FORMER Claret Peter Leebrook has hailed Burnley's 'culture club' as a key reason behind their success in recent years.

Leebrook was part of the Burnley side that wrote their names into Turf Moor folklore with a 2-1 win over Orient on the final day of the 1986/87 season to preserve the Clarets' Football League status.

The 48-year-old is now director of coaching at SC del Sol, a youth club with over 50 teams in the United States, but he was back at Turf Moor in May for a celebration dinner on the 30th anniversary of the Orient game.

It's been an incredible three decades for the Clarets, who marked the anniversary of their Football League survival by staying in the top flight for the first time since 1975.

And Leebrook is delighted to see that Burnley have achieved that success in the right way, and he credits current boss Sean Dyche with setting the culture that is standing the Clarets in good stead.

"It’s great to see them there but it’s great to see that they’ve done it the right way. Slowly and properly, they’re not in debt," the former Burnley full-back said.

"Sean Dyche has got the players to buy into the culture which is huge, we’re big on that (at SC del Sol). I read a lot of Sean Dyche’s stuff and a lot of it is about the culture and playing for the shirt and the club.

"It’s going into the schools and the hospitals, they’re not just putting on a shirt and collecting their wages, they’re playing for something more.

"That’s what he has done a brilliant job at for me, obviously selecting the team and the tactics are part of it but I think the biggest part is that culture."

Having achieved top flight survival for the first time in over four decades the next challenge awaiting the Clarets is to establish themselves in the Premier League.

This summer could be crucial in achieving that, with speculation over the future of some key players, including Michael Keane and Andre Gray, while Dyche has also been linked with the vacant Crystal Palace job.

Leebrook cited the examples of Stoke and West Brom as clubs who have made the jump from the Championship to become regular forces in the Premier League, but he is confident even if the worst was to happen the Clarets are on a sound enough footing to come straight back.

"The thing I love with Burnley is that even if they do go down it will be fine, there will no problem. Nobody will be calling for any heads," he said.

"At a lot of other clubs it is all money driven and results driven, but I think Burnley have got a bit more about them than that.

"Now they’ve stayed up once hopefully they can build on that and use that experience, do what Stoke and West Brom have done and keep that going."