"The Clarets are going up!" - Part Two - Premier League sticker books, fantasy teams and pie and peas

Tuesday was a day for confirming reality.

The morning was spent reading as much media as possible, re-watching the action and comparing experiences with friends, all to make sure that what I thought had happened had actually occurred.

Even then it was still hard to come to terms with, I was sure someone was about to slap me round the chops and tell me it was all a dream.

Many questions were posed;

Who will we play opening day? When will we get the games against the big four? When can we beat the bastards? Who will I pick in my fantasy team? Can I complete Burnley in the Premier League sticker book? Am I still actually alive?

Then thoughts turned to the coverage we'll now be receiving next season.

Gone will be the days of ten second clips of goals on Match of the Day on FA Cup third round day. Now we can look forward to Gary Linkers badly attempted “Claret” puns, Mark Lawrenson’s camp post match analysis and Alan Hanson dissecting any “diabolical” defending through those lovely, whisky glazed Scottish eyes of his.

Then I thought about Sky; The Super Sunday’s, Monday Night Football, extended highlights on Football First, the superlatives that may come from Jamie Redknapp’s handsome gob and Andy Gray demanding a Claret and Blue goal scorer to “ take a bow”.

God I wish the season could start tomorrow. The again, even if it did it’d still be too long to wait.

After allowing my imagination to occupy most of the day, the time came to reward the players.

The home coming parade was something to behold. It saw crowds normally reserved for the Pope at the Vatican surround the route from Turf Moor to the Town Hall.

For miles all you could see was Claret and Blue, the town's population had come out to get a glimpse of their heroes. Some had pitched their spot hours before in order to get the best view of the Town Hall balcony. After a long wait, there was an eruption of noise as the team came into view, it was mayhem.

It was great to see the buzz football can create, the town really had come back to life. This club, this manager and this group of players had all managed to unite age, gender and ethnicity to forge a new community spirit under a Claret and Blue banner.

We had come a long way. The journey back to the promised land was a long, hard, thirty three year treck up and down the Football Leagues.

In 1987 things had got so bad we were a game against Orient away from losing our Football League status.

Not many who stood on the terraces that day could have ever imagined that twenty two years and four promotions later we would be leaving the Football League’s jurisdiction out of the front door and entering what was still then an unformed Premier League.

Somehow we'd managed it, we were back at English Football's top table and ready to munch on a giant slice of Premier League pie and peas.