CLARETS chairman Mike Garlick believes Burnley might not have yet reached the summit of their climb under Sean Dyche.

The Clarets are all but assured of European football next season, barring a six point and 15 goal swing to Everton over the final two games.

A top-seven finish in the Premier League is the latest remarkable achievement for Burnley under the stewardship of Dyche and chairmanship of Garlick, but the latter insists the peak may not have been scaled just yet.

Just 31 years since the Clarets faced relegation from the Football League on the final day of the 1986/87 season, the climb back to the top will yield Europa League football at Turf Moor next season.

"It’s been 30 years of a generally upward curve, but there’s been a few downward bits in it as well, quite a few and some fairly big ones over the year," Garlick said of the rise from 90th in the Football League to seventh.

"If we’re at a new summit then maybe there’s another summit over the top of that one, when you’re climbing your fells there’s another mountain to climb and the road is never ending."

Nobody would have believed that Europe would have been the summit at the start of this season, when the Clarets again started the season amongst the favourites for relegation, but an astonishing campaign has seen Burnley 14 points better off than last season already.

Garlick admitted European football wasn't even on his mind back in August, instead targetting the 40 point mark that is considered to bring guaranteed Premier League survival.

And although Burnley have cruised past this season, the target will remain the same next term.

"I didn’t even think about it. I thought about 40 points, safety, and another season in the Premier League," Garlick said.

"To be honest, next season Europe is fantastic, but our first target will be 40 points again.

"The first priority will be 40 points, safety comes first, it has to. I don’t just mean that for the glory of the Premier League, but the finances of the club and the stability.

"We’ll give it (Europe) a go and we’ll see where it takes us."

Burnley will begin in the Europa League second qualifying round, with the first leg taking place on July 26, two-and-a-half weeks before the start of the Premier League season.

The added workload of Europe and a competition which will bring a Thursday-Sunday schedule for some of the season could mean Dyche needing a bigger squad.

But Garlick insisted the aim during the summer transfer window, which this year shuts on August 9, would remain the same - to end it with a stronger squad.

"There’s no change there because every year we’ve been in the Premier League we try and strengthen," he said.

"We always try and end up stronger at the end of the window than we were at the beginning of the window. This summer that won’t change."

Dyche has recently said that Europe would be a 'badge of honour' for Burnley but it's another feather in his cap at Turf Moor as well.

Garlick is full of praise for the man he was so keen to appoint back in October 2012. Since then Dyche has twice taken the Clarets out of the Championship and now established them in the Premier League and taken them to Europe.

"He’s unbelievable," Garlick said of the manager.

"What he’s done and the loyalty he’s shown to the club, the motivation he gives to the players, everything about the guy is fantastic. Onwards and upwards for him and his team."