It’s fair to say that defender Jack Armer had one of those seasons to remember, with a new contract signed and sealed off the back of him being the only outfield player to start every league game for the Blues – all 49 of them.
Add to that a stunner of a volley at Swindon, which was always going to be goal of the season, and a promotion winning play-off campaign, and you can see why he was in high spirits when we caught up with him just before he headed off for his summer break last week.
“I think we’ve played over 50 games in all competitions and you want to finish with something at the end of it otherwise it’s all for nothing,” he told us. “Thankfully we did that on Sunday and I don’t think a few of us have stopped drinking or celebrating since then!
“It’s an unbelievable set of lads so it’s been brilliant, and to do it at Wembley was special. Even when we went there for the tour on Friday night, I’ve been to watch games there before, but to be in the tunnel and everything was surreal. It was just unreal, but really good.”
“Before the game I felt more excited than anything,” he added. “I’ve shared a room with Callum Guy all year and the whole weekend we were just talking about how excited we were.
“Before the Bradford home game we all had the feeling that we were going to beat them, and it was the same before the final. We felt like we were going to win.
“I think everyone around the club felt the same. Even when we were a goal down we knew we’d score. I thought we were going to score again before the end of the 90 minutes, to be honest.
“The drug testers were there so I went down the tunnel to get a bottle of water and I couldn’t come back out, so I was panicking I was going to miss a goal. It was all just incredible.”
Confined to the sidelines for the shootout, it was one heck of an outpouring of emotions when Taylor Charters sealed the deal with his spot kick.
“It’s hard to describe what it felt like,” he admitted. “The fans go home and away every week, my mates were there as well, and to be able to celebrate with all of them is just unbelievable really. I can’t describe it.
“I can remember bits and bobs from the day but then there are other times that are a bit blurry. It was just about trying to take it all in because the whole day was incredible.
“By the time we got up to lift the trophy I don’t think there were any Stockport fans left in so to see our side still full was brilliant.
“I was trying to look for my family and friends but just to see all the fans celebrate when we all lifted the trophy was a great feeling.”
As he’d stated at the start of the interview, the important thing was to put the cherry on top of the 11 months of hard work with something to show for it.
“It’s really good to finish the season by achieving something,” he said. “At the end of season awards dinner I spoke to fans who were asking what we thought about the play-offs, and who we might play and different things like that.
“We all felt like if we didn’t do it then it would have been a bit of a waste. Next year will probably be different, it will be about us staying up in the first year of being up there, but in League Two we wanted promotion.
“It’s really special to have done it to be part of the history of this club. I saw something the other day about us being the club to go longest without a promotion, so it’s nice to have fixed that.
“I’ve got another three years here and for me personally it’s good to get a chance to play in a higher league, as well as it obviously being good for the club.”
But there’s no doubt that the next step up will provide an interesting challenge.
“There’re some great clubs when you look at the league,” he commented. “Some of the away games and the stadiums we’ll go to, as well as some of the players who have dropped down into League One, are really good.
“I still fancy us, we’ll just see how we get on. But I don’t think any of it has really sunk in yet. It doesn’t really feel like we’ve got much time off, but I’ve got a holiday booked and a few different trips.
“It’ll soon be back to the football, but we’re looking forward to that. I’m really pleased to have started every league game. Last year wasn’t great for us as a team, so to come back fit and play every game in a successful season has been really nice.
“I feel like I’ve done a lot of running about and gone into a lot of tackles, but I think I’ve done alright. I’ve just tried to keep myself fit so I could keep running about!
“This feeling is why we all love football. The night we got back from Wembley it was about half two and we were in Walkabout dancing with all the fans and I think that just topped it off. It’s been great.”
