Burnley Are Back! - Campbell on the BBC

Last updated : 23 July 2009 By Tony Scholes
Alastair Campbell with Clarets Mad message board regulars at Wembley

The programme entitled 'Burnley are Back!' will be broadcast on BBC One North West on Friday August 14th a day before our first ever Premier League game.

The programme will examine the close bond between the team, the town and it's people, and for Campbell it is very much a labour of love. Formerly a political journalist and Tony Blair's spin doctor, he has been a Burnley fan since he was a boy and this programme sees him in footballing heaven as he interviews his heroes, both past and present.

The programme is not all about football. He gets a lesson from a local butcher in how to make a Burnley FC sausage (and we can guess who the butcher is) whilst he considers an offer to have his first ever tattoo, the Burnley club badge.

As a guest at the wedding of Barry and Sonya Kilby he asks which is most important, the play off win, their wedding day or Premier League football at Turf Moor.

He goes in to town where he finds a new mood of excitement amongst both traders and shoppers who discuss the promotion with him, and he was spotted recently outside Bradford City's ground intererviewing fans.

Alastair said: "I was delighted to be asked to make this film for the BBC, not just about promotion but what it means to a town that has had its fair share of problems and challenges.

"We got fantastic access from the club, and you do not have to spend long going around town to feel the buzz.

"I have followed Burnley for almost fifty years, from the very top as reigning League Champions when I first saw them, to the very bottom when we had to beat Orient to stay in the League.

"Since then there have been times when I doubted we would ever get back to the top flight. To have done so was close to miraculous. There were so many great moments last season which more than make up for all the bad times. Indeed it is partly those bad times that make these good times feel so good."

The BBC's Tony Livesey, another Burnley fan, features in the programme along with former Burnley players Jimmy McIlroy, Martin Dobson and Paul Fletcher. Barry Kilby talks about the battle to get the club back to the top flight and both manager Owen Coyle and Wade Elliott, scorer of that goal at Wembley, talk about the daily devotion and adulation they get each day from Burnley fans.

Burnley Are Back! will be broadcast on BBC One in the North West of England on Friday 14th August at 7:30 p.m. It will also be available to watch again on BBC iPlayer.

with Owen Coyle during the making of the programme