It’s the £60million showdown

Burnley may have a huge past but Owen Coyle is the first manager in over 30 years to rekindle the Turf Moor flame.

An illustrious past has often weighed like a millstone around successive manager’s necks as a town with only 73,000 inhabitants has punched above its weight.

Only Blackpool, Plymouth and Doncaster had lower average attendances in the Championship this season but there is no doubting the passion in this Lancashire town.

And Owen Coyle, a feisty forward from the Gorbals in Glasgow who enjoyed an impressive playing career with Bolton Wanderers to name but one, has struck a chord since arriving from St Johnstone 18 months ago.

Victories this season against Fulham, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham and reaching the semi-finals of the Carling Cup have proven the Claret have what it takes to compete at a higher level but they need to prove it against Sheffield United.

The Blades went all the way to the last day of the campaign believing they could win automatic promotion and will be favourites to see off Coyle’s boys and some would say– after the Carlos Tevez affair – earn a just return to the top flight.

However, Burnley’s tale is just as romantic and a top flight return for the firs time since 1976 would be testament to Coyle’s work ethic.

"I've told my players that no-one has ever handed me anything,” he told the Daily Telegraph. “Everything you're going to get, you're going to have to go and earn it and I think they know that. That's why they work so hard.

"Anything we get against Sheffield United we're going to have to earn, but if you achieve something, you'll enjoy it more because you've earned it. No-one's giving it you on a silver platter.

"We've shown we can go toe-to-toe with anybody this season, so Wembley is certainly not a bonus for us. It's a game that we have to go and win."

However, Sheffield United’s Brian Howard is another player with a tale to tell and he is relishing the opportunity to play in the Premier League.

The mercurial midfielder arrived from Barnsley on loan earlier in the campaign after an acrimonious departure from Oakwell and it took its toll on the man who shot to fame last season.

A winning goal for the Tykes at Anfield in the FA Cup propelled him to national prominence but he had to battle hard to emerge from the pack at Bramall Lane.

"I think it took him a while to realise just how big this club really is,” said Blades boss Kevin Blackwell.
However, Howard is now determined for a spot of redemption after suffering FA Cup heartache at Wembley last year. The Tykes lost 1-0 to Cardiff and Howard has painful memories of the day.

"I was down the tunnel with tears in my eyes, getting seven stitches in my ankle and the drug testers were whipping me in through a side door," Howard told the Guardian.

"It was not a good experience. I'm going to take that and make sure I use it if there is one point on the pitch today where I think I'm getting a bit tired or not putting that extra bit in. I don't want that feeling from last year again. I want to be in there, celebrating."

Howard also wants to be known form something other than scoring his spectacular winner against Liverpool.
Sheffield United supporters are still bitter over their relegation in 2007 and despite West Ham settling the ongoing legal wrangle with a sum of £25m; many supporters won’t feel justice is done until the Blades are back in the top flight.

And Howard would love to be the man who takes them there. Life changed a lot after that," he continued in the Guardian, referring to his strike against Liverpool.

"People wouldn't have known who I was if that hadn't happened. Going away in the summer to Las Vegas, there were people that recognised me, saying 'Aren't you the boy who scored against Liverpool?' That was what I was known as: the boy who scored against Liverpool. It would be nice to put that right, hopefully score at Wembley and be the boy who put Sheffield United in the Premier League."