Monday night, May 25th, 2009, at Wembley Stadium, London, was every bit as extraordinary, extravagantly and emotionally blissful, for now I can truly say "I was there" at both of these historic, halcyon and hauntingly happy occasions.

But enough adjectives and let's look at the highlights of a season that exceeded all expectation.

For myself (first match, September 1950) and grandson Nathan (first match, December 1999), it has been a season of great matches, although an inauspicious start saw Burnley, four games played, bottom of the table, goals for - 1, goals against - 7!

However, the next match foretold one of the real success stories of the season - veteran of the team, Graham Alexander, scored a brace of goals against Nottingham Forest to give the Clarets their first win and Graham scored with his mighty right foot, the first of his 10 goals during the season in the Championship.

Now Owen's men are playing football of great skill and with a sterling win against Fulham in the Carling Cup, scorer being super-sub Jay Rodriguez, the whole team are revitalised. Matches come thick and fast now, Preston North End beaten 3-1, with Clarke Carlisle taking a magnificent Man of the Match award. Then Robbie Blake's super goals against Coventry and Reading sees the unveiling of his now famous "Bad Beat Bob" underpants! Now a wonderful night at Stamford Bridge where our team beat Chelsea due to an Ade Akinbiyi goal of great merit followed by a penalty shoot-out which saw "Beast" Brian Jenson make two stunning saves.

It's Arsenal outplayed next in the Carling Cup with two well-taken goals by Kevin McDonald on a Turf Moor night of delight, followed by a big win away over Sheffield United and goals from Martin Paterson (slotting in on the near post) Graham Alexander (coolly taken penalty) and Chris Eagles (a curling 25 yarder) to make their first win at Bramhall Lane in 35 years.

Fourth in the table, now it's the Carling Cup time again and having knocked out Bury, Oldham, Fulham, Chelsea and Arsenal, it's games against another London side, Tottenham Hotspur, in the semi-finals.
After 6,100 true Clarets travelled to Chelsea, now 4,200 make the journey to White Hart Lane and although this first leg finishes 4-1 to Spurs, the second leg at Turf Moor in front of the biggest gate of the season, 19,533, saw a glorious fight-back with Burnley winning with just two minutes to go when a last-gasp Tottenham goal took away our dream of a Carling Cup Wembley final. It was just like a kick in the stomach – so near to glory – but little did we know on that cold and heart-breaking January night, come May and in the sun, we would be at Wembley playing for a far greater prize.

Now in the Championship, important wins versus Wolves (a Chris McCann special), and Rhys Williams majestic, Crystal Palace by 4-2 and Nottingham Forest 5-0, both seeing superb goals by Clarke Carlisle and Jay Rodriguez.

Then Sunday, May 3rd, and the final day of the season at Turf Moor, we win 4-0 over Bristol City (a super-sub goal by Joey Gudjonsson and vital goals also by Graham Alexander (2) and Wade Elliott) to ensure fifth place and we are in the play-offs for the greatest prize in football.

First leg of Turf Moor, Burnley 1, Reading 0, another powerful penalty from Graham Alexander, second leg at the Madejski Stadium, Reading 0, Burnley 2 and 2,100 travelling Claret fans saw Martin Paterson's 32-yard curling, wonder goal and Steven Thompson's stunning volley seal a date at Wembley against Sheffield United.

Nathan and I set off from Colne at 5-30 a.m. on a beautiful early morning, Monday, May 25th, and our coach arrives at a sunny Wembley stadium at 10-40 a.m. We stroll around the vast edifice, taking in the dynamic Wembley Arch and the regal Bobby Moore statue and then into the ground at 1 p.m. to get ready with the other 37,000 BFC supporters for the 3 p.m. game-of-a-lifetime kick-off.

The atmosphere is electric and in the 13th minute, hero of the day, Wade Elliott, curls in a £60 million immortal goal that brought about a crescendo of noise that went on forever.

As the final whistle blows, our Burnley side of the ground erupts and looking down we see Chris Kalvenes and Michael Duff go slightly berserk as captain Steven Caldwell hugs our wizard in white, wonder manager Owen Coyle.

Nathan's pal, Ben Kenyon, leaps around dressed as Captain America (aka Captain Coyle!) and we see our good friend, Brian Speak, a Claret for over 70 years, who is overjoyed.

Back on the coach, true Claret Shaun Borman greets us with a hug and after a 2½-hour delay from the Wembley car park, we speed along in the night with our five Barnoldswick companions, as further down the coach, "Mr Kelbrook" Lee Simpson regales the story of the game punctuated by his falsetto laugh.

Nathan and myself land back home in Colne at 1-30 a.m. It has been a day we'll both never forget as long as we live.