Long played under current Swansea City boss Brendan Rodgers at Reading and will now try and break the dreams of his former boss in the Championship play off final.
Long scored twice in the semi final to beat the Swans local rivals Cardiff City and earn the place in the league's showpiece final.
Long told the Western Mail “He (Rodgers) is obviously a very, very good coach and learned his trade from the best in the world in Jose Mourinho
“We all enjoyed training but for some reason it just didn’t happen on the pitch when we went out for a game.
“I don’t think you can lay any blame on him or the players, it just didn’t work out.
“He has gone to Swansea and shown how good he is by getting them to the play-off final and we’ve got a very tough job.
“It’s great to see him do so well because everyone knew how good a coach he was. But, as I said, I don’t think it was any fault of his or the players that it didn’t work out here.
“It was a shame really but sometimes it just doesn’t happen.
“He’s kicked on and got the Swansea job and taken them to a play-off final which is massive for a Welsh team. It shows how good he is.
“When he came in I was one of the main strikers but I had a couple of injuries and a few knocks and it didn’t work out.
“He played one or two of the other boys as the main strikers and I came off the bench a bit more.
“I don’t blame him for that, it was my own doing really.
“I wasn’t doing it in training or on the pitch and ever since Brian McDermott has come in I’ve managed to turn things around and haven’t looked back since.
“Even at the start of this season when things weren’t going well and a few fans were calling for my head Brian stuck by me. He has shown a lot of faith in me,” he added.
“He has instilled a lot of belief in me and I guess the ultimate way to repay that is to hopefully try and get back to the Premier League.
“It’s a massive game and we have a thing here at this club where we just look at it as another game.
“It’s a massive day for the club, the players and the fans as well and there is £90m on it. It’s a lot to play for.
“But we’ve got to do whatever it takes on and off the pitch to make sure we’re right on the day and try and beat a very good Swansea side.”