Sometimes the good guys finish last - we are all used to that, but sometimes, just sometimes the good guys get to finish...at Wembley.
I didn't intend to write this blog about football but I did promise myself I would write it whenever I felt inspired and frankly there are certain nights when those eleven men in claret and blue make me feel like anything is possible. Tonight is one of those nights.
After having victory snatched from us in the semi final of the Carling Cup and being defeated in the FA Cup we could have easily thought that our chances at Wembley had come and gone but we didn't. Beating Reading by 3 goals over 2 games means Burnley will now face Sheffield at the mighty Wembley for a promotion place to the premier league.
In less than two weeks our 61st game of the season will come to define our season for the rest of time.
We want it. We deserve it, but will it go our way on Bank Holiday Monday? Who knows...
What I have learned since I started this blog is that it's not the outcome that's important, it's the journey.
That may sound bizarre from a football fan who's team is only 90 minutes away from promotion but it's true.
Like the Burnley players I have put so much pressure on myself to do this, achieve that, be there by then and have this to show for it. Unlike the Burnley players I am still waiting for my day out at Wembley, but, like the Burnley players, I now believe I deserve it.
I have worked hard, sometimes to the point of exhaustion. I have faced my fears and weaknesses and stared them down. Most importantly of all, I have dared to dream. If I achieve any success now there is no doubt in my mind of the price I have paid for it. Sometimes you aim for the prize and you decide that it's worth giving everything you have to get it. At that point you realise that getting it is not important, the giving everything to it is.
The price of success is knowing that the struggle was the success.
Owen Coyle, the majestic, much loved manager of Burnley said on Sky TV of the Burnley players that "each and every one of them gives me everything they can on a daily basis" - how many people can honestly say that?
If you can say that then I shall raise my glass to you, you may have to wait awhile though because the next time I will be raising a glass will be 13 days from now, amongst 30 thousand other Burnley fans, on the inside of Wembley stadium.
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