A SEASON of if onlys and what ifs. If only Matty Taylor had scored the penalty and beaten Leicester 1-0. What if Danny Ings had stayed fit all season? What if Sean Dyche had signed a proven goalscorer in January?

For Burnley, the 2014-15 Premier League season was one that will be looked back on with a bit of regret. At no point in the season did Dyche’s men get battered by the big teams or do themselves an injustice for 90 minutes. Yet they find themselves relegated, finishing bottom of the Premier League.

Were they the worst team in the league? Not a by a long shot. Queens Park Rangers and Newcastle were, arguably. Yet only one of those teams will join Burnley in the Championship next season.

It was a difficult start to the season. Chelsea, Swansea and Manchester United were the opening fixtures handed to Burnley on their first season in the Premier League since 2009. Yet they took the lead against the eventual champions and held United to a 0-0 draw, negating Angel di Maria on his debut and even hit the bar through Danny Jones.

But a large number of 0-0 draws and the inability to find the back of the net throughout the season ultimately cost the Clarets.

42 goals in a season is not enough to stay in the league and when you concede 73 — a total shock to me when looking at the league table as Burnley often lost games by a goal or two — you tend to find yourselves near the bottom half of the table.

Around Christmas, a 1-0 victory over Southampton and a 2-2 draw with reigning champions Manchester City showed signs that they could compete against the better teams in the league.

But it was failure to defeat those around them, 2-0 away to QPR and a 1-1 draw with Newcastle, which made it difficult to stay clear of a relegation fight.

Dyche will be proud of his team. No-one really expected them to stay up after promotion but many hoped they would.

And towards the end of the season, it looked likely.

Newcastle and Sunderland were being dragged down and a 1-1 draw with Chelsea was followed up by a 1-0 victory over City a few weeks later.

But the turning point was that game against Leicester. Taylor’s penalty struck the post and 59 seconds later, Jamie Vardy had the ball in the back of the net for the Foxes.

Leicester were out of the relegation zone while Burnley were at the bottom, five points behind them.

A 1-0 victory over Hull wasn’t enough to keep them up as Sunderland, Leicester and Aston Villa all won on the same day.

Had the club not used the summer and January transfer window to bring in a few squad players we could be looking at another season of Premier League football at Turf Moor.

The board were adamant that they would not break the bank to sign players and risk the financial future of the club.

It is an approach that has worked for some teams, like Swansea and Leicester, but usually it ends in heartbreak.

Sometimes, spending £5-10 million on a proven Premier League goalscorer is justified when you are celebrating another year of top-flight football.

Will they come straight back up? It is unlikely.

Danny Ings joined Liverpool yesterday and with Tom Heaton in the latest England squad and teams eyeing up Kieran Trippier, it will be hard to envisage Dyche keeping hold of his best players and having enough to bounce back at the first time of asking.