Burnley Season Preview 2025/26: Expectations are low for Scott Parker and the Clarets but pride is still at stake

It's your Burnley season preview, with the the task clear at Turf Moor: avoid a repeat of 2023/24

FourFourTwo's Burnley season preview

FFT's view

The Plan

To avoid the complete catastrophe of 2023-24, when Burnley were in the relegation zone for the entire season and averaged half a point per game until mid-March. Vincent Kompany, currently ranked at no.20 in FourFourTwo's list of the best managers in the world right now, replaced most of the XI that had romped to the title with a young team of strangers, and his conviction in taking on the best at their own game was ruthlessly punished.

While he was rewarded with a move to a European giant, Burnley changed tack, and a very different side has bounced back: less expansive (69 goals scored to 87 in 2022-23) but less open. Scott Parker hopes it’ll make the Clarets competitive – and avoid the sort of 9-0 loss that ended his last tenure at this level, with Bournemouth.

The Coach

Players will run through brick walls for Scott Parker. He came to Burnley having taken Fulham and Bournemouth into the Premier League but struggled thereafter, so, after he learned from those experiences and had a brief spell in Belgium, this will be the acid test.

Key Player

Maxime Esteve deserves another shot at the Premier League. He impressed in a lost cause after arriving in January 2024, with his pace and reading of the game, and was a class apart in the Championship. He will probably end up being Burnley’s record sale one day.

Lesson From Last Year

Prevent a chaotic end to the summer. Ten first-team players left the club in the last week of the 2024 window. There were always going to be exits from Kompany’s bloated squad, but having to put together half a new team in just a few days was stressful for all involved.

Parker – who started only in July himself – brought in players with quality and grit, and the result was 100 points with a defence that broke records: breached 16 times across 46 games, Burnley were the first team in English league history not to concede twice in a single fixture. They spent the summer bracing themselves to lose keeper James Trafford, though – he had a save percentage of 85 per cent.

The Mood

A small section of fans would have preferred to swerve the misery of the Premier League and stay in the Championship, where Burnley have won automatic promotion in each of their last four attempts and lost just five of their last 115 matches. The vast majority, though, hope to see Parker’s Clarets upset the odds. Fans can connect with a more familiar side this time, as four of 2024-25’s loanees (Zian Flemming, Jaidon Anthony, Bashir Humphreys and the electric Marcus Edwards) have signed on permanent deals.

One To Watch

Joe Bauress, a tidy midfielder who has impressed in cup matches and captains Burnley’s Under-21s. It’s likely that the teenager will go out on loan first, but watch this space.

Most Likely To

Get in the opposition’s heads: Hannibal Mejbri, who is somehow developing his s**thousery skills even further since the return of the master, Ashley Barnes, to Burnley.

Least Likely To

Give the ball away: Burnley’s midfield metronome, Josh Cullen, completed 89 per cent of his passes in the Championship.

FFT Verdict

20TH Parker’s pragmatism won’t be enough, despite the signing of £13m winger Loum Tchaouna.

The Numbers

Fan view

Burnley fans might still have PTSD from their last Premier League campaign, so we checked in with podcaster Natalie Bromley for a Turf Moore pulse read

Last season was another automatic promotion and a 100-point season, even after Kompany left for Bayern and most of our squad was sold. Parker’s young squad struggled to match the excitement of previous campaigns, then at Christmas it all clicked.

This season will be different because there are zero expectations.

Our key player will be ‘Steeeeeve’. We’ve had Ben Mee and James Tarkowski, yet Esteve may be the best centre-half I’ve seen at Burnley.

I won’t be happy unless VAR is scrapped. I cannot emphasise enough how much better the fan experience is in the EFL. At least use it for obvious objective errors with no grey area, such as the ball not actually coming off a defender for a corner, or not going out of play.

Fans think our owner is a little chipmunk. Alan Pace is relentlessly enthusiastic and has a million ideas, and he’s not afraid to look silly in trying anything once. He’s very supportive of our women’s team, too.

Fans think our gaffer is a profoundly likeable man who has settled into the community. We do wish at times that he’d play more exciting football, but what he achieved last season was remarkable. He’s got a free pass this season. I would love to see him exorcise those Premier League demons.

Look out for 20-year-old winger Luca Koleosho. He had a difficult 2024-25 but there’s a talent there.

We’ll finish 18th. I predict all three promoted sides will go back down again.

This preview originally appeared in FourFourTwo's Season Preview issue which went on sale in July, available here with free delivery