SMILES ALL ROUND AS CULLEN VISITS EXTRA TIME SESSION

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Josh Cullen and Dan Sassi visit community Extra Time session

2023-04-14T17:11:01.824Z

SMILES ALL ROUND AS CULLEN VISITS EXTRA TIME SESSION

Josh Cullen and Dan Sassi visit community Extra Time session

2023-04-14T17:11:01.824Z

Josh Cullen and Dan Sassi visit community Extra Time session

Josh Cullen took some time out to visit Burnley FC in the Community's Extra Time session at Burnley Cricket Club this week.

The charity delivers the sessions to over 50’s, across the region, with the aim of tackling loneliness and social isolation amongst the community's senior citizens. Taking place weekly, attendees can come together, chat, play board games and take part in physical activity.

Cullen, who was joined by academy U21 Dan Sassi, spent time with the participants to find out more about how they are benefiting from the sessions, and of course, chat all things, Clarets.

“I’ve just come down and said hello to all the people who come along, it’s good to see them enjoying themselves and playing the games that they play, so it was a nice morning.

“There’s lots of fans here, season ticket holders, people who have been fans of Burnley for a very long time. You can tell how passionate they are, speaking about the club over the years and how happy they are that we’re going back to the Premier League. It was a good atmosphere.

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“I think it’s really important [for the players to get out into the community], I suppose they’re the people that we play for at the end of the day, they’re the people that keep the club running and support us so well. So, to come down, say hello and spend a little bit of time with them is great."

It's been a busy few days for the Clarets following back-to-back wins against Middlesbrough and Sheffield United and the midfielder spoke about the importance of finishing the season strongly.

“Yeah, obviously after the Middlesbrough win, it was an amazing feeling and it probably took a couple of days to sort of get over it, the highs of finally achieving what we wanted to but now we’ve reset our focus and we want to finish the season as strong as we can. Make sure that we can try and win the league first and foremost and then get as many points on the board as we can.”

With Extra Time sessions offering attendees the opportunity to reminisce on the Clarets highs and lows over the years, Cullen is excited at the prospect of creating special memories that can be looked back on in years to come.

“Exactly, hopefully we can achieve that and do as well as we can and put smiles on faces of people, like the people here. It’s been good.”

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Extra Time participant Tony was thrilled to see the players in attendance and spoke passionately about the sense of togetherness and friendship weekly Extra Time sessions can offer.

“It’s fantastic, things like that really need to happen more regularly because we all support Burnley and it’s fantastic to have that connection with the players, it’s really interesting. It’s nice to have a chat. We talked about promotion, how it was and how he’s [Josh Cullen] is looking forward to playing the next few games.

“It’s great [Extra Time] because every week, people our age, my age, we just like to come out and socialise and get to know each other. We all chat to each other and we’re all really friendly, everybody is in their little groups, but we all talk to each other, and I think we all get on really well together.”

A big Burnley fan, Tony admitted paying tribute to his beloved Clarets on his 65th birthday…

“My 65th birthday, Burnley tattoo on my arm! I’ve always wanted a tattoo, didn’t know what I wanted but I got a Burnley tattoo on my arm for my 65th birthday. A bit old to have one but I don’t care!”