WELL the wait is finally over. In just a few hours time Turf Moor will come alive and welcome back the big time. I cannot wait!

Jose Mourinho and the multi-millionaires of Chelsea are the first visitors of the new Premier League season and what a baptism of fire it is going to be.

We’re most people’s favourites for the drop – even, worryingly, among some online sections of our own fans – but that suits us just fine.

Every man and his dog wrote us off last year.

Even when things were going well they said it would never last.

How wrong they were, eh?

Sean Dyche will have planned for this season as meticulously as he did for the last and he will be chomping at the bit to get going.

The media will make plenty of the Ginger Mourinho v Jose Mourinho battle but given a choice I know which man I’d prefer to have at the helm.

As with last summer, Dyche has been clever with the budget and looks to have brought in some very shrewd signings.

We know there are still a few names on Dyche’s radar and I’m sure he’ll be busting a gut to get them over the line before the transfer window slams shut.

If it happens then fantastic. If it doesn’t it certainly won’t for the want of trying and we’ll just have to take it on the chin, to quote the last man to lead us into the Premier League.

Talking of Owen Coyle, something tells me that Dyche is here for the long haul and that above all else gives us a much better chance of survival than the last time we were in the top flight.

There are going to be some rocky moments but we only have to look at some of the week results – most notably Swansea City’s shock win at Old Trafford – as evidence that with a good team spirit and a squad of players with something to prove that anything can happen. And that’s why we all love the game so much.

Chelsea may have the mega rich Russian and a squad full of World Cup stars, but how much will they fancy the foot of the Pennines on an unusually wet August Monday night?