Jones seals FOURTH promotion to Premier League

The roar from Clarets fans at Turf Moor when Derby County secured a point at Brighton could be heard in the inner sanctum of the dressing room toilet.

It meant victory over QPR would seal automatic promotion.

Jones smiled: “It was a bit out of the blue with Brighton dropping points so it was possible. We’re just delighted to get it done.

“I got a sense of it when I was just in the toilet! I heard some fans cheer from the stand.

“We just focused on our job, which is what we wanted to do, and we managed to see it through."

Jones was an integral part of the promotion-winning team two years ago, having won the title with Wolves 2009 and the play-off final with Derby in 2007, and he feels this achievement tops 2014: "They don’t come round very often and to be at Burnley for three seasons and get a taste of it twice is something special.

"There’s a lot more expectation this time, and I think the standard gets better.

“If you just look at how many points the three teams that were fighting for the two places have got - we’ve got 90 with the others on 88 - they are really high tallies, really competitive.

"I know Middlesbrough and Brighton dropped points this weekend, but they haven’t really stuttered.

"They’ve been constant, relentless, kind of like us, and we’ve managed to see it through. There’s not much in it at all."

Burnley are 22 league games unbeaten, looking to make it a record 23 at Charlton on Saturday, and that sequence has been pivotal: “We went on a decent run after Christmas, in the new year, and we were in and around it.

"We thought we had a shout here if we can just keep it going. We fancied ourselves against anyone in the division.

“To be able to stay unbeaten for 22 games, that’s what it’s taken just to do it the game before the last game of the season.

“You’d think on a run like that you’d have done it a couple of weeks ago.

“It’s credit to everyone involved with the team and the staff, the whole club.

“It’s fantastic.

"There have been some late goals that we’ve scored this year, and from winning positions I don’t think we’ve lost many points, so that just shows and reflects our character.

“It’s been fantastic and I can’t speak highly enough of everyone."

The former Manchester United man lifted the Championship trophy seven years ago, and is eager to do it again: “It would be nice to finish the job off on Saturday.

“I’m sure we’ll celebrate and then just focus on the job ahead and the week ahead because it would be nice to go up as champions, of course.

“From doing it a couple of years ago, we thought that we had a good squad and with the signings we made, we lost a couple of players but we replaced them with quality so we knew that we could be competitive, as the manager said.

“It’s very difficult to get momentum. A lot can go wrong and it can not take a lot for you to not get up to those automatic positions.

"You could just be lingering trying to get a play-off place.

"There’s a lot of hard work, and it is that sort of mentality that the gaffer talks about, being relentless every week, every Saturday-Tuesday, not playing well and picking up points.

"I think that’s what we’ve done - especially this year when we haven’t been free flowing, we’ve managed to see out games and nick results."