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Our relegation from the old First Division had already been confirmed and this was the last game of that fateful 1975/76 season. We lost the game 3-1. We led early through a Derrick Parker goal before Coventry's David Cross hit a second half hat trick.
We'd been relegated five years earlier but had bounced back within two years and back in 1976 I thought that would probably happen again. It didn't happen and we didn't even come close to making it happen, so much so that I just about got used to us no longer being a top flight club.
It hurt, it hurt like hell for someone who had been brought up on football in the 1960s, and the hurt didn't end there. For years I'd become accustomed to watching top flight football and when we dropped down a further division and then another to find ourselves in Division Four it had a massive effect on me.
In May 1985 we were hoping for Swansea to fail in their one remaining game with our fixtures complete. To get good radio reception I sat outside in the car listening to BBC Radio Wales, or some other strange station, and a live commentary of their game. The final whistle was a horrible moment.
Still I thought, one year and we'll climb back up. Martin Buchan came and went and that lumbered us with Tommy Cavanagh, as obnoxious a man as you are ever likely to come across. We finished in mid-table but a year later, with Brian Miller back at the helm, we were fighting for our lives.
For those supporters too young to remember, I can tell you the Orient game was not one for the faint hearted. I know we oldies go on and on about it but I can promise you it was a day that I don't want any Burnley supporter to have to go through ever again.
Before the game it was a nightmare and the game itself was so tense it was nothing short of agony. When George Courtney blew his final whistle the relief, and that's what it was, showed in an outpouring of emotion right across Turf Moor. I don't mind admitting I stood there and cried. MY TEAM, the one I share with other fanatical Clarets, had survived.
Even so it was going to be a long road back, and there was no doubt we'd gone too far to ever get back to where we were when I started watching football at Burnley. My old friend George Bray used to tell me we'd get back one day but I don't think he believed it any more than I did.
There was a Wembley trip for the Sherpa Van, there was Jimmy Mullen's Claret & Blue Army at York, then at Plymouth and then at Wembley.
Things had looked up, but we couldn't sustain it, hardly a surprise given that it all proved too much for Mullen and we replaced him with Mr Man Management Adrian Heath and then the ultra shy and ill prepared Chris Waddle.
Then came Stan Ternent, and just as importantly Barry Kilby. Between them they lifted us up into what is now the Championship and even twice took us close to the play offs.
Again we couldn't sustain it. Ternent went and Steve Cotterill came in but at least we continued to survive as a Championship club against all the odds.
In November 2007 we appointed Owen Coyle as manager. Nothing much changed for the remainder of that season but then came 2008/09.
I'm still reliving it as I'm sure most Burnley fans are. The cup runs - Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs - would probably have been enough for us to consider it a superb season. In the end that was only the icing for the cake and the cake was delivered on 25th May 2009.
A fifth place finish gave us a play off semi-final against Reading. When that was won we were off to Wembley for a final showdown with Sheffield United. That game, and the day, has been reported heavily on this site but as we all know Wade Elliott's goal won us the promotion we all craved.
I don't mind admitting I stood there and cried. MY TEAM, the one I share with other fanatical Clarets, was back in the big league. It's 81 days ago now, I've thought about Wembley on each and every one of those 81 days. I'm still on cloud nine, and still can't quite take it all in.
I'll be taking it in tomorrow though when we step out onto the Britannia Stadium pitch for our very first Premier League game and our first top flight game in over 33 years, since that defeat at home to Coventry. I'm not sure just how I'll feel but there could be tears again; I know I'll be very emotional.
I'd prefer to be a few years younger, you do when you get to my age, but being the age I am did allow me fourteen years of top flight football watching Burnley in my early years.
I've always thought Burnley fans should have two things as a God given right. Firstly, they should have the opportunity to see us play top flight football. Tomorrow and for the next few months at least, you are all going to get just that.
Enjoy it just as much as I'm going to do, every minute of it, every game, and every goal we score. They are to be savoured, after 33 years I can promise you that.
The second God given right. That's to witness a Burnley win against Blackburn Rovers. So many of our fans have never had that opportunity. I can promise you it is one of the most special things ever for a Claret. I hope, I really hope, those of you too young to have seen a derby win can do so very soon. That really would be an extra layer of icing on this brilliant cake we have got.
I have to keep reminding myself what we've achieved - these four words really do help.