I think I can safely say that when I left Wembley on that magical day at the end of May 2011 that I didn't believe we would be back there in less than two years with a major cup and a European place on offer for the winners.

I had just witnessed probably the most ecstatic moment of my Swansea City supporting career as we reached a Premier League that I thought was a long way out of our grasp.  I watched our players, management and directors all celebrating on the Wembley pitch and thought that was going to be the pinnacle.   This was football in the golden age of money and here were we - a football club with a different business model - getting ready to join the big boys.

We know from Brendan's words at the end of last season that immediately our chances of even staying in the Premier League were written off ('there's more chance of finding Elvis alive') but here we are just 19 months later, 7th in the Premier League and two weeks from that first ever major cup final for the club

But this is about that day in May 2011 and the memories that the day itself created.   In two weeks time we will create a new host of memories that we can talk about but - for now - let's go back in time.

I woke early that day.  Well, if the truth be known I didn't sleep that well at all.   The adrenalin was flowing through by veins from about the Thursday afternoon before the game and by the time Sunday night came around there was little chance of a peaceful night's sleep as I imagined all kind of outcomes to the following afternoon's football.    I closed my eyes and imagined my disappointment were we about to lose.   I imagined the magical moment that Alan Tate (I don't know why but I just had this feeling) scored the winner with three minutes to go and 40,000 Jacks invaded the Wembley pitch (it was a dream after all) and I imagined the sheer pain of a penalty shoot out and whether I had the bottle to stay and watch it.

So when the clock ticked around to half past six and the alarm went off, Wembley day had officially started and I was getting up  How mad does that sound, I was 37 years old and being told by my wife not to get up until 6.30 at the earliest.  It took me back to memories of Christmas Day in my house when I was a kid and I was threatened to within an inch of my life if I woke up before 7 o'clock.  At least I didn't have to survive that last 30 minutes of clock watching this time!!

I wasn't to travel to Wembley alone and we weren't leaving until 9 o'clock for the game so it was somewhat of a surprise when my doorbell went at 7.15 and there stood my mate Dave decked out in his new Play off final T-shirt and wearing his curly black and white wig.   One look at Dave and I knew that he hadn't slept well either.    The kettle was on - even for us it was too early for alcohol at that point in time and caffeine would kick start us into the day.

To give you some perspective, Dave is 43.  Or he was then anyway.   On top of the T-shirt and wig he had three black and white face paint sticks, two flags and a foam hand.  This is Dave who never even bought himself a replica shirt before.   This is what a play off final can do to you!

We sat there in my kitchen as my wife and kids chuckled at Dave sat there in his black and white splendour and we waited for Roger and Ian.  By 8am I could wait no more and reached for the phone and tapped out a messge to them both.  'Hurry, we're ready to go' it read and - not surprisingly - both were on the doorstep within ten minutes and we were ready to go.

We were ten minutes down the road when Ian cried 'stop' in a panicked voice.  My initial thought was the stupid sod had left his Wembley tickets on the mantelpiece because even Ian couldn't surely need a pee by now.  It was 8.35 for god sake.    I stopped the car and out jumped Ian and into the boot to get out the two Swans scarves that he wanted to drape out of the back windows.   "The M4 has to be a sea of black and white he said" as he got back into the car and we went off, scarves flapping proudly in the wind.

Thankfully living just outside Swindon, Wembley is less than two hours away but we were Jacks on the road and we couldn't resist calling in at Membury services - less than half hour from my house - to sample the early morning atmosphere that the Jacks can create in a motorway service station.

Unsurprisingly, there were thousands there.   We saw many faces that we haven't seen for some time and Dave was relieved to see some of them had more Wembley merchandise than he did.   One guy dressed in back and white lycra caught our eye in the gents toilets for no reason other than it was an open discussion of debate as to how he actually managed to pee and the car park was full of cars decked in their own travelling black and white uniforms.  Swansea was surely the quietest place on earth at this point in time?

We didn't stay long purely because we had this mad idea that the sooner we got to Wembley, the sooner the game would kick off.   We couldn't figure that the game would kick off at the same time but all four of us understood our logic.

Rodger and Dave spent the rest of the journey counting Swans scarves in cars (they really don't get out that much) and as we went around the M25 and onto the M40 they became more frequent so the game turned to who could see the arch first.   I won that purely because the other three were looking out for it on the opposite side of the car (I won't bore you with how they reached the logic as to which side it would be but let's just say, people have sat navs for a reason and that's when you have passengers like these three!)

We parked up about a mile from Wembley having parted with £15 of our hard earned money to a man who had an Orange coat on.   We probably had no idea at the time whether the car park was secure but we were close to Wembley and if we won promotion, the lack of a car probably wouldn't have seemed so painful?

As we walked towards the ground we headed towards Wembley Way. As a kid I remembered watching FA Cup finals on TV and the crowds on Wembley Way and this was what I wanted to sample.   Within twenty minutes we were there and for the first time since we left Membury Dave felt at home.   There were other people of his age decked out in black and white and to his delight Reading had people who equally decked themselves out in their own blue and white. 

Reality was we all knew that was going to happen but trust me Dave was worried when he saw that none of us had gone to the same level of support for our team.

As we walked up Wembley way we desperately tried to get our face into some of the cameras that were looking for fan reactions (we never made TV that I am aware of) and we mingled with the fans who were there to enjoy their day out and hopefully back their team to the Premier League.

I would like to say at this point that kick off time was fast approaching but it wasn't.  Every time I looked at my watch it didnt seem to be moving but clearly it was and we decided it was time to head off into Wembley itself and soak up the pre match atmosphere...

To be continued...

Photo: Action Images

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