A Tale of Two Halves: Burnley FC - 2018/19 - A Strange Case of Jekyll and Hyde

The Premier League season 2017/18 saw Burnley FC achieve their highest ever position in this competition and their highest finish in the top flight of English football since 1974. This tremendous achievement by the 'minnows' of the Premier League also earned them a place in competitive European football for the first time since the 1960's. However, with this qualification came additional demands on probably the smallest squad in a league populated by clubs with mega-rich owners. Would the club have sufficient funds to strengthen the squad ahead of the challenge? Entering the Europa League at the 1st Qualifying Round stage meant an early start to their season and a heavy workload even before the start of the Premier League campaign. Would the squad be able to keep relatively injury free in order to tackle the challenge of competing in four major competitions? For sure the most important thing for the Clarets was to maintain their place in the Premier League whatever happened in the other competitions. The importance of the funding from the TV companies to the club which had no rich foreign investors and a limited fanbase was paramount to its survival as a major player in English football. So, as we fans sat on the edge of this monumental season the excitement was also tinged with some degree of trepidation.Would we once again defy the odds and enjoy success in new ventures, or would it all end in tears?Time would tell and here in this the 5th Volume of Burnley FC - The Premier League Diaries, you can follow the story of the season as it unfolds.Interspersed with the football are also anecdotes of the author's life away from football, from his walking group tales, to car crashes, colonoscopies, stag-do's, and his daughter's wedding, its all in there. What more could you want