Burton Albion History - "The Brewers"

BURTON ALBION – the present

The Brewers are currently playing in their third ground in the clubs 57 year history. The move to the purpose built Pirelli Stadium was completed in July 2005 and has seen the club go from strength to strength over the last two seasons.

The £7.2m state of the art ground is sited on the land formerly occupied by the sports and social facilities of the Italian tyre giants. A 300 seater function room (The Albion Suite) plus numerous other executive rooms and facilities offer the club a fantastic opportunity to move forward and hopefully provide the infrastructure to successfully challenge in the Football Conference. The site will also see a full size training pitch and pub/restaurant/accommodation facilities once phase two of the scheme is completed in the near future.

The ground has already been selected to host various representative fixtures. The 1st Qualifying Round of the UEFA Women's U-19's European Championships have already taken place at the Pirelli, enjoying a record crowd for an international at that level when England played Scotland.

The stadium has also hosted an England Semi-Professional International against Holland and a UEFA under 19 mens international. The Conference have played the Northern Division Play-Off Final at Burton for the last two season's as the grounds reputation grows in non-league circles.

Before the formation of Burton Albion the town had been accustomed to league football but at their inception the Brewers began in more humble surroundings.

BURTON ALBION – a brief history

When Burton Albion were formed at a public meeting at the Town Hall on 5th July 1950 it restored senior soccer to the town after a ten year absence. The town had once boasted three league sides, Burton Wanderers, Burton Swifts and Burton United but when the war wiped out Burton Town there was a void to be filled.

The club began life using the Wellington Street ground belonging to Lloyds Foundry and competed in the Birmingham League for the first eight years of their existence. Whilst league success was hard to come by the club quickly made progress in cup competitions winning the Birmingham Senior Cup in 1954 and the Staffordshire equivalent in 1956, That same season saw Albion hit the national sporting headlines when they reached the third round of the F.A.Cup only to lose 7-0 to Charlton Athletic at The Valley.

In 1958 the club not only moved leagues, they also moved grounds. Eton Park became their home as Albion began to ply their trade in the Southern League. The club struggled in the Southern League although they did become the first side from outside of the Premier Division to win the Southern League Cup when they beat the then mighty Weymouth 5-2 on aggregate in 1964. The manager at the time was Peter Taylor who went on to enjoy a very successful partnership with a certain Brian Clough at both Derby County and later Nottingham Forest.

The Brewers three times won promotion to the Premier Division but also suffered relegation the same number of times. The club did enjoy the skills of former Nottingham Forest and Manchester United winger Ian Storey-Moore in the mid 1970's and he returned in 1978 as player-manager overseeing the Brewers move to the Northern Premier League in 1979 as the non-league world underwent significant change with the advent of the Alliance Premier League (now the Football Conference).

Moore was succeeded by another player-manager, a certain Neil Warnock, who although not managing to win a league title did bring silverware to Eton Park in the shape of the Northern Premier League Challenge Cup beating Macclesfield Town in the final at Maine Road, Manchester in April 1983.

Albion again hit the national headlines In 1985 when they lost in the third round of the F.A.Cup to Leicester City. A 6-1 defeat (including a hat-trick for Gary Lineker) was due in part to the fact that Albion goalkeeper, Paul Evans, was hit by a missile thrown from the crowd. After a Football Association review the game was replayed behind closed doors at Highfield Road, Coventry with Albion losing 1-0.

Two years later, Albion now managed by Warnock's assistant, Brian Fidler reached Wembley in the F.A.Trophy Final. A goalless draw with Conference side Kidderminster Harriers was followed by a replay at The Hawthorns, West Bromwich where 15,685 (West Brom's largest crowd of the season!) saw Albion go down 2-1 with midfielder Paul Bancroft missing a late penalty.

For the 1987/88 season Albion reverted back to the Southern League. Managers came and went but none could deliver the long awaited first league championship the club craved. Former Everton and Derby defender John Barton delivered a cup double (Southern League Cup and Birmingham Senior Cup) in 1997 but he left the club in September 1998 to be replaced the following month by the most famous manager in the club's history.

Nigel Clough, son of the legendary Brian Clough came to Eton Park to cut his managerial teeth with former Forest colleague Gary Crosby as his assistant. Together they began to realise the undoubted potential of the club finishing runners-up in successive seasons and delivering the Southern League Cup again in 2000.

Another geographical alignment of the feeder leagues saw Albion return to the Northern Premier (UniBond) League in 2001 but this time it was only a one season stay as Clough's team swept all before them winning the first league championship in the clubs 52 year history. A league record number of points were gained, over 100 goals scored and just 30 conceded as Albion at last achieved their goal of Conference football. There was even time for a run to the F.A.Trophy semi-finals where eventual winners Yeovil Town crushed dreams of an incredible double.

After three years in the Conference the Brewers moved to the Pirelli Stadium. The first two season's in Albion's new home have not been short on excitement. After a thrilling 0-0 draw against Manchester United in the FA Cup third round the Brewers earned a dream trip to Old Trafford after which the team kicked on to earn a best ever Conference finish (9th) only to better that last season with a 6th place finish just three points off the promotion play-offs. As the club enters its sixth season in the Premier non-league competition the club are now considered serious promotion contenders.

When Clough took up an irresistible offer to manage Derby County in January 2009 he left Burton Albion on top of the Blue Square Premier League whilst in the safe hands of former Derby County legend Roy McFarland. Roy now has the task of steering Albion through to the end of the season.