Burnley became the second team of the 2023/24 Premier League season to be relegated as they will join Sheffield United in the EFL Championship, but an NFL legend was in the audience. Are NFL stars a bad omen for English soccer clubs?
Goals from Pedro Porro and Micky van de Ven condemned Burnley back to the league they won a year ago, after Jacob Bruun Larsen had given the clarets an early lead and early lifeline.
That means that the Lancashire-based club, managed by Vincent Kompany, can’t mathematically catch Nottingham Forest in 17th despite having an extra game to go in the season against Forest.
Watt, who was a defensive end for the Houston Texans and Arizona Cardinals, is a three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year was watching the game and live-tweeting as he saw the action unfold before his eyes.
“COME ON BURNLEY!!!,” Watt posted onto X.com, formerly Twitter, watching the club he owns. But it didn’t go as he hoped, and the team realized their fate at the full-time whistle. Watt, however, called for the players to feel the moment.
“No need to hide disappointment or frustration, it should hurt,” Watt added on the Elon Musk-owned platform. “Boys made a valiant run of it the last few months, just wasn’t enough in the end.
“Now we go again in The Championship. Looking to relive these brilliant memories from one year ago. We go together. Up The Clarets!”
Watt gives Brady deja vu
Watt isn’t the only NFL legend to see his team fall victims to the drop as Tom Brady watched his Birmingham City side suffer relegation to the third tier, EFL League One.
Birmingham had pulled off an impressive win to defeat the high-flying Norwich City. Despite doing all they could, they will still go down as other results didn’t go their way.
Blackburn Rovers beat the title-winning Leicester City, whilst Plymouth Argyle also beat Hull City meaning that it was impossible for the seven-time NFL champion’s team to stay up.
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