BURNLEY, England — Sitting in the board room at Burnley Football Club a couple of weeks before the start of the Premier League season, Mike Garlick, the team’s chairman, had only one cloud on his horizon.
The summer had been a good one. In May, Burnley had retained its place in the Premier League, finishing 16th but comfortably above the relegation zone. When Sean Dyche, the team’s manager, and his players returned for preseason training in July, they took up residence in a sparkling new training facility, a physical manifestation of the club’s blossoming self-belief.
Now Burnley could focus on how to cement its place among English soccer’s elite.