IT'S the life of a football club, especially one making such giant strides as Burnley under Sean Dyche. Players arrive, others sign and overtake them, players go.

It's a story as old as the game itself and the imminent departures from Turf Moor of Dean Marney and Scott Arfield fit the narrative.

But that shouldn't, and won't, allow the end of their Clarets careers to pass without recognition and without thanks.

All that Burnley have achieved in recent years, all that Dyche has built, can be traced back to that 2013/14 promotion season. On Thursday, Dyche once again labelled it his 'favourite' season in charge of the club.

It was the type of against-all-odds, momentum-driven success that tends to leave lasting bonds between those who experienced it. You can picture that team in 30 years time sat in one of the players' locals, telling the same old stories over a pint, sharing the same old laughs.

Ten players in that campaign started 38 or more of the 46 Championship games, including Arfield and Marney, but when they depart this summer only three of the 10 will remain. Tom Heaton and Sam Vokes appear to have dropped down the pecking order, while Ben Mee's future beyond the summer remains uncertain as talks over a deal that currently ends in 2019 continue.

It certainly feels like the end of an era, and while a new, even more golden era, could be about to begin, the likes of Arfield and Marney more than proved their worth as the club progressed.

It was one of the great tricks of that first promotion-winning squad. A team written off in the summer of 2013 proved not only capable of earning a spot in the Premier League, but most of them showed they could play at that level too.

Burnley beat off competition from League Two side Southend and League One outfit MK Dons to sign Arfield, but he went on to make 86 Premier League appearances, while Marney had dropped out of the top flight having been on the fringes of Hull City to join the Clarets, before rising back to the top again.

Burnley's progress under Dyche led to more expensive recruits arriving, but every time Arfield or Marney were written off they would respond. They wouldn't be dislodged either and that says plenty for the characters of them.

Both will be lauded for Turf Moor careers that produced a combined total of more than 400 appearances. Marney is in his eighth season at the club and the 34-year-old has become a cult hero to the Clarets faithful, having twice battled back from serious knee injuries.

It has felt at times as though Arfield has never quite been held in the same esteem as Marney, although I've never understood why. He was often cast as the type of hard-working, diligent player that the club were ready to move on from.

But he was hugely valued by Dyche and even this season has made 18 Premier League appearances, scoring crucial goals against Watford and Liverpool.

However, it's a goal in the Championship that will leave lasting memories of the 29-year-old, his name forever etched into Turf Moor folklore.

When he drilled home a winner at Ewood Park in October 2015 and then sprinted the length of the pitch to celebrate with the visiting fans he made sure he'd never need to pay for a drink in Burnley again.

This weekend the Clarets could secure their place in Europe next season.

A new era dawns, but glasses will be charged to two of the old guard as well. Without their likes the club could be in a very different position.