Clarets chairman Barry Kilby faced up to the massive disappointment of missing out on the play-offs and insisted: "Getting this club to the Premier League was always going to be a marathon not a sprint.

"I have always repeated that I want out club to be regarded as one of the natural top 30 in the country and so any time we achieve that you have to be happy.

"But what is most disappointing is that looking back at the records, never before has 75 points failed to get a side into the play-offs, that is the most galling thing.

"Every year under Stan we have progressed and we have finished with more points than last year.

"We were closer to the play-offs last year and we could not have been any closer.

"I think everyone thought that the script was written for Gazza when he lined up those two free kicks but the keeper made two fantastic saves."

The pain of failure was as great for the lifelong Clarets fan as for anyone else at Turf Moor yesterday and even this morning there was a sense of numbed disbelief.

"We will lick our wounds but then we have to get on with the job," he said.

"For a club the size of Burnley and where we have been in our recent history, this was still a great season with a lot to be proud of.

"Yesterday's events have to be viewed in those terms and then we can get on with improving again next season."