The elation of leading his side into battle at Wembley is tempered with only a little regret for Burnley manager Brian Miller. Would he not have preferred promotion from the Fourth Division, I wonder, as an end-of-season reward just 12 months after the club was almost axed from the League it joined as founder members 100 years ago?

"In some ways the answer must be yes," he concedes, "and I’m sure any manager would say the same in my position. But what really matters is the long-term future of the club and, if I’m totally honest, I would have to say that Wembley could be better for us.

"In my book, if you’re going to move up from one division to another you have to be ready for it. There’s no point in going up to come straight down again. I’m not saying that would have happened to Burnley but I know deep down we need to be stronger for the Third Division.

"As it is, our profit from Wembley should enable me to go out and buy three or four new players in the summer; the type of players who can help us to become genuine promotion contenders." The facts reinforce Miller’s frank assessment of his current squad. Although their play-off dreams only finally evaporated on the final day of the season, Burnley finished well adrift of the Fourth Division’s top sides.

But it was still a dramatic improvement on the near-disastrous events of last season, Miller’s first back at the helm following an enforced three-year exile from Turf Moor.

"Don’t forget, this club nearly died. It was almost the end," he adds with obvious feeling. "Fortunately, I was able to bring in eight new players to make sure we didn’t get ourselves into that situation again."

Miller joined Burnley straight from school and stayed 31 years before his surprise sacking in January 1983. He played 379 League games for the club, all of them in the First Division, and won a Championship medal in 1960. He won three Under-23 caps and his one senior appearance for England was in Austria in 1961, when a certain Bobby Robson made way for him during a European tour. Then, in 1962, he was in the Burnley side who finished second best to Tottenham in the FA Cup Final.

England’s manager at the time, Walter Winterbottom, would undoubtedly have rewarded Miller on many other occasions, but for the remarkable consistency of Wolves’ Ron Flowers within what was a very settled side. Even at schoolboy level, Miller’s path to international honours was blocked by an exceptional talent. He recalls: "I made the final trial, North v South, and it was between a lad called Duncan Edwards and myself for the left-half position. He was such a great player . . ."

Miller’s first spell in charge at Burnley lasted just over three years. The club had won the Third Division title to cap a season in which current England star Trevor Steven’s potential first came to light. Burnley had a disastrous League campaign the following year, reserving their best displays for Cup-ties. Miller was actually sacked on the very day his team went to White Hart Lane and defeated Spurs 4-1 to march into the Milk Cup semi-finals, where they lost to eventual winners Liverpool. In the F.A. Cup they reached the quarter-finals before going out in a replay to Sheffield Wednesday.

He rejected several offers to stay in the game but, understandably disenchanted, he preferred the relative tranquillity of life behind the counter of his thriving newsagent’s not far from the ground.

In July 1986, after a boardroom reshuffle saw Frank Teasdale installed as chairman, Miller was tempted back. "The club was in a right horrible state at the time," he remembers. The trauma of almost disappearing altogether from the League was undoubtedly the lowest point for a club with the distinction of reaching the quarter-final stage of both the European and UEFA Cups. A total of £27,000 brought Wrexham pair Chris Pearce and Paul Comstive, together with Steve Davis from Crewe, and Miller is full of praise for all his close-season captures.

Burnley may have survived the drama of a penalty shoot-out against Halifax to squeeze into the Northern Final, but Miller argues: "We’re at Wembley on merit.

In the decider against Preston we only managed a draw at home and everybody thought Preston were going to Wembley. But we won 3-1 at Deepdale."

That result shattered the Wembley dream of Miller’s son, David, a former Burnley player now with Preston. This weekend, however, David will be enjoying the Wembley experience, along with another ex-Burnley favourite, Derek Scott, now with Bolton and who just happens to be married to Miller’s daughter, Gillian. This competition has been a god-send to us," says the 51-year-old Miller. "We’ve sold all our tickets and I can’t tell you what it’s like to see Burnley alive and buzzing again!"

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