Burton Albion FC is a football club from the market and brewery town of Burton-upon-Trent, located in the north midlands of England, who were formed in 1950 when they became members of the Birmingham & District League.
Albion were formed after several other clubs: Burton Swifts FC, Burton Town FC, Burton United FC and Burton Wanderers FC all represented the town. All went to the wall through financial problems, partly because the main sport in the area was traditionally Rugby Union.
Swifts existed between 1871 and 1901, playing their matches at Peel Croft. The club were members of the Football League 1892 until their demise. United took over their ground and place in the League until they were not re-elected in 1907.
United were formed as a merger between Burton Wanderers and Burton Swifts. Wanderers were also members of the Football League from 1896 until 1901, which meant a town with a population of around 60,000 had two League clubs. Peel Croft went on to become the home of Burton Rugby Club.
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| Eton Park. Albion's old home |
The town had no senior club from the demise of Burton Town who were not revived after World War Two, until 1950 when Albion were formed. The new club started out life at the Lloyd's Foundry ground on Wellington Street, but they soon outgrew the venue as they were admitted into the Southern League in 1958-59 after ending as league runners-up in 1953-54.
'The Brewers' new ground on the edge of town, opened in September 1958 was called Eton Park and was located off Derby Road. Placed in the North Western zone of the Southern League, Burton won promotion to Premier Division in 1965-66. The same season saw the club reach the first round of the FA Cup for the first time.
The side slipped down to Division One in 1969-70 before a runners-up place in 1971-72 saw them regain their Premier Division status. However, the step up proved too steep as Albion dropped back down twelve months later.
Ken Gutteridge managed the team to a runners-up league place and promotion in 1973-74, which was backed up by a run to the semi-finals of the FA Trophy in 1974-75 where they lost out to Matlock Town.
A further relegation was suffered in 1976-77 before further FA Cup first round appearances followed in 1977-78 against Wrexham and then in 1979-80 when Bury were victorious after the club had switch to the Northern Premier League.
Albion became a solid top seven side including fourth place in their debut season which also saw another first round Cup appearance under manager Ian Storey-Moore, before he was replaced by Neil Warnock in his first managerial position.
The 1984-85 campaign saw Albion defeat Staines Town and then Aldershot to set up a tie with Leicester City in the third round of the FA Cup. The match was switched to The Baseball Ground at Derby with City winning 6-1 with Gary Lineker netting a hattrick.
However, Brewers keeper Paul Evans had been struck by a missile soon after David Vaughan had equalised. The keeper continued in a daze. Burton’s chairman Bill Royall lodged a protest with the FA who deemed that the match be replayed behind closed doors at Highfield Road, Coventry. The Foxes won 1-0.
Doug Newton and Stewart Mell were the stars of the time. Mell would join Warnock when he left for Scarborough in the summer of 1986. His successor Brian Fidler led the club all the way to Wembley in the Trophy in 1986-87. The match against Kidderminster Harriers finished 0-0 before Harriers won the replay 2-1 at The Hawthorns.
Albion returned to the Southern League for the following season as ex-pros Vic Halom, Bobby Hope and Steve Powell were among several managers to try their luck at Eton Park. However, the appointment of Nigel Clough, initially as player-manager by chairman Ben Robinson was to prove pivotal in October 1998.
Albion finished Southern League runners up in 1999-00 and 2000-01 before returning to the Northern Premier League title, where they became champions in 2001-02 as well as reaching the FA Trophy semi-finals before bowing out to Yeovil Town.
As a reward Albion became members of the Football Conference. By now first round appearances in the FA Cup were fairly regular. The team went one better in 2003-04 after defeating Torquay United before Hartlepool United ended the run.
Another Trophy semi-final defeat followed in 2004-05 against Grays Athletic in the season the club said goodbye to Eton Park. Land opposite on Princess Way which was formerly home to the Pirelli UK Tyres Ltd Sports & Social Club was donated by the Pirelli company in return for naming rights to the stadium.
The Pirelli Stadium opened on Saturday 16th July 2005 with a friendly against Chester City. Houses were built on the old site of Eton Park, with one new road been named Clough Drive. Burton’s first season in their new abode would see them thrust into the national limelight.
Wins in the FA Cup against Peterborough United and then Burscough saw a visit to the Pirelli from Manchester United in the third round. Albion scraped out a scoreless draw and a replay once again in front of a live TV audience as United went through five nil.
11,000 fans travelled to the game from Burton. In the 2007-08 season Clough and his team reached the Conference play offs where they lost out to Cambridge United. The following season was to be one of glory.
Albion went a mammoth nineteen points clear of the chasing pack when Nigel Clough departed to follow in his father's footsteps becoming manager of Derby County. Roy McFarland took over as points were dropped and teams gained rapidly.
Burton Albion brought League football back to the town after a gap of over a hundred years despite losing their final game at Torquay United. Fortunately for them second placed Cambridge United could only draw with Altrincham, so the title was secured.
Paul Peschisolido the former Premier League and Canadian international striker was appointed the new manager to take Albion into their first League season. The club consolidated their position and reached the fourth round of the FA Cup in 2010-11 after Middlesbrough were sent packing in round three at The Pirelli.
Peschisolido was dismissed towards the end of the 2011-12 season, which had seen a terrible run of form lead to the threat of relegation. Gary Rowett took over and led the side to the play offs, where they were defeated in the semi-final by Bradford City in 2012-13.
There was further play-off agony in 2013-14. A win against Southend United saw the Brewers reach Wembley where they went down to a solitary goal against Fleetwood Town. Rowett departed to take the Birmingham City job to be replaced by Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.
The former Dutch international led his team to the League Two title in 2014-15 and third tier football for the first time. A returning Nigel Clough replaced the Dutchman in December 2015, taking the club into the Championship after finishing as League One runners-up in 2015-16.
The goals of Jackson Irvine and Lloyd Dyer helped the Brewers to stay up for a season before they were relegated in 2017-18 despite the efforts of Stephen Bywater, Kyle McFadzean, Lucas Atkins and Marvin Sordell who all made over forty appearances.
Stephen Quinn and John Brayford were ever present as Albion finished in ninth spot in League One in the 2018-19 campaign. After finishing mid-table in 2019-20 Clough resigned to be replaced by former skipper Jake Buxton.
Former boss Hasselbaink returned to the club in January 2021 as Albion sat bottom of the League One table despite the goals of Kane Hemmings. The popular Dutchman settled the ship until moving on in September 2022 to be replaced by Dino Maamria.
Martin Paterson was appointed as manager in January 2024 as Burton managed to avoid relegation before he was replaced by Mark Robinson in June 2024 while the club was purchased from Ben Robinson by Nordic Football Group.
Burton Albion FC will compete in EFL League One in the 2024-25 season
September 2007
Scarborough were playing away to Hereford United but rather than heading straight to the game, our car set out early in the morning and did some groundhopping on the way. Doomie drove as usual and my fellow passengers were Crusher and Mick Young.
Eton Park was our first port of call. We had been past it several times in the past as we flew down the A38, but this time we pulled in. Crusher had been the previous season in a non league cup and said the locals were very partisan, or words to that effect!
We headed off down the A38 on towards Villa Park.
Burton Albion 1 Scarborough 1 (Saturday 17th August 2002) Football Conference (att: 1,821)
I was off work for the day and it was the opening day of the season. Even more important to Brewers fans, it was their club's first ever game in the Conference. Hope was high amongst Seadogs as Russell Slade had made many promising pre season signings and the talk was that the team would not be far away from honours come the end of the season.
I travelled up on a scorching morning from St Pancras to Derby where I changed trains to Burton. Several other Seadogs were also onboard and the talk was also about Malcolm Reynolds pronouncing that Boro were looking to move to a new stadium. I was thirsty on reaching Burton so I took a taxi to the ground. The pub across the car park was called the Football Tavern, if my memory serves me correctly?
Once inside the atmosphere was feisty from the off. There was a large turn out of Boro fans and many local youths were imbibed and singing. I had a feeling it may be an interesting afternoon.
There was no planned segregation as such, but Boro fans were congregated at the far end. The ground had changed since my previous visit. The Main Stand had been extended and the far end had been properly terraced, albeit to a smaller scale with a roof added.
Once we were at the far end the locals also decided to come round. The bouncers from the pub also doubled up as stewards as a few punches were being thrown. The bouncers/stewards had no idea in crowd control apart from how to throw drunks out of a pub. This led to much anger as they seemed to turn on the visiting Seadogs in the vicinity. It was pretty poor stuff.
The atmosphere was not helped when Karl Rose put Boro ahead. Unfortunately, Albion equalised and the game ended equal, which was a disappointment to the travelling fans. At full time we were kept in and escorted out down a smart residential street behind where we were stood. I didn't bother with the pub by the ground and headed back into town, stopping for a quick pint to see the final scores.
It was still very hot and the air conditioning had failed on my train back to London. I was not in the best of moods, but I claimed my fare back later. I also emailed Albion about the behaviour of their fans and lack of stewarding. I got an apology from Chairman Robinson, and was asked to phone him. I tried several times, but never got through. He was obviously a busy man!
Burton Albion 2 Scarborough 3 (Monday 30th August 2004) Football Conference (att: 1,306)
Despite saying I wouldn't bother returning to Burton after the previous fiasco, I relented a couple of years later. I booked cheap train tickets and travelled with Simon Keane and had a really good day out, having plenty of beer on the way. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!
Again there was a good number of visiting fans present and we were in very good spirits as Boro went three up within ten minutes as Wayne Gill and Neil Redfearn netted past the veteran keeper Kevin Poole along with the kindly assistance of an own goal. In true Boro style they didn't go from that and allowed Albion back into the game. In the end we were glad to hear the final whistle.
Burton Albion 2 Scarborough 1 (Saturday 3rd September 2005) Football Conference (att: 1,336)
I was looking forward to this game as it was one of the first competitive fixtures at the brand new Pirelli Stadium. The kick off had been brought forward as Wales were entertaining England in a World Cup Qualifier that afternoon. My advanced train tickets left me pretty pushed for time.
I had gone via Birmingham to save money, but I needed to get a taxi to the stadium if I was to have a pre match pint. The outside of the Pirelli Stadium was still pretty rugged and been developed. They had done a pretty amazing job as when I looked at the site a year earlier there had been nothing there.
Boro went one down, but got back into it with a Brian Wake goal. It was not to last as the home side took the honours with Aaron Webster outstanding in the win.
Carl and I walked back into the town centre on a mission. Because we had pre booked our trains for what we thought would be an afternoon kick off, we had plenty of time to fill in, but we came up with a good idea.
We entered a posh new place that wasn't really our scene but it turned out to be a good move. The bloke who ran it was a former Wealdstone player who loved what we were doing. He helped with some info and generally enjoyed himself. His missus didn't look massively impressed!
When I told him where I lived he regaled us with tales of team nights out and how he was banned from the Spotted Dog in Willesden. I really didn't think that was possible. We did our best to travel back in time. Several pubs were gone since our big night out, but we left no stone unturned in our investigations!
The images of Eton Park have been scanned from books while those of the Pirelli Stadium come with thanks from Dale Farringdon. I visited in my pre camera days. I hope to be back for a League match at the Pirelli in the future to one day complete the 92.
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