From the Palace to Windsor, as Norman’s amazing 2014 continues

Not two occurrences which would readily be mentioned in the same sentence, but two highlights of an already memorable 2014 for Norman McBurney.

Having collected an OBE in February in recognition of his services to the haulage industry and the community through Ballymena United, there will be few prouder men on Irish Cup final day than Norman.

United’s long-serving main sponsor has provided unstinting support to the club both as a generous benefactor and as a Board member, including a spell as chairman.

It’s widely acknowledged that without Norman’s financial input - which pre-dates United’s last Irish Cup final appearance - maintaining senior football in Ballymena would be a distant memory.

“People always tell me I must be very loyal or very foolish!” he laughs, when asked about his long association with the Showgrounds club.

“But I’m a supporter first and foremost and I would love nothing more than to see Ballymena United doing well and challenging for trophies.

While so much has changed in the quarter-of-a-century since Ballymena last appeared in an Irish Cup final, one of the few parallels that exists between now and 1989 is that McBurney Transport is still the name emblazoned on the club’s sky blue jerseys.

Except, as Norman recalls, it wasn’t in the 1989 final win over Larne!

“At that time, the Irish Cup was sponsored by Bass.

“Glentoran’s shirt sponsors at that time were Smithwick’s, who would have been viewed as a rival of Bass so the Irish Football Association decided there would be no advertising on any club’s shirts.”

With the 2014 competition having no sponsor - a harsh reality of the austere financial climate of today - that issue won’t arise, and Norman admits it will be a proud day when skipper Allan Jenkins leads the team onto the Windsor Park pitch.

“It will mean an awful lot to me to see Ballymena United in the Irish Cup final, not just for me but also for Robert Cupples and the Board but especially for the supporters.”

It was a particularly cruel twist of fate, then, that when United’s trophyless run did finally come to an end with the County Antrim Shield success in 2012, Norman wasn’t there to see it.

He was recuperating after sustaining back injuries in a farming accident and he recalls: “It was unfortunate to miss out on that final so I’m certainly looking forward to this one.”

The successful businessman has high praise for Glenn Ferguson’s efforts in attempting to awake Ballymena United from its slumbers.

“Glenn certainly seems to have the team going in the right direction, when you look at the number of semi-finals and finals he has taken the club to in his time in charge

“He has a good backroom team behind him and he already has a good number of the current squad signed up for next season and beyond so he has good foundations in place.

“That’s important because any football manager needs time to build a successful team - it’s not the sort of thing that happens overnight.”

Looking ahead to the final, Norman says he has no special routine planned for the day, preferring instead to “keep things simple”.

“I think it’s going to be a tight game and Glenavon certainly won’t just roll over.

“We have some bad defeats against them in the last couple of seasons but the games have been closer this year and we played well to beat them in the league a few weeks ago.

“Hopefully we can win this Irish Cup final and take the club to a new level where it is competing regularly at the top end of the league - that would be something I would really love to see,” added Norman.