Josh Cullen reflects on second Burnley promotion in three years and how this one compares

The 29-year-old has now enjoyed two promotions from the second tier in the space of just three years, having first arrived under Vincent Kompany in 2022.

He played a pivotal role in the Clarets’ 101-point title win and has once again been a regular starter under Scott Pariker this time round, as Burnley finished second on 100 points.

"It feels amazing,” he told the Burnley Express when asked about a second promotion in three years. “It doesn't feel like too long ago we were here a couple of years ago celebrating promotion.

"Days like this don't come around too often, so to do two of them in three years has been magnificent. It's been a great season and I think it's what everyone at the club deserves.”

Cullen added: “Obviously, we've enjoyed ourselves [since the final day win against Millwall.

"It's a long season. We go back to the start of July when we started pre-season and to get to May and be here now and achieve a promotion was our goal at the start.

“There's a lot of relief and a lot of steam to be burnt off as well because you're fully dialled into the season, fully dialled into being professional as you can to make sure that we achieve what we wanted to.

"We've enjoyed the last couple of days and we'll enjoy a few more and then we'll turn our attentions to next season.”

Comparing this promotion to the one under Kompany, Cullen said: “This one probably feels a little bit sweeter.

“Obviously last time we pretty much ran away with the league, so we knew it was coming for a while. This time, obviously, I experienced the relegation from the previous season, so to experience that sort of pain of relegation last year, bounce back as we have done and see the fans stick by us and all that has been magnificent.

“Both have been brilliant, but if I was to have to say one, maybe this one's just been a little bit more sweeter because of the pain experienced last year.”