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Monday 25th May 2009 will be a day forever etched in Burnley folklore, our memories, our history and our blood. After so many years, we were finally promoted to the big time, where we knew our destiny would see us fight a fierce battle with our rivals Blackburn Rovers, and when we would see our manager depart for pastures new.The battle is over however, and it's one we sadly lost. We finished the season 5 points from safety and thus were relegated with Hull City and Portsmouth.
I remember travelling down to the Britannia Stadium for the first game of the season, feeling rather nervous, anxious, scared yet also excited. I never in my wildest dreams expected to be able to see my club, my Burnley, in the Premier League by the time I was 20 years old. The lump in the back of my throat seeing the team coming out for a Premier League fixture for the first time just shows how much pride I held in my team. We moved on and beat the champions Manchester United (it'll be a goal I for one will never forget), we tore the likes of Hull City and Spurs to pieces, we scored some beautiful goals, and at times even played some sensational football such as the 3-3 draw at Eastlands.
We may have been relegated, and we may have lost one of our most prized assets in Steven Fletcher due to Wolves bidding stupid money, but we can move on and, in my opinion we're in our strongest position ever, at least financially. No longer do we have a requirement to have to sell players as we did with Andy Gray and Kyle Lafferty just to balance the books. We can buy strong, quality players and push for a title challenge. Yes; I did say a title challenge.
We gave the big shot a damn good try, and sadly we came back down. But let's get behind the team and show them what they mean to us as a club. We can once again look forward to derbies against the likes of Preston and Leeds. We can look forward to snatching 3 points from the hands of the other clubs. Let's rally and march on together, push on for another promotion campaign and show the Premier League what they're missing.
Never say die is the attitude we show. We, Burnley Football Club, will be remembered as the club that dared to dream.