Between 2016 and 2022, Burnley were a side that was a permanent fixture in the Premier League under Sean Dyche. Despite eventually suffering the crushing disappointment of relegation, they instantly shot back up with Vincent Kompany at the helm, racking up a whopping 101 points and playing a more attractive style of football than what Burnley fans were accustomed to.
But the Belgian's attacking style of football didn't translate amongst the country's elite, as they were demoted once more. Burnley won just five games, scoring 41 goals and conceding 78; they barely made a fist of it.
Kompany's reward for this failure was a luxurious move to Bayern Munich, leaving Burnley with a hole to fill. In the end, the higher-ups opted for former Premier League midfielder Scott Parker, a man who has only been in management since 2019.
After gaining promotion with Fulham in 2020 and Bournemouth in 2022 - both at the first time of asking - Parker had gained a reputation for being a promotion specialist: exactly what the club needed.
A highly-rated young manager, the Englishman's stocks had dipped dramatically following struggles in the Premier League and a pretty torrid two and a half months in charge of Belgian outfit Club Brugge.
16 months later, Parker saw Burnley as the perfect opportunity to get back into management. Another promotion battle would see him back in his element, and at the very start, he must have thought that he had hit the jackpot.
In their first two games, Burnley thrashed Luton 4-1 and Cardiff City 5-0, and many saw them as dead certainties to win the Championship at a canter, much like two years prior.
With players like Wilson Odobert, Wout Weghorst and Dara O'Shea in the team, they looked levels above most of the league.
Yet Burnley were anticipating financial issues for the season ahead due to the lower turnover of being in the Championship. They had to balance the books. So in August, Burnley got rid of 11 first-team players, including the aforementioned trio, leaving Parker with a far more difficult job. He had to rebuild, and fast.
So Parker forged a team built on defensive solidity and organisation in a league known for being unpredictable and chaotic. He created a team based on their imperious back five. Burnley ended up being predictable, but in all the positive ways.
22-year-old goalkeeper James Trafford, seen as one of the most talented young players in his position, struggled in the Premier League last season, but his reputation grew once more after an outstanding campaign in goal. His standout moment came in a 0-0 draw against promotion rivals Sheffield United, where he saved two penalties.
Out of all the goalkeepers who have been first choice for teams in the Championship, no one has a higher save percentage than Trafford (84.8%).
But his job has certainly been made easier by the defenders in front of him.
Rocks at the back
Full backs Connor Roberts, Lucas Pires and Bashir Humphreys - who is on loan from Chelsea - have all been excellent, but their centre backs have been the real stars.
It isn't an exaggeration to say that CJ Egan-Riley and Maxime Esteve have been close to perfection.
Not just excellent individual defenders, the duo complement each other immensely, protecting each other's weaknesses while allowing their strengths to shine.
After spending his youth years with Manchester City, England U21 international Egan-Riley had loan spells at Hibernian and PSV. A modern defender who excels with the ball at his feet, the 22-year-old enjoys driving out from defence and starting attacks from the back.
His partner, Esteve, who joined from Montpellier in February 2024, is four inches taller than Egan-Riley, and that is evident with his aerial dominance. More aggressive and front-footed, the Frenchman became a fan favourite very quickly with his style of play.
With Egan-Riley and Esteve at the heart of defence, Burnley have smashed record after record.
Ahead of the final day of the season, the Clarets have conceded a staggering 15 goals in 45 matches, and are yet to concede twice in a game. If they don't let in a goal against Millwall, they will have achieved 31 clean sheets this season, breaking the all-time English football record, which has stood since 1954.
Should they avoid conceding more than two goals this weekend, they will statistically become the best defensive team in English football history, averaging 0.34 goals conceded per game.
They will move ahead of Liverpool in 1978/79 (0.38 per game) and Chelsea in 2004/05 (0.39).
In the middle of the season, Burnley had 12 clean sheets in a row. It was the second most consecutive clean sheets in English football, behind Manchester United's 14 in the 2008/09 Premier League season.
Without defeat on Saturday, they can also match Reading's Championship record of 33 games unbeaten.
Trafford, Esteve and Egan-Riley were rewarded for their mighty efforts, all being voted into the Championship Team of the Season.
"There was an awful amount of work that’s gone in on the defensive side, not only structurally and coaching, there’s been a lot of mentality stuff that’s gone in and what we stand for as a group," Parker said.
“And I think if you look more deeply into the habits of this team, other than the clean sheets, you watch back through games or just see some clear habits that this group has. They defend their goal like their life depends on it.
“If you watch us in certain moments, in terms of the real art of it, there’s a lot of work and there’s a lot of determination and commitment from this group of boys that gives us that real foundation. And our foundation is built at this present moment in time on cement. It’s not built on sand.”
Parker-life
Named EFL Championship Manager of the Season, Parker has cultivated a bond and a culture that has seen every single player buy into the idea of defending. As he said, it has become an art form. They are willing to put their body on the line for the manager and the club.
But despite their barely believable defensive record, there were question marks over their offensive prowess midway through the season.
Around January, Burnley drew six games 0-0 in a 10-game span and were lagging behind the top two in the Championship.
However, the signing of Marcus Edwards from Sporting Lisbon during the winter transfer window saw a 0.6 increase in goals per game, which proved to be enough for them to pip Sheffield United to promotion.
So Burnley have now scored 66 goals in the Championship this season - only Leeds United and Norwich City have scored more.
What is more impressive is the fact that they are the biggest expected goals overachievers in the league, with an xG of 56.76. This shows just how clinical they are in the final third, and although they may not be as creative as several other teams in the division, they make sure they take their chances.
And a lot of that has been down to captain Josh Brownhill. The midfielder, who has been at the club since 2020, has 16 league goals, the third most in the Championship.
With an xG of 9.5, he has been ruthless in front of goal, and eight of his 16 goals have been winners. A leader in the dressing room and out on the pitch, he is unquestionably their talisman.
A truly historic and stellar season for Burnley, Parker's name has now been thrust back into the spotlight. He has spent three seasons in the Championship with three different clubs, and has achieved promotion every single time.
Only Neil Warnock has been promoted to the Premier League more than him (4), and he managed to do that in a 28-year spell between 1990 and 2018. As previously mentioned, Parker has only been in coaching for six years.
“I don’t feel that I had anything to prove. I’ve been a manager now for four full seasons. The four full seasons I’ve been a manager, three of the seasons, I’ve got promoted, and one season I’ve got relegated out of the Premier League," Parker remarked after securing promotion.
“And the other two seasons I lost my job at (Club) Brugge after 10 weeks, and I lost my job at Bournemouth after four games.
"And I didn’t think I had anything to prove, but I just needed to make sure it was the right place, really, and from the minute I stepped in an interview room and the people around gave me a (good) feeling.
“I want to be around good people and I’m just absolutely delighted, not for me, I’m just delighted for this group.”
The unity he has with his players is evident, and he has certainly made the right choice to return to management with Burnley.
But while he may think otherwise, he still has more to prove.
His next goal will be to keep Burnley in the Premier League next season - a feat which has become increasingly difficult.
In the last two seasons in England's top division, all three promoted teams have been relegated pretty comprehensively, with the gap between the Championship and the Premier League at an all-time high.
Managers like Russell Martin at Southampton and Kompany at Burnley have attempted to play an attacking and risky style of football in the Premier League, but Parker will certainly not go down that route, and that could potentially serve them a lot better. They will have to grind out results, and this team is built to do that.
Parker will attempt to defy the odds, and money will also unquestionably have to be spent, especially in the attacking region of the pitch.
With players like Hannibal Mejbri and Edwards, they already have some players of a higher standard who should be more comfortable in the Premier League. The former signed from Manchester United in the summer, and has been a valuable part of this Burnley team, on and off the ball.
They must also fend off interest from other clubs for their players, with a lot of transfer noise surrounding Trafford and Esteve.
For now though, Parker and Burnley will enjoy the coming weeks. Still with a chance of securing the Championship title, they will need Leeds to drop points on the final day of the season if they want to be crowned champions.
Realistically, that will matter little to the fans. The job is already done. Burnley are a Premier League team once more, and everyone can bathe in the glory of this season's unprecedented success.
Burnley host Millwall on the Championship final day on Saturday