Being a true football supporter means in life you follow them through thick and thin.  In England we tend to make the choice of allegiance when very young, and then it stays forever.  I made my choice when I was 8 years old … that’s quite a while ago now.

If I’d have been a glory hunter I may have gone for a ‘big’ club and one that is always in the headlines, but I grew up in the north of England, and if you do that you choose a local team.  My family were historically Blackburn Rovers fans, and still are, but I was different, and therefore I became the black sheep of the family and chose Burnley.  It has been a relationship I have cherished over several decades.  My life up’s and down’s are indelibly linked to the trials and tribulations going on at Turf Moor. When I say I live and breathe Burnley Football Club I truly mean it.

These days I live over 4000 miles from Turf Moor, the home of Burnley Football Club, but not a single days goes by without me checking in on how they are doing.  Indeed, I check in on them more than I do my own family, but the reality is Burnley FC are my family.  Something good happens to them and I enjoy it, something bad and I hurt.  What can be more family than that.

A home spun football club built on simple means, and only fleeting opportunities to raise it’s head above the mediocre, that is just the way of things of a football club from a small northern town.  The history books will tell you that Burnley was a founder member of English football, and a Champion of the nation in the 1960s, but the economies of football have moved on, and this small Lancashire town to very much an also ran in recent decades.

They were able to make a fleeting foray into the upper echelons of the English Premier League in 2009, but they came right back down to earth with a bump with immediate relegation.  Expectations faded, money faded, hopes faded and the town resigned itself to slowly sinking into the Nowheresville of English football.

And then a new story began to unfold; one of magical proportions that was steeped in fantasy and emotion, of hard to believe stone cold facts. Sean Dyche, manager of Burnley Football Club, has built a framework of a relentless work ethic and ethos that other teams can only admire with envy. The team grew and prospered over the 2013/2014 season.  The club grew hash tags on twitter of Got to be There and Believe, such was the incredulity of what was happening before the very eyes of those who were witnessing something magical.

Yet still supporters held their breath.  Being a Burnley supporter is undeniably steeped in false dawns, broken hearts and failed dreams.  Burnley falling by the way side for promotion in the glorious battle of the 2013/2014 season seemed on the cards, almost inevitable given the sparse depth to the squad of players the Clarets are able to call their own.

Our Town. Our Turf. Our Time.  This has become the moto to encapsulate a community, and make no mistake about it, Burnley Football Club is the heart and soul of Burnley as a town.  You will not find a place in England where the fortunes of a town is more inextricably linked to the fortunes of their football club.

There has passed 1143 days since Burnley departed the Premier League, but now with great joy I am so pleased to say BURNLEY ARE BACK in the Premier League after a 2-0 win today at Turf Moor!  It’s hard to put into words how happy I am.