Premier League club accused of 'cheating' as journalist exposes wild conspiracy theory

Burnley have been accused of "cheating the system" by a journalist after suffering another relegation to the Premier League.

The Clarets were sent straight back down to the Championship on Wednesday 22 April following a 1-0 home defeat to Manchester City, with Scott Parker later leaving the club via mutual consent and Michael Jackson being placed in interim charge.

His first game at the helm was a 3-1 loss to Burnley on Friday, the Lancashire outfit's 23rd defeat of the season in the Premier League.

Burnley amassed 100 points in the Championship last term and kept a record 30 clean sheets in 46 games, conceding just 16 goals.

But after failing to make the step up, Alex Crook of talkSPORT blasted Burnley for showing "no intention of staying in the Premier League" as he claimed they "stunk the place out".

Burnley have won just four games in the Premier League this season. Image: Getty

"Burnley are heading back where they belong, which is to the Championship,” Crook said on talkSPORT’s Fiery Fridays podcast.

“For the second Premier League season in a row for them, they’ve absolutely stunk the place out.

“We all thought Burnley under Scott Parker with their defensive record last season keeping so many clean sheets in the Championship, would come into the Premier League and compete.

“They’ve been absolutely pathetic. Four wins from 34 games and 22 [23] defeats.

“They’ve actually conceded more goals than Wolves who have been even stinkier than them over the course of the season.

“Any Premier League team signing [Armando] Broja should be a sackable offence.

"They sold their goalkeeper [James Trafford] before they'd even kicked a ball in the Premier League. He was a massive part of their success last season.

"And that showed they had no intention of staying in the Premier League. If you’re serious, you don’t sell your best player before you’ve even played your first game.”

Burnley's recent history has seen them regularly promoted and relegated, which leads to parachute payments - solidarity sums that are designed to help them adjust financially with the significant drop in revenue in the second tier.

Crook continued his scathing attack on Burnley, accusing them of "cheating the system" and "not making any great effort to compete" as they flip-flop between the Premier League and Champions League.

He said similar about Norwich City when they were in a similar situation a few years back and believes a new rule should be brought in to avoid history repeating itself in the future.

He continued: “I’m going to use the same argument that got me blacklisted by Norwich. Burnley are basically cheating the system.

“They are coming up into the Premier League, they’re not making any great effort to compete. They go back down again and get the parachute money.

“They’ll probably win promotion under the right manager next season and then we’re going to rinse and repeat.

“If you get relegated from the Premier League twice in three seasons, you should be banned from winning promotion for the next five years.

“I’ve never been to Turf Moor, I’m not sure I’m ever going to be invited after that hot take.”

With just four wins and 20 points this term, Burnley have a further three games this season before they return to the second tier and attempt to rebuild next season.