For the longest time, Burnley have been associated with British football by European football fans. Being one of the first English clubs to become professional or codified under the Football Association as early as 1883. Furthermore, the club is also believed to have played a role in launching the system of making payments to players by having talks with the FA during its inception years. Throughout their early periods, the club were a force in the country having won the First Division title twice and the FA Cup once between 1913 and 1960.
The club are also known to be a stickler for traditions. The Clarets have been playing at Turf Moor since 1883, making it the second-longest continuously used football ground in English football history. The team have also been famously known to be the only club remaining in the Premier League at the moment to continue playing in the shades of the traditional English style of football.
Under current manager Sean Dyche, Burnley tends to play a very physical game while also employing long-ball tactics in games perhaps explaining why they replaced striker Chris Wood who is 1.83 m tall with Wout Weghorst, who stands at 1.97m.
Dyche’s brand of football has often been termed by fans as “Brexit football” for its undying faith to stick to the old way of playing. Being such an icon of the game in England, it looks like the club’s historical presence has had a wider reach beyond the British Isles.
During a small quiz hosted by Spanish giants Real Madrid, when asked to name as many English clubs as he could in 30 seconds, Toni Kroos surprised many fans by choosing to name Burnley first instead of a powerhouse club such as Manchester City or Liverpool.
“Burnley, West Ham, Tottenham, Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Newcastle,” was the order in which Kroos answered.
The footage of the quiz was released on the club’s YouTube channel where Kroos was also accompanied by teammate David Alaba where the players were asked questions based on the Premier League, the Champions League and current Chelsea players.
Having played against the likes of Liverpool, Man City and Chelsea, fans expected Kroos to name one of these clubs as his first pick. Burnley perhaps would not have been an option they thought the German would pick never mind it being his first answer. Perhaps the Real midfielder knows his history and does associate the Clarets with the English league as most English supporters have done so.
With the club currently in the relegation zone and as they have not gone down since 1971, Sean Dyche would be looking to inspire his players with the club’s strong ties with the game’s development in the country as it is very much a British footballing institution much cherished by the nation.
