Burton Albion F.C. facts for kids
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| Full name | Burton Albion Football Club | |
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| Nickname(s) | Brewers, The Yellow and Black Army | |
| Founded | 6 July 1950 | |
| Ground | Pirelli Stadium | |
| Capacity | 6,912 | |
| Owner | Nordic Football Group | |
| Chairman | Ole Jakob Strandhagen | |
| Manager | Gary Bowyer | |
| League | League One | |
| 2018–19 | League One, 9th of 24 | |
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Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football team from Burton upon Trent, England. They are known as "The Brewers" because of the town's long history of making beer. The team plays in League One, which is the third highest level of football in England.
Burton Albion started in 1950. They played in different leagues before joining the Football Conference (now National League) in 2002. In 2009, they made it into the Football League for the first time. The club then climbed even higher, winning League Two in 2015 and getting promoted from League One in 2016. This meant they played in the EFL Championship, the second-highest league, for two seasons. Since 2005, their home ground has been the Pirelli Stadium.
Contents
Club History and Achievements
Early Years: 1950 to 1998
Burton Albion Football Club was formed in 1950. They first joined the Birmingham & District League. In 1958, they moved to the Southern Football League. The team was promoted to the Southern League Premier Division in 1966. They faced some ups and downs, being promoted and relegated a few times.
In 1979, Burton Albion joined the Northern Premier League. They returned to the Southern League in 1987. A big moment for the club was reaching the FA Trophy Final in 1987, but they lost to Kidderminster Harriers.
Entering the New Millennium
In October 1998, Nigel Clough became the team's player-manager. He helped the club finish second in their league twice in a row. In 2001, Burton Albion moved back to the Northern Premier League Premier Division. They had a fantastic season in 2001–02, winning the league by 15 points and scoring 106 goals. This success led to their first promotion to the Football Conference.
A memorable moment for the club came in the 2005–06 FA Cup. They played against the famous team Manchester United at home. Burton Albion managed a 0–0 draw, which was a huge achievement. In the replay match, they lost 5–0 at Old Trafford, but over 11,000 Burton fans traveled to support their team.
Joining the Football League: 2009 to Today
In January 2009, with Burton Albion leading their league by a lot of points, manager Nigel Clough left to join Derby County. Even with this change, Burton Albion continued to do well. They secured promotion to the Football League for the first time in their history in the final game of the 2008–09 season. Roy McFarland was the caretaker manager during this exciting time. After the season, Paul Peschisolido took over as manager.
Burton Albion's first win in the Football League was a 5–2 victory against Morecambe. In 2011, they had a big FA Cup win, beating Championship team Middlesbrough 2–1. However, after a tough period, Peschisolido was replaced by Gary Rowett in May 2012.
Rowett led the team to the play-offs in his first full season, narrowly missing out on automatic promotion. In the 2013–14 season, they reached the play-off final but lost 1–0 to Fleetwood Town.
During the 2014–15 season, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink became the new manager. Under his leadership, the Brewers won League Two and were promoted to League One for the first time. Hasselbaink left in December 2015, and Nigel Clough returned as manager. Clough guided the team to a second-place finish in League One, earning them promotion to the Football League Championship, another first for the club.
Burton Albion played two seasons in the Championship. They managed to stay up in their first season, securing their place after a 1–1 draw with Barnsley in April 2017. However, in their second Championship season, they were relegated back to League One in 2018.
In the 2018–19 EFL Cup, Burton Albion had an amazing run, reaching the semi-finals. They beat several bigger teams like Aston Villa and Middlesbrough. They faced Manchester City in the semi-finals, losing 10–0 on aggregate.
The COVID-19 pandemic affected the 2019–20 season, which ended early with Burton in 12th place. Nigel Clough left the club in 2020, ending his long second spell as manager. Jake Buxton took over but was replaced by Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink in January 2021. Hasselbaink led a fantastic turnaround, helping the team avoid relegation with a club-record six consecutive wins.
After a difficult start to the 2022–23 season, Hasselbaink resigned. Dino Maamria became manager and successfully kept the club in League One. Maamria left in December 2023, and Martin Paterson took charge. The team avoided relegation on the final day of the season, but Paterson also left the club.
In June 2024, the Nordic Football Group (NFG) bought the majority of the club. They appointed Mark Robinson as the new manager. After a tough start to the 2024-25 season with no wins in 11 league games, Robinson was replaced by interim boss Tom Hounsell. Hounsell led the team to their first league win of the season in his third month in charge.
Home Stadium: Pirelli Stadium
Burton Albion first played at the Lloyds Foundry ground. Because many fans came to watch, the club needed a bigger home. Eton Park was built and opened in 1958. The Brewers played all their home games there until 2005.
The Pirelli Stadium was built in 2005 and is the team's current home. It cost £7.2 million to build. The land for the stadium was given to the club by Pirelli UK Tyres Ltd, which is why the stadium is named after them.
The stadium can hold 6,912 people, with 2,034 seated in the main stand. The record attendance for the Pirelli Stadium is 6,746 fans. This happened during an EFL Championship match against Derby County in August 2016. The stadium also hosts youth football tournaments.
Team Rivalries
In their earlier days, Burton Albion had local rivalries with teams like Gresley Rovers and Tamworth. As the club moved up into the Football League, these rivalries became less important.
New rivalries grew with clubs like Port Vale, Notts County, and Walsall. There is also a friendly rivalry with nearby Derby County. This is partly because some fans support both teams, and because former manager Nigel Clough moved from Burton to Derby.
When Burton Albion reached the Championship in 2016, they started playing against bigger local clubs such as Aston Villa, Birmingham City, and Nottingham Forest.
Players
First-team Squad
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- Out on loan
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Player of the Year Awards
Each year, supporters of the club vote for their favourite player. Here are some of the past winners:
- 1971
Bobby Goodwin - 1972 Phil Annable
- 1973 John Beresford
- 1974 Frank Gregg
- 1975 Phil Annable
- 1976
Brendon Phillips - 1977 Phil Annable
- 1978 Barry Alcock
- 1979 Phil Annable
- 1980 Ken Blair
- 1981 Bryan Kent
- 1982 Bob Gauden
- 1983 Clive Arthur
- 1984 Paul Evans
- 1985 Doug Newton
- 1986 Alan Kamara
- 1987 Alan Kamara
- 1988 Ian Straw
- 1989 Nick Goodwin
- 1990 Nick Goodwin
- 1991 Mark Owen
- 1992 Nick Goodwin
- 1993
Alan Kurila - 1994 Nicholas Harlow
- 1995 Darren Acton
- 1996 Matt Smith
- 1997 Simon Redfern
- 1998 Mark Blount
- 1999 Mark Blount
- 2000 Darren Stride
- 2001 Darren Wassall
- 2002 Darren Stride
- 2003 Matt Duke1
- 2003 Christian Moore1
- 2004 Aaron Webster
- 2005 Andrew Corbett
- 2006
Darren Tinson - 2007 Kevin Poole
- 2008
John McGrath - 2009 Jake Buxton
- 2010 Tony James
- 2011 Adam Legzdins
- 2012
Calvin Zola - 2013 Lee Bell
- 2014 Ian Sharps
- 2015 Stuart Beavon
- 2016 Stuart Beavon
- 2017
Jackson Irvine - 2018 Lucas Akins
- 2019 Lucas Akins
- 2021 Ryan Edwards
- 2022 John Brayford
- 2023 Sam Hughes
- 2024
Max Crocombe - 2025 Ryan Sweeney
1 Matt Duke and Christian Moore were joint winners in 2003.
Club Officials and Staff
Here are some of the important people who help run Burton Albion Football Club:
| Position | Staff |
|---|---|
| Chairman | Ole Jakob Strandhagen |
| Board of directors | Tom Davidson (Deputy Chairman) Bendik Hareide (Sporting Director) Kevin Skabo (Commercial Director) |
| Chief Executive Officer: | Fleur Robinson |
| Club Secretary: | Kelly Hyde |
| Head of Community | John Widdowson |
And here are the main coaching staff for the team:
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Manager | Gary Bowyer |
| Assistant Manager | Pat Lyons |
| First team coach | John Brayford |
| Head of goalkeeping | Jake Kean |
| Strength and conditioning coach | Elliott Axtell |
Team Records and Statistics
Most Appearances for the Club
These players have played the most games for Burton Albion in all competitions:
| # | Name | Years Played | Games | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Darren Stride |
1993–2010 | 646 | 124 |
| 2 | Aaron Webster |
1998–2013 | 588 | 100 |
| 3 | Phil Annable |
1970–80, 1981–83 | 567 | 70 |
| 4 | Nigel Simms |
1981–1993 | 535 | 11 |
| 5 | Nick Goodwin |
1988–95, 1997–99 | 508 | 0 |
Top Goalscorers for the Club
These players have scored the most goals for Burton Albion in all competitions:
| # | Name | Years Played | Goals | Games | Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Richie Barker |
1960–62, 1963–67 | 159 | 270 | 0.58 |
| 2 | Stan Round |
1963–67 | 149 | 199 | 0.75 |
| 3 | Darren Stride |
1993–2010 | 124 | 646 | 0.19 |
| 4 | Aaron Webster |
1998–2013 | 101 | 588 | 0.17 |
| 5 | Simon Redfern |
1987–97 | 86 | 457 | 0.19 |
Other Club Records
- Best League Position: 20th in the Football League Championship (second tier of English football) in the 2016–17 season.
- Best FA Cup Performance: Reached the 4th round in 2010–11.
- Best League Cup Performance: Reached the semi-final in 2018–19.
- Biggest Win: 12–1 against Coalville Town in 1954.
- Heaviest Defeat: 10–0 against Barnet in 1970.
- Biggest Football League Win: 6–1 against Aldershot Town in 2009.
- Biggest Football League Defeat: 1–7 against Bristol Rovers in 2012 and Port Vale in 2013; also 0–6 against Fulham in 2018.
Club Honours
Burton Albion has won several trophies and achieved promotions throughout its history:
League Titles
- League One (third tier)
- Runners-up: 2015–16
- League Two (fourth tier)
- Champions: 2014–15
- Conference (fifth tier)
- Champions: 2008–09
- Northern Premier League (sixth tier)
- Champions: 2001–02
- Southern Football League Premier Division
- Runners-up: 1999–2000, 2000–01
Cup Competitions
- FA Trophy
- Runners-up: 1986–87
- Southern League Cup
- Winners: 1963–64, 1996–97, 1999–2000
- Runners-up: 1988–89
- Northern Premier League Challenge Cup
- Winners: 1982–83
- Staffordshire Senior Cup
- Winners: 1955–56
- Birmingham Senior Cup
- Winners: 1953–54, 1996–97
See also
In Spanish: Burton Albion Football Club para niños
