood	14	20,260^[bf]
2020–21	Prem	38	10	9	19	33	55	39	17th	R5	R4	—	—	Chris Wood	12	3,387^[bg]
2021–22	Prem ↓	38	7	14	17	34	53	35	18th	R3	R4	—	—	Maxwel Cornet	9	19,399
2022–23	Champ ↑	46	29	14	3	87	35	101	1st	QF	R4	—	—	Nathan Tella	19	19,953

Notes

References

Specific

General

Simpson, Ray (2007). The Clarets Chronicles: The Definitive History of Burnley Football Club 1882-2007. Burnley F.C. ISBN 978-0-9557468-0-2.

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Search

List of Burnley F.C. seasons

Contents

Key

Seasons

Notes

References