"We'll never know" - Burnley regret at Europa League flop pinpointed | OneFootball

Burnley were handed an opportunity to impress on the European stage, but they failed to really take it.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Sean Dyche will go down as a modern-day club legend at Turf Moor.

There is no denying that Dyche was a popular figure at Burnley. The now Everton manager was appointed Burnley boss back in 2012, after the Clarets had endured some mediocrity in the second tier.

In just his second season with the club, Dyche led Burnley to second place in the Championship, resulting in his first career promotion to the Premier League.

Unfortunately, his first stint in the top flight did not go as planned, as they finished 19th at the first attempt and returned immediately to the Championship.

Burnley stuck with Dyche though, which was a decision that turned out to be very wise. The 2015/16 season saw his Clarets side lift the Championship title a year after relegation, and this time the manager was keen on competing in the Premier League for more than just one season.

Not only did Dyche take the Clarets into the Premier League for a second time, but he established them as a top-flight club for a number of seasons, something they had been unable to do since the 1960s.

Dyche had built a real identity at the club, and the 2017/18 campaign was, by far, their best in recent history. Burnley competed with the best that the Premier League had to offer that season by being disciplined and incredibly tough to beat, having conceded just 39 league goals all season.

The Clarets finished seventh in the top flight, which unprecedentedly saw them qualify for the Europa League qualifying stages, just two years after winning the Championship.

It was an exciting time for the club, but looking back now, they perhaps failed to really take advantage of their European opportunity.

Speaking to Football League World, Burnley fan, Nathan Rogers, looked back on their Europa League stint with real regret.

"I think one thing that Burnley may have regretted in recent history is not performing as well as they should have done to get into the actual group stages of the Europa League. We had an unbelievable season prior to qualifying, we made Europa League football under Sean Dyche.

"As a fan, it was incredible to see and it was historic. We had three qualifying games, against Aberdeen, Basaksehir and Olympiacos. We just had to get a goal at home basically. Win the game at home, and we would've been through into the group stages, but for whatever reason, we just couldn't make it happen on the night, so we lost out on our third qualifying game.

"I think, as a club and as a fanbase, you wonder what that might have done for us on the European stage, for signings etc. Would it have hampered our league performance? I guess we'll never know, but that season we had a pretty mediocre season anyway and just scraped (past) relegation.

"As a small thing, that might have been one of the things we regret as a club, not actually capitalising on that moment and getting into the group stages."

A better performance in the Europa League could have changed things

It may feel a little harsh on the club to regret their poor performance in the Europa League, but in the wider context, a better performance could have had long lasting effects.

If Burnley managed to progress through to, at least the group stages of the competition, they would have gained wider recognition on the European stage, which in turn would potentially allow them to sign bigger and better players and be more competitive in the Premier League.

However, they never managed to replicate their seventh place finish under Sean Dyche. They spent four seasons battling in midtable and below, before eventually finishing 18th in the league and suffering relegation to the Championship in 2022.

Burnley enjoyed six consecutive seasons in the Premier League, and they will always be thankful to Sean Dyche for delivering that, but they may be wondering what would have happened if the club had a better run in the Europa League, which was an incredibly rare opportunity.