Mark's Blog

• Excited and a little bit nervous about Wembley tomorrow. Up the Clarets! #
• It’s the Boyle! http://tinyurl.com/qfc7fp #
• #BurnleyFC I’ve got a good feeling about today. Nerves are still there though. Blog post done, get packed and off we go to Wembley! #
• Offically signing out for the Wembley trip. Up the Clarets! #
• #BurnleyFC We love you Burnley, we do, we love you Burnley, we do, we love you Burnley, we do, oh Burnley we love you! #
• #BurnleyFC It’s official: Coyle is staying as manager despite what they may say north of the border ( http://tinyurl.com/qmfq2p) #
• Generating some excellent blog posts for you all to read over the coming weeks #
• Test status update from mobile phone. How exciting #
• Setting up Dad’s new laptop; these Dell Inspirons are good value for money #

One for those of you in the UK that watch The Apprentice here in terms of Siralun being rather misrepresented. Quite funny though .

If you are reading this in an feed aggregator and can’t see the above video click here. Enjoy and full props to Cassetteboy who deserves a shout out for some excellent work with this.

Brian "Beast" Jensen showing how 36,000 Burnley fans felt when the full-time whistle arrived at Wembley

It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new life, and I’m feeling good…

Well, it’s the day after the extraordinary afternoon which saw Burnley, a small mill town in Lancashire with only 70,000 residents, win the play-off final at Wembley to take us to the Premier League.

Feel free to re-read that statement, I can’t quite believe it either.

It’s one of those days that each and every one of the 36,000 clarets who attended Wembley will cherish and remember for the rest of their days. Some may say the Orient game back in ‘87 (Burnley had to win in order to survive in the 4th division. Had they have lost it would have meant playing non-league football and quite possibly the end of the club) was more important than yesterday but make no mistake that the 90 minutes played on the 25th May 2009 gave the club the biggest financial reward (around £60M) that we’ve ever had in our long and illustrious history dating back from 1882.

Burnley celebrate a fantastic victory over Sheffield United at Wembley

The feeling and emotion at the end of the game is indescribable, and you would only ever appreciate what it was like if you were actually there (simply look at the image to the left to see what I mean). I have huge sympathy for those who were unable to get tickets, especially as there were sections of Wembley completely empty around the “Club Wembley” section where the corporate “prawn sandwich brigade” like to locate themselves. Hopefully everybody who wanted to watch the game found a position where they were able to see the fantastic scenes, even if they were unable to be a part of them.

The entire town will be on a high for the considerable future. Proof of this lies with this evening, and the parade of the team through the streets for a civic reception at the town hall. Brilliant scenes, I only wish that I could have joined the crowds to celebrate the team’s homecoming.

So, some 33 years after being relegated from the top flight we are back where we belong. History has been made, and a new chapter in the Burnley Football Club book has been created. Premier League here we come .

We are Burnley. Super Burnley. We are Burnley. From the North.

Today will hopefully be a good day in the life and times of Burnley Football Club, and I’ll be there to experience it at Wembley. In the meantime, we must thank an individual who has joined our football club and taken us to the edge of the Premier League with a tiny budget and the smallest squad in either the Premier League or the Championship. Owen Coyle, a true legend in every sense of the word who will have firmly cemented his place in the history books should success ensue today.

Whatever happens today, we’ve done amazing things this season and I’m utterly proud to call myself a Claret. Come on Burnley, after 33 years of wandering lets dig out one more game to take us back where we belong; the top flight of English football.

Que sera sera, whatever will be will be, we’re going to Wembley, que sera sera

While Burnley are certainly on their way to the grand old (considerably less old since they decided to pull it down and start again ) national stadium it is always a little concerning as a supporter to know if you are going to get tickets to the big games such as Wembley. I’m pleased to report that I managed to get tickets this morning after they were released to the general public .

I’m also well aware of the ongoing saga with TicketZone and their handling of the sudden flow of Burnley supporters wanting tickets this morning and not coping with demand; I do hope that those genuine supporters who want tickets are able to get them rather than the touts gaining the upper hand and snapping up a large allocation to sell for a ridiculous profit on their part. Clearly demand is high, if the sums are correct then some 14,000 tickets that were available on general allocation from this morning at 9am have already sold (the website was completely off-line and more pure luck than judgement at getting a space in the queue on the phones when I claimed mine at 10:30am)

If you do happen to support the Clarets and have managed to get tickets, I’ll see you there .

Image shamelessly “borrowed” from the Burnley FC site under a fair use mantra