IAN Britton believes Burnley may have survived in the Premier League had Owen Coyle stayed until the end of the season.

Coyle opted to leave Turf Moor for Bolton Wanderers in January, when the Clarets were 14th with 20 points from 20 games - although their form had tailed off notably and they always faced a task to survive because of their lack of financial clout.

Burnley have since collected only seven more points under Brian Laws’ guidance and they were relegated on Sunday when they lost 4-0 at home to Liverpool - a result that also confirmed Bolton’s survival.

“I think Owen leaving did put a big dent in things,” said Britton, who scored the goal that famously kept Burnley in the Fourth Division with victory over Leyton Orient in 1987.

“No matter how badly we had played on occasions before, we always had hope because we could say the players were always putting in 100 per cent.

“I think a lot of the players did lose confidence when Owen left.

“I think we might have got a few points from games elsewhere had he still been here, but it's not worked out that way.

“Maybe he could have kept us up.

“I suppose it's qute possible we could have stayed up.”

Britton was relegated from the top flight with Chelsea and has sympathy for the current group of players.

“I went down with Chelsea in 1974/75 and came back in 1977,” said the Scot.

“Relegation was really disappointing for us.

“The players will want to get some pride back against Birmingham and Tottenham now.

“Deep down I did think relegation was inevitable, although you don't like to say it because you could get one win and it changes everything.

“But I think after the games last weekend, when we lost at Sunderland, I knew that was it.

“And I think Chris McCann has been a big loss this season with his injury.”

Britton, still a regular at Turf Moor, has also been keen to pay tribute to the Burnley fans.

He said: “I thought the fans were magnificent on Sunday, they kept going from start to finish.

“They were great and they have been all season.

“Hopefully everyone will stay behind them for next season and we can do it again and get back into the Premier League.

“It's the board’s choice now whether they stick with Brian Laws or whether they make a change.

“Obviously the manager will need to decide on players’ contracts and get that sorted out.

“The board will have to sit down and decide what they want.

“And it’s a shame to hear Robbie Blake wants to leave because he obviously scored a great goal against Manchester United at the start of the season.

“He’s a quality player.”