Can relegated Burnley stop yo-yo effect - and do they want to?

With Parker in charge, they went up again with 100 points, only conceding 16 goals, but have now been relegated with four games remaining.

"It's a difficult one because we've been a bit spoiled with the Sean Dyche era when we even got into Europe one year - we overachieved massively," said Little, who played for the club in the second and third tiers between 1997 and 2004.

"He didn't even really spend a lot of money and it was just a good set of lads, good characters who managed to all grow together."

Little continued: "Vincent Kompany totally changed the style of football, the way we played. They were one of the best Championship teams we've ever seen.

"It was the first time where we actually went up and spent a lot of money. A lot of young players, a lot of foreign players, which wasn't necessarily the Burnley way.

"And then straight back down, and Vincent Kompany leaves for Bayern Munich.

"It's left to Scott Parker to deal with the Championship. A lot of players left, it was all a bit of a mess, but they regrouped and had another great season.

"They signed a few more experienced players this time, so they tried a different style of signings, but then that hasn't worked either."

The supporters are not happy.

As the BBC's Burnley fan writer Natalie Bromley put it this week: "We are so very weak as a club. A club of nothingness. With no clear identity and none of the East Lancashire grit that has run through our DNA since 1882."

What will they do now?

Image caption,

As a manager, Scott Parker has a 100% success rate of promotion and a 0% success rate of keeping teams up

Little expects them to get promoted again immediately but added: "How do you go about signing the right players for the Premier League next time? I really don't know, it's tough."

And will Parker still be in charge?

The former England midfielder has never kept a team in the Premier League as a manager - but has a remarkable record in the Championship.

Parker has won promotion in all three of his seasons as a second-tier manager, with Fulham, Bournemouth and Burnley.

"It'll be interesting to see what happens with Scott Parker now," said Little.

"Will he decide to stay on and try and get us straight back up?

"And then who stays? What's the financial situation like?

"I do feel even though it's been a disaster of a season, if we keep most of the players, we'll be straight back up."

It could be worse though...

While Burnley seem to be stuck in this cycle, there are worse things than can happen to a team relegated from the Premier League - such as going straight through to League One the following year: A fate that befell Luton in 2025 and Leicester this week.

"I suppose we could say we have been fortunate that every time we've been relegated, we have come straight back up and so it keeps the parachute payments," said Little.

That refers to multi-million-pound payments given to teams relegated from the Premier League over a three-year period.

In each of the past five seasons, two of the three teams promoted from the Championship were receiving parachute payments.

Little added: "And then you get the Premier League money again after promotion."

Burnley the 'odd ones out'

This season ended the pattern of the three promoted teams going straight back down.

In 2024 it was Burnley, with Sheffield United and Luton. Last season it was Leicester, Southampton and Ipswich.

But this time Sunderland are safe and Leeds are nine points above the drop zone, after Wednesday's draw at Bournemouth.

Wolves have been relegated for the first time since 2018 and one of Tottenham, West Ham and Nottingham Forest are likely to take the third spot.

"Sunderland have spent a lot of money, but a lot of their signings have been successes," said Little.

"It's just a shame that for the last two seasons, we saw the three up, three down, but then this season we're the odd ones out."

Burnley started this campaign well, ending October with 10 points after nine games. They have only won one league game since.

Little says a 3-2 defeat by West Ham on 8 November, having led 1-0, changed the trajectory of their season.

"It's as if we've never recovered from that," he said. "As the season's gone on, the team had the stuffing knocked out of us.

"We've had three or four games where we've had some bad luck on the VAR. If that's seven or eight points, then you're still in with a chance. But when you're down there, you don't really get the luck in the breaks.

"It just feels as the confidence has been shot to pieces, and it's just got worse and worse.

"The manager tried everything he can. He's probably run out of ideas of how to change it. You look at the squad, every player has pretty much had a go.

"We've changed formations, we've played five at the back. We've had four at the back. We've had three up front, we've had two up front, nothing seems to have worked and it's ended up in another disappointing season."

Which teams bounce between the leagues most?

Since the Premier League was founded in 1992, Burnley are just the second team after Fulham to bounce between the top two divisions for five consecutive years.

Birmingham, Bolton and Norwich flitted between divisions for four successive seasons. The Canaries went up or down in seven out of nine seasons between 2013-14 and 2021-22.

Four times now, the Clarets have been relegated from the Premier League a year after coming up, equalling Norwich's record.

In total they have been promoted to the Premier League five times, and now relegated from it five times. Since 1992, they have been through eight English league promotions and six relegations. Only Rotherham, with eight of each, can beat that.