Burnley Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Burnley, Lancashire. It was founded on 18 May 1882 by members of rugby club Burnley Rovers,[a] who voted for a change from rugby to association football. The suffix "Rovers" was dropped in the following days. Burnley became professional in 1883—one of the first to do so—putting pressure on the Football Association (FA) to permit payments to players. In 1885, the FA legalised professionalism, so the team entered the FA Cup for the first time in 1885–86, and were one of the twelve founder members of the Football League in 1888–89.
The team struggled in the early years of the Football League and were relegated to the Second Division at the end of the 1896–97 season. The side won promotion the following season, but were again relegated in 1899–1900. Burnley achieved promotion back to the First Division in 1912–13 under manager John Haworth; the following year the side won the FA Cup for the first—and to date only—time, after they defeated Liverpool in the final. In the 1920–21 campaign, Burnley were crowned champions of England for the first time. During that season they embarked on a 30-match unbeaten run, setting an English record. Burnley remained in the top tier of English football until 1929–30, when they sank to the second tier. The side gained promotion back to the first tier in 1946–47 and stayed there for 24 consecutive seasons.
From the 1950s until the 1970s, under chairman Bob Lord, the club became renowned for its youth policy and scouting system, and was one of the first to set up a purpose-built training ground. Burnley won a second league championship in 1959–60 under the management of Harry Potts with a last-day victory over Manchester City; with 80,000 inhabitants, the town of Burnley became one of the smallest to have an English first tier champion.[b] Between 1970 and 1983, Burnley yo-yoed between the first and third tiers, and in 1985, they were relegated to the Fourth Division. During that time, they endured several periods of financial hardship. In 1986–87, a last-day win against Orient prevented relegation to the Football Conference, the highest level of non-League football. The team won the fourth tier in 1991–92 to become the second team to win all four professional divisions of the English football league system. They were promoted to the second tier in 1999–2000, and to the first-tier Premier League in 2008–09. The club has since yo-yoed between the first and second tiers.
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