David Jones - ‘It’s still sinking in’

Midfielder David Jones was still coming to terms with what had just happened after Burnley guaranteed a place in the Premier League.
We are going up: Dave Jones celebrates with his team-matesWe are going up: Dave Jones celebrates with his team-mates
We are going up: Dave Jones celebrates with his team-mates

Jones went up with Wolves as champions five years ago, as the Clarets followed via the play-offs.

But he felt this was a bigger achievement: “It’s got to be up there as the best moment.

“It’s just sinking in really.

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“With the pitch invasion at the end, you see all the fans and how much it means to them. You’re on a high moment. You go back in the changing room, have a bite to eat, have a shower, you hit a bit of a low and just want to reflect, go home and have a chat to your family about it and savour it.”

Asked when he felt promotion was a possibility, he smiled: “Probably the 93rd minute!

“We didn’t want to get carried away at all.

“Obviously all season we’ve known we’ve performed against some good teams and on our day we have been too much for a lot of teams.

“We knew that if we could replicate that for the remainder of the season we’d have a good chance, but you never can guarantee that with injuries and things.

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“We’re just delighted to be able to consistently perform this season.

“It (promotion) has been looming for a couple of weeks and we just wanted to get over the line, and it was a great performance on Monday to get the result.”

Burnley beat Wigan 2-0 at Turf Moor to seal promotion, and for Jones it was a strange sensation to win promotion against a club that had released him last summer, after relegation from the Premier League: “When you play against an old club there are different types of emotions going on, especially with the significance for our club.

“It felt we all just had a focus about us on the day and I had a feel of one of those games earlier in the season when we had really high energy games against QPR and Reading - those type of performances where we sort of blew them away first half.

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“The manager’s set us up in a way and we have been fairly consistent with the team. When you perform well and are able to carry out the demands the manager and the staff put on us then we’re very difficult to deal with. We’ve done that more often than not this season.”

The former Manchester United midfielder admitted the move to Burnley had exceeded his wildest dreams, but that the squad deserved their success for their consistency of performance: “You always hope but it’s a very difficult league to get promoted from and it’s just constant, week after week.

“You’ve got to be up for every game and that’s what we’ve done, and set the moment we’re on 89 points, which is a great tally with two games to go.

“It’s great credit to everyone associated with the club.”