2015–16 Burnley F.C. season

The 2015–16 season was Burnley's first season back in the Football League Championship following their relegation from the Premier League the previous season. This season marked their 134th year in existence.^[1] Along with the Championship, the club also competed in the FA Cup and Football League Cup. The season covers the period from 1 July 2015 to 30 June 2016. On 2 May 2016, Burnley won promotion back to the Premier League, following a victory over Queens Park Rangers.

Burnley

2015–16 season
Chairman	Mike Garlick
Manager	Sean Dyche
Stadium	Turf Moor
Championship	1st (promoted)
FA Cup	Fourth round
League Cup	First round
Top goalscorer	League: Andre Gray (23) All: Andre Gray (23)
Highest home attendance	20,478 (v Blackburn Rovers, Championship, 5 March 2016)
Lowest home attendance	14,928 (v Brentford, Championship, 22 August 2015)
Average home league attendance	16,823
Home colours Away colours
← 2014–15 2016–17 →

Match details

Football League Championship

Main article: 2015–16 Football League Championship

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Burnley (C, P)	46	26	15	5	72	35	+37	93	Promotion to the Premier League
2	Middlesbrough (P)	46	26	11	9	63	31	+32	89
3	Brighton & Hove Albion	46	24	17	5	72	42	+30	89	Qualification for the Championship play-offs[a]
4	Hull City (O, P)	46	24	11	11	69	35	+34	83
5	Derby County	46	21	15	10	66	43	+23	78

Source: BBC Sport
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted
Notes:

1. Four teams play for one spot and promotion to the Premier League.

Matches

Football League Championship match details

Date	League position	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Scorers	Attendance	Ref
8 August 2015	10th	Leeds United	A	D	1–1	Vokes 86'	27,672	[2]
15 August 2015	13th	Birmingham City	H	D	2–2	Keane 51', Taylor 81'	15,061	[3]
18 August 2015	17th	Ipswich Town	A	L	0–2		18,353	[4]
22 August 2015	13th	Brentford	H	W	1–0	Keane 26'	14,928	[5]
29 August 2015	9th	Bristol City	A	W	2–1	Mee 34', Keane 40'	15,002	[6]
12 September 2015	5th	Sheffield Wednesday	H	W	3–1	Jones 7', Taylor 78', Gray 90'	17,277	[7]
15 September 2015	3rd	Milton Keynes Dons	H	W	2–1	Vokes 32', Boyd 49'	15,845	[8]
21 September 2015	3rd	Derby County	A	D	0–0		26,834	[9]
26 September 2015	6th	Reading	H	L	1–2	Darikwa 67'	15,226	[10]
2 October 2015	3rd	Rotherham United	A	W	2–1	Gray 9, Vokes 81'	9,752	[11]
17 October 2015	5th	Bolton Wanderers	H	W	2–0	Gray (2) 56', 68'	17,632	[12]
20 October 2015	5th	Nottingham Forest	A	D	1–1	Taylor 90'	17,721	[13]
24 October 2015	3rd	Blackburn Rovers	A	W	1–0	Arfield 63'	19,897	[14]
31 October 2015	3rd	Huddersfield Town	H	W	2–1	Gray (2) 12' pen., 43'	16,749	[15]
3 November 2015	2nd	Fulham	H	W	3–1	Gray (2) 18', 37', Taylor 90+1'	15,080	[16]
7 November 2015	3rd	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	D	0–0		20,684	[17]
22 November 2015	5th	Brighton & Hove Albion	H	D	1–1	Gray 4' pen.	15,622	[18]
28 November 2015	5th	Cardiff City	A	D	2–2	Hennings 85', Connolly 90+3' o.g.	15,133	[19]
5 December 2015	5th	Preston North End	H	L	0–2		18,614	[20]
12 December 2015	5th	Queens Park Rangers	A	D	0–0		16,576	[21]
15 December 2015	5th	Middlesbrough	A	L	0–1		19,966	[22]
19 December 2015	5th	Charlton Athletic	H	W	4–0	Arfield (2) 44', 53', Gray 55', Vokes 78'	15,697	[23]
26 December 2015	5th	Hull City	A	L	0–3		21,842	[24]
28 December 2015	5th	Bristol City	H	W	4–0	Gray (3) 37', 45+2', 78', Arfield 71'	17,234	[25]
2 January 2016	5th	Ipswich Town	H	D	0–0		16,307	[26]
12 January 2016	4th	Milton Keynes Dons	A	W	5–0	Barton 14', Vokes 46', Gray 64', Lowton 71', Boyd 82'	10,011	[27]
15 January 2016	4th	Brentford	A	W	3–1	Arfield 12', Barton 30', Boyd 39'	10,039	[28]
25 January 2016	3rd	Derby County	H	W	4–1	Keogh 29' o.g., Gray 54' pen., Vokes 58' pen., Arfield 66'	15,214	[29]
2 February 2016	3rd	Sheffield Wednesday	A	D	1–1	Gray 3'	19,762	[30]
6 February 2016	3rd	Hull City	H	W	1–0	Vokes 77'	17,667	[31]
13 February 2016	3rd	Reading	A	D	0–0		16,773	[32]
20 February 2016	2nd	Rotherham United	H	W	2–0	Vokes 27' pen., Arfield 86'	15,849	[33]
23 February 2016	2nd	Nottingham Forest	H	W	1–0	Vokes 68'	15,517	[34]
27 February 2016	1st	Bolton Wanderers	A	W	2–1	Gray (2) 74', 85'	17,484	[35]
5 March 2016	1st	Blackburn Rovers	H	W	1–0	Gray 16' pen.	20,478	[36]
8 March 2016	1st	Fulham	A	W	3–2	Vokes (2) 9', 49' pen., Gray 61'	15,281	[37]
12 March 2016	1st	Huddersfield Town	A	W	3–1	Ward 14', Vokes 30', Mee 45+2'	13,917	[38]
19 March 2016	1st	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	D	1–1	Vokes 68'	17,411	[39]
2 April 2016	1st	Brighton & Hove Albion	A	D	2–2	Gray 33', Keane 90+3'	29,683	[40]
5 April 2016	1st	Cardiff City	H	D	0–0		15,740	[41]
9 April 2016	1st	Leeds United	H	W	1–0	Arfield 1'	18,229	[42]
16 April 2016	2nd	Birmingham City	A	W	2–1	Boyd 31', Gray 77'	19,151	[43]
19 April 2016	2nd	Middlesbrough	H	D	1–1	Keane 90+2'	20,197	[44]
22 April 2016	1st	Preston North End	A	W	1–0	Barton 6'	17,789	[45]
2 May 2016	1st	Queens Park Rangers	H	W	1–0	Vokes 61'	19,362	[46]
7 May 2016	1st	Charlton Athletic	A	W	3–0	Vokes 20', Boyd 49', Gray 51'	16,199	[47]

FA Cup

Main article: 2015–16 FA Cup

FA Cup match details

Round	Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Scorers	Attendance	Ref
Third round	9 January 2016	Middlesbrough	A	W	2–1	Hennings 45+1', Ward 71'	18,286	[48]
Fourth round	30 January 2016	Arsenal	A	L	1–2	Vokes 30'	59,932	[49]

Football League Cup

Main article: 2015–16 Football League Cup

Football League Cup match details

Round	Date	Opponents	Venue	Result	Score F–A	Scorers	Attendance	Ref
First round	11 August 2015	Port Vale	A	L	0–1		4,634	[50]

Transfers

In

Date	Player	Club†	Fee	Ref
22 June 2015	Matthew Lowton	Aston Villa	Undisclosed	[51]
7 July 2015	Jelle Vossen	Genk	Undisclosed	[52]
28 July 2015	Chris Long	Everton	Undisclosed	[53]
29 July 2015	Dan Agyei	AFC Wimbledon	Undisclosed	[54]
30 July 2015	Tendayi Darikwa	Chesterfield	Undisclosed	[55]
6 August 2015	Luke Hendrie	(Derby County)	Free	[56]
7 August 2015	Renny Smith	(Arsenal)	Free	[57]
10 August 2015	Josh Ginnelly	Shrewsbury Town	Undisclosed	[58]
14 August 2015	Rouwen Hennings	Karlsruhe	Undisclosed	[59]
21 August 2015	Andre Gray	Brentford	Undisclosed	[60][61]
27 August 2015	Joey Barton	(Queens Park Rangers)	Free	[62]
24 September 2015	Arlen Birch	(Everton)	Free	[63]
22 January 2016	George Green	(Ossett Albion)	Free	[64]
26 January 2016	Paul Robinson	(Blackburn Rovers)	Free	[65]
1 February 2016	James Tarkowski	Brentford	Undisclosed	[66]
15 February 2016	Lloyd Dyer	(Watford)	Free	[67]
11 March 2016	Freddy Yao	(Stoke City)	Free	[68]
15 March 2016	Taofiq Olomowewe		Free	[69]

† Brackets around club names denote the player's contract with that club had expired before he joined Burnley.

Out

Date	Player	Club†	Fee	Ref
18 May 2015	Steven Reid		Retired	[70]
8 June 2015	Danny Ings	Liverpool	Tribunal	[71]
19 June 2015	Kieran Trippier	Tottenham Hotspur	Undisclosed	[72]
1 July 2015	Ross Wallace	(Sheffield Wednesday)	Released	[73]
1 July 2015	Cameron Howieson	(St Mirren)	Released	[74]
1 July 2015	Luke Daly		Released	[75]
1 July 2015	Kevin Ly		Released	[76]
1 July 2015	Evan Galvin	(Waterford United)	Released	[77]
23 July 2015	Jason Shackell	Derby County	Undisclosed	[78]
27 July 2015	Alex Cisak	Leyton Orient	Undisclosed	[79]
31 August 2015	Jelle Vossen	Club Brugge	Undisclosed	[80]
1 September 2015	Luke O'Neill	(Southend United)	Released	[81]
1 September 2015	Marvin Sordell	(Colchester United)	Released	[82]
16 December 2015	Steven Hewitt	(Chester)	Released	[83]
24 March 2016	Jamie Frost		Released	[84]
24 March 2016	Nathan Lowe	(FC United of Manchester)	Released	[84]

† Brackets around club names denote the player joined that club after his Burnley contract expired.

Loan out

Date	Player	Club	Return	Ref
23 July 2015	Luke Conlan	St Mirren	5 January 2016	[85]
11 August 2015	Conor Mitchell	Sheffield	8 September 2015	[86]
22 August 2015	Luke O'Neill	Southend United	1 September 2015	[87]
1 October 2015	Danijel Nizic	Crewe Alexandra	1 January 2016	[88][89]
2 October 2015	Cameron Dummigan	Oldham Athletic	End of season	[90][91][92][93][94]
2 October 2015	Daniel Lafferty	Oldham Athletic	2 November 2015	[90]
14 October 2015	Luke Hendrie	Hartlepool United	14 November 2015	[95]
19 November 2015	Kevin Long	Barnsley	19 February 2016	[96][97][98][99]
24 November 2015	Alex Whitmore	Chester	28 December 2015	[100]
2 January 2016	Alex Whitmore	Gateshead	End of season	[101]
7 January 2016	Daniel Lafferty	Oldham Athletic	5 March 2016	[93][102]
7 January 2016	Luke Hendrie	York City	End of season	[103][104]
7 January 2016	Conor Mitchell	Bradford Park Avenue	7 February 2016	[93]
8 January 2016	Josh Ginnelly	Altrincham	30 April 2016	[105][106][107]
8 January 2016	Jason Gilchrist	Chester	8 February 2016	[105]
12 January 2016	Ntumba Massanka	York City	11 March 2016	[108][109]
15 January 2016	Luke Conlan	Morecambe	End of season	[110][111]
1 February 2016	Tom Anderson	Chesterfield	End of season	[112]
16 February 2016	Conor Mitchell	Sheffield	16 March 2016	[113]
29 February 2016	Renny Smith	GAIS	End of season	[114]
24 March 2016	Brandon Wilson	Stockport County	End of season	[115]
24 March 2016	Kevin Long	Milton Keynes Dons	End of season	[116]

Appearances and goals

Source:^[117]

Numbers in parentheses denote appearances as substitute.

Players with names marked † left the club during the playing season.

Players with names in italics and marked * were on loan from another club for the whole of their season with Burnley.

Players listed with no appearances have been in the matchday squad but only as unused substitutes.

Key to positions: GK – Goalkeeper; DF – Defender; MF – Midfielder; FW – Forward

Players contracted for the 2015–16 season

No.	Pos.	Nat.	Name	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Total		Discipline
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	ENG	Tom Heaton (C)	46	0	2	0	0	0	48	0	0	0
2	DF	ENG	Matthew Lowton	25 (2)	1	0	0	0	0	25 (2)	1	4	0
3	DF	NIR	Daniel Lafferty	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	DF	NIR	Michael Duff	23 (1)	0	0	0	1	0	24 (1)	0	2	0
5	DF	ENG	Michael Keane	44	5	2	0	0	0	46	5	3	0
6	DF	ENG	Ben Mee	46	2	2	0	1	0	49	2	8	0
7	FW	ENG	Andre Gray	41	23	1	0	0	0	42	23	2	0
8	MF	ENG	Dean Marney	7 (5)	0	0	0	0	0	7 (5)	0	3	0
9	FW	WAL	Sam Vokes	39 (4)	15	2	1	1	0	42 (4)	16	1	0
10	FW	BEL	Jelle Vossen †	3 (1)	0	0	0	1	0	4 (1)	0	1	0
11	MF	ENG	Michael Kightly	12 (6)	0	1 (1)	0	1	0	14 (7)	0	2	0
13	MF	ENG	Joey Barton	37 (1)	3	0 (2)	0	0	0	37 (3)	3	10	0
14	MF	ENG	David Jones	39 (2)	1	2	0	0	0	41 (2)	1	2	0
15	MF	ENG	Matthew Taylor	1 (26)	4	0	0	1	0	2 (26)	4	1	0
16	DF	ENG	Luke O'Neill †	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
16	MF	ENG	Lloyd Dyer	0 (3)	0	0	0	0	0	0 (3)	0	0	0
17	FW	ENG	Marvin Sordell †	0 (3)	0	0	0	0 (1)	0	0 (4)	0	0	0
17	GK	ENG	Paul Robinson	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
18	FW	GER	Rouwen Hennings	3 (23)	1	1 (1)	1	0	0	4 (24)	2	0	0
19	FW	ENG	Lukas Jutkiewicz	3 (2)	0	0	0	0 (1)	0	3 (3)	0	0	0
20	MF	NOR	Fredrik Ulvestad	1 (4)	0	2	0	0	0	3 (4)	0	1	0
21	MF	SCO	George Boyd	42 (2)	5	2	0	1	0	45 (2)	5	2	0
22	GK	SCO	Matt Gilks	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0
23	DF	IRL	Stephen Ward	23 (1)	1	2	1	1	0	26 (1)	2	2	0
24	FW	ENG	Chris Long	1 (9)	0	0 (1)	0	0	0	1 (10)	0	1	0
26	DF	ENG	James Tarkowski	2 (2)	0	0	0	0	0	2 (2)	0	0	0
27	DF	ZIM	Tendayi Darikwa	21	1	2	0	1	0	24	1	2	0
28	DF	IRL	Kevin Long	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
29	DF	NIR	Luke Conlan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
30	FW	ENG	Ashley Barnes	1 (7)	0	0	0	0	0	1 (7)	0	1	0
32	FW	ENG	Dan Agyei	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
33	MF	ENG	Steven Hewitt †	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
34	DF	ENG	Tom Anderson	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
35	DF	ENG	Alex Whitmore	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
36	GK	NIR	Conor Mitchell	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
37	MF	CAN	Scott Arfield	46	8	1 (1)	0	1	0	48 (1)	8	6	0
38	DF	NIR	Cameron Dummigan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
39	FW	SCO	Jamie Frost †	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
40	GK	AUS	Danijel Nizic	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
41	MF	AUS	Aiden O'Neill	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
42	DF	ENG	Christian Hill	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
43	MF	ENG	Brad Jackson	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
44	FW	ENG	Jason Gilchrist	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
45	MF	ENG	Nathan Lowe †	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
46	FW	ENG	Ntumba Massanka	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
47	MF	AUS	Brandon Wilson	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

See also

• List of Burnley F.C. seasons