In the Peter Sellers film of 1959 a tiny country, Grand Fenwick, declared war on the United States in order to lose and have its debts cleared by the guilty victor. Surprisingly, however, they won!
Over two years ago, Owen Coyle was an unknown manager taking over a Championship team in the form of Burnley. 18 months later, he took them to the top flight of English Football for the first time in 33 years via the Coca Cola Championship Playoff Finals at Wembley Stadium.
Earlier this week I sat down and wrote an article intended for this site. I wrote of my disgust at the way Owen Coyle had betrayed this fantastic football club. However, in the days since then, my anger has diluted and I now see a much bigger picture.
The first five games out of the way; the expected defeats at Chelsea and Liverpool things of the past; in August everyone thought the season, anyway, would start with the Sunderland game and with the club on nil points.
I love these TV programmes; "The Time of our Lives" on SKY on Monday nights. Cliff Jones, Terry Dyson and Bobby Smith were on last week and it's a chance to sit back and revel in the nostalgia and memories they induce.
August 15th 2009 was the beginning of a brand new and exciting era for Burnley Football Club, and after thirty-three long years of hurt we cannot fail to realise that we are once again back where we belong in the highest echelon of English football, now known as the Premier League.
I live in Sale. The trams have all been stopped at the moment, so we have to walk a bit to get the bus into town. Ahead of the new season we have been wearing the new home shirt.
After over 30 years of being out of the wilderness of the top division, the Clarets finished with a fairytale ending in May, after gaining promotion to the world's richest league.
It only seems right that the day after one of the most significant results in the history of Burnley Football Club, the back pages of the national newspapers were dominated by two men classed as genuine Turf Moor heroes.
In July there'd been a Burnley feature in the New York Times, yes you read that right - the New York Times. Someone there had cottoned on to the fact that Burnley and Chelsea had been just 67 miles apart in California in the pre-season.
What would football clubs and supporters do without people like Joyce and Stefan Haluk? They and others like them are the unsung heroes who keep the wheels turning.
They'd sold 4,000 by the end of the first day in the club shop out of an initial batch of 8,000, we were told. "We've ordered another 8, 000," said the shop manager.
The fuss has subsided, the elation has calmed down but the magical date of May 25th, 2009, will be forever imprinted in Burnley minds just as May 2nd, 1960, and May 9th, 1987, remain unforgettable dates in the club's history.
As a football crazy 9 year old I listened to the cup final on the radio. Tottenham Hotspur v Burnley. We had no television. I listened intently and from my Reading home, I cheered on the Spurs, like all my friends.
This piece is dedicated to the memory of my friend John Fielden who died in 2007. We always sat together in a little row of four seats behind one of the stairways.
As we approach the nail-biting conclusion to Burnley's ninth consecutive season in the second tier of English football, it is perhaps a good time to reflect on the away fortunes of the club during this period.
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