Two summers ago, Owen Coyle made three headline-grabbing signings before he embarked upon his first - and ultimately only - full season as Burnley boss.

Now that Brian Laws has kept his job, attention must turn to his summer transfer activities.

Had you allowed your attention to wander at Turf Moor on Sunday, you might have imagined you'd been transported back 12 months.

It shouldn't have come to this. Not this season. Not in the Premier League, whilst we fight like fury to establish ourselves.

When Portsmouth visited Turf Moor for Saturday's Premier League basement battle, the game shone a spotlight on the madness that is tearing at the competitive soul of English football's flagship competition.

So, 26 and a half years after he left Turf Moor under a cloud, Brian Laws has stepped out of the shadow it cast and back through the front door of Turf Moor.

Even though Owen Coyle has never hidden his blatant ambitions, the events of the last few days have come as an unexpected and unwelcome shock.

Just as 2008 ended with a disappointing away defeat at a side struggling for goals and flirting with a relegation battle, so did 2009.

A year ago tonight, more than 6,000 Clarets converged upon Stamford Bridge to witness Burnley beat Chelsea in the Carling Cup.

It is a common trait of all football supporters that, at the end of a season, they seek to identify the watershed moments upon which their club's campaign turned.

In 1995, when Burnley were relegated back to English football's third tier as Blackburn were lifting the Premiership Trophy after successfully spending Jack Walker's millions, the Guardian led a feature on our demise with the headline, "From Blackburn's shadow to outer darkness".

When the fixtures were released, way back in the middle of June, one fixture concerned supporters of both Burnley and Rovers more than any other.

There was a new advert for Barclays in the gents loos at Turf Moor on Wednesday night. It showed a signpost, with "welcome to Burnley" on the top, and arrows indicating the distance to various other hotbeds of Premier League football.

At 3pm on Saturday, a season will commence which has been 33 years in the making.

After taking Burnley to the Premier League with a policy of sourcing young, hungry players, Owen Coyle's early transfer activity suggests he is intent on using the same philosophy to keep us there.

To the list of names which already includes Bert Freeman, Jimmy McIlroy, Martin Dobson, Ian Britton and John Francis, players whose names are indelibly printed upon the history of Burnley Football Club, the name of Wade Elliott should now be added.

Fifteen years ago, Jimmy Mullen's Claret and Blue Armada converged upon Wembley to witness Mullen's side take another step on the road back to top flight football.

Well, here we are then. After more than 8 months of blood and sweat, with tears of joy and desolation throw in for good measure, this remarkable season will reach its climax on Sunday.

A little over two months ago, nearly 18,000 Burnley supporters witnessed an unforgettable football match at Turf Moor.

When Robbie Blake was appointed captain of Burnley by Steve Cotterill in the summer of 2004, there were many who questioned whether Blake was suited to leadership.

On Tuesday night of last week, Blackburn Rovers fielded a reserve team for an FA cup 5^th round tie at Coventry. In doing so, they passed up the opportunity to reach the last 8 of the competition.

They say that the higher you fly, the harder you fall, and everyone connected with Burnley Football Club fell from a great height on Tuesday night.

If they haven't done so already, at some point over Christmas and New Year many Burnley supporters may find themselves dragged onto the dance floor at a festive party.

When Blackburn Rovers appointed Paul Ince to succeed Mark Hughes as manager in the summer, it was hailed in some quarters as a breakthrough for English football.

Having started his tenure at Turf Moor with a nil-nil draw against Stoke City, there was at least a symmetry in Owen Coyle marking the end of his first 12 months in charge of Burnley Football Club with another goalless stalemate.