Welcome to the latest installment of the Gloucester Groundhopper blog.
For this installment, we travelled to Staffordshire for some Sky Bet League One action as Burton Albion took on Northampton Town at the Pirelli Stadium.
It's All In The Name
Burton Albion's nickname is 'The Brewers.' Burton upon Trent has a long history of brewing, once exporting beer all over the world and accounting for a quarter of UK beer production; replication of Burton water in brewing is known as 'Burtonisation.' Throughout the nineteenth century, brewers ruled the town politically and socially.
Burton is the favoured choice of brewers for two reasons:
First, the water: Because of the hardness and mineral concentration of the Trent Valley water, it is suitable for producing pale ale.
Second, transportation: Because the River Trent connects several towns and cities in Britain, it is ideal for carrying beer. In addition, construction on the Trent and Mersey canal in 1777 opened up new markets for Burton's beers.
Burton is also well recognised for being the creator of Marmite. The Marmite Food Company established a modest factory in Burton-on-Trent in 1902, where Marmite is still created today. Because marmite is created from leftover brewer's yeast, the marmite factory benefited from being close to several brewers.
Some Notable People From Burton Upon Trent
Paddy Considine- Actor
Luca Gallone- Magician
Anna Passey- Actress
Mabel Mercer- Cabaret Singer
Beth Rodford- Olympic Rower
Some Notable Former Players
Darren Bent
Rory Delap
Adlene Guedioura
Shaun Harrad
Matej Kovar
Michael Mancienne
Jordan Pickford
Luke Varney
Stephen Warnock
A History Lesson From The Gloucester Groundhopper
Burton Albion was founded in 1950 and became a member of the Birmingham & District League. They finished second in 1953-54 and joined the Southern League North Western zone in 1958-59. Burton were promoted to the Southern League Premier Division despite finishing second on goal difference in 1965-66. They survived relegation in 1968 due to the failure of Stevenage Town, but were demoted to Division One following a dismal 1969-70 season.
Burton just missed out on promotion on goal average in 1970-71, but finished second the following season and were promoted back to the Premier Division. The following two seasons saw them demoted, then promoted back to the Premier Division. They remained in the same tier until they were demoted again at the conclusion of 1976-77. Burton were relocated to the Northern Premier League due to their central Midlands location, and then back to the Southern League in 1987-88, the season after losing in a replayed FA Trophy Final to Kidderminster Harriers.
Nigel Clough was appointed player-manager in October 1998, and he led the team to two consecutive runners-up finishes in 1999-2000 and 2000-01. Burton were promoted from the Northern Premier League Premier Division in 2001-02, which they won by 15 points, scoring 106 goals. For the first time, the club was promoted to the Football Conference.
The team gained national notice when they were drawn at home in the third round of the 2005-06 FA Cup against 11-time champion Manchester United. The Brewers held the Premier League team to a 0-0 draw at home, but lost the rematch 5-0 at Old Trafford.
Clough departed Burton 13 points clear at the top of the league in January 2009 to become manager of Derby County, with Roy McFarland appointed as caretaker manager until the end of the season. Despite this managerial change, Burton went on to set a league record for the most consecutive wins, and when the team was 19 points clear at the top of the table in February 2009, Conference sponsors Blue Square declared Burton the 2008-09 champions in a public relations stunt in which they paid out all bets. Following that declaration, the team watched their lead dwindle week by week, but gained promotion to the Football League in the final game of the season, despite losing 2-1 away to Torquay United and Cambridge United drawing 0-0 with Altrincham. Roy McFarland departed the club at the end of the season and was replaced by Paul Peschisolido, who was assisted by Gary Rowett.
Burton won their first Football League match 5-2 against Morecambe at the Pirelli Stadium, and they finished 13th in their inaugural season. Burton claimed a major scalp in the FA Cup third round in their second season, defeating championship team Middlesbrough 2-1 at the Pirelli Stadium. In the league, Burton went winless in 17 games and slid from fifth place on Boxing Day to 17th place at the end of the 2011-12 season, prompting Peschisolido's dismissal.
Gary Rowett was named Burton's new manager in May 2012. In his first full season as manager, he guided Burton to fourth place and the play-offs, narrowly missing out on automatic promotion by two points. Despite winning the first leg 3-2 at Valley Parade, Burton lost their play-off semi-final 4-5 on aggregate against Bradford City. Burton finished sixth in the 2013-14 season, reaching the play-off final, which they lost 1-0 to Fleetwood Town.
During the 2014-15 season, Rowett left to join Birmingham City, and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink took his position. The Brewers won League Two and were promoted to League One for the first time in their history under Hasselbaink. Hasselbaink resigned by mutual consent in December 2015 to become manager of Queens Park Rangers. Clough returned to Burton to take over as manager for the second time, leading the team to second place in the league and promotion to the Football League Championship, another first for Burton.
The Brewers' first season in the Championship began with a 4-3 defeat to nearby rivals Nottingham Forest. Burton gained survival in the Championship on 29th April 2017 following a 1-1 tie with Barnsley. Burton spent the most of their second season in the Championship in relegation trouble. Three late-season victories increased their hopes of safety, including a 2-1 victory against relegation rivals Sunderland. Burton were relegated to League One after a 2-1 defeat to Preston North End on the final day of the season.
Despite finishing in mid-table in League One in 2018-19, they advanced to the EFL Cup semi-finals after victories over Shrewsbury Town, Aston Villa, Burnley, Nottingham Forest, and Middlesbrough. Burton lost the first leg 9-0 at the Etihad Stadium against Manchester City, eventually losing 10-0 on aggregate.
Honours
🏆 League One (Runners-Up: 2015–16)
🏆 League Two (Champions: 2014–15)
🏆 Conference (Champions: 2008–09)
🏆 Northern Premier League (Champions: 2001–02)
🏆 Southern Football League Premier Division (Runners-Up: 1999–2000, 2000–01)
🏆 Southern League Cup (Winners: 1963–64, 1996–97, 1999–2000) (Runners-Up: 1988–89)
🏆 Staffordshire Senior Cup (Winners: 1955–56)
🏆 Birmingham Senior Cup (Winners: 1953–54, 1996–97)
Matchday: Burton Albion 0-2 Northampton Town
We travelled to Burton-on-Trent on a chilly Saturday morning as we looked for yet another game fested with goals. Burton Albion have recently acquired a reputation for calling their games off at very late notice, so it was a nervous wait to see if the game was on following the week's deluge.
The game was on, so we parked at a housing estate opposite the ground (having booked a parking space at somebody's house). We have a bit of a theory where when we book parking on the JustPark app, that's when the clubs we are visiting have parking available at the ground, and when we don't, they don't. The club did have parking available at the ground, for a few of £5. It was merely a case of crossing the road and arriving at the ground.
Arriving at the ground, it became very evident that there was going to be very little to do prior to kick off. We did a circuit of the ground, and the most entertaining thing we could find to do was a Greggs in a nearby industrial estate. There appeared to be no club bar accessible outside of the ground (more on this later), and I'm guessing it would have entailed a walk into the town centre to see a bar of some sort.
We went into the club shop and purchased our pin badges for £3 (good price) each. We then decided to enter the ground. The ticketing system was good to be fair. Not many clubs still send fans physical tickets anymore, it's usually a case of ordering a ticket and being sent one online via email. As a result, it was really nice to have a tangible momento of the day. We merely showed our ticket at the turnstile, and we were in.
The first thing we did was have a look at the inside of the ground. Our main talking point was the one stand down the side of the pitch (the one where the tv cameras go), which was pretty nice. The rest of the ground, however, was pretty average at best.
There was a food and drink stand at the ground, which served burgers, hotdogs and jacket potatoes. We were warned by a Burton Albion supporter not to buy the food at the ground, as it was and I quote 'some of the worst in the Football League.' We didn't take his advice on board, and lined up for what seemed like an eternity. We ordered a burger, and we were met with the reply of 'you can have a burger, but we have ran out of buns.' After being offered some bun alternatives by the guy at the stand, Raven decided to switch his order to a hot dog to save himself from having to eat burger without a bun. A bit more organisation was needed here.
So we're back onto the club bar. There IS a club bar, but you have to enter the ground itself before you can access it. There was a big TV showing t̶h̶e̶ ̶e̶a̶r̶l̶y̶ ̶k̶i̶c̶k̶o̶f̶f̶ ̶ Gavin and Stacey. It would have been nice to have a bar outside the ground, a fan zone if you like, just to get the atmosphere going a bit more and to entice a few more fans to socialise with eachother.
The people at the ground were lovely. Some notable mentions have to go to the women who worked in the club shop and the one supporter who stood by us in the ground. It really does make a difference when people are nice to talk to, so that really helped improve our day.
Teamsheet
Burton Albion
Manager: Martin Paterson
Max Crocombe
John Brayford (c)
Deji Oshilaja
Ryan Sweeney
Joe Powell
Mason Bennett
Mark Helm
Ademola Ola-Adebomi
Tolaji Bola
Tom Hamer
Toto Nsiala
Substitutes
Jamal Blackman
Steve Seddon
Kyle Hudlin
Bobby Kamwa
Mustapha Carayol
Ciaran Gilligan
Joe Hugill
Northampton Town
Manager: Jon Brady
Louie Moulden
Jon Guthrie (c)
Sam Sherring
Ben Fox
Mitch Pinnock ⚽️
Jordan Willis
Tyreece Simpson
Kieron Bowie
Marc Leonard ⚽️
Will Hondermarck
Patrick Brough
Substitutes
James Dadge
Jack Sowerby
Sam Hoskins
Louis Appere
Manny Monthe
Shaun McWilliams
Liam Moore
Burton Albion got off to a great start and had a chance to lead after four minutes. Toto Nsiala floated an enticing ball down the right, and Mason Bennett got there before keeper Louie Moulden, heading just wide under pressure.
Northampton Town surged into the game and took a fortunate lead at 22 minutes. After a period of possession, the ball arrived at Marc Leonard's feet, and his speculative 25-yard effort deflected off Toto Nsiala, wrongfooting Max Crocombe and finding the back of the net.
Burton Albion almost immediately reacted with a Tom Hamer long throw headed on by Ryan Sweeney, forcing Moulden to scramble over to send the ball behind.
It was becoming a tight match in midfield, but Northampton doubled their lead after 36 minutes thanks to a bad ball from Mark Helm. Mitch Pinnock intercepted the ball and took his opportunity to launch a 25-yard strike into the bottom right corner.
Almost exactly like with the first goal, Burton Albion came close to an immediate reaction, with Deji Oshilaja attempting an audacious curling effort from practically on the right touchline, and as Louis Moulden floundered, the ball landed on the roof of his goal.
Shaun McWilliams nearly added a third for Town with his first touch, hitting a long-range shot against the post.
Kyle Hudlin forced Moulden into a late save with a header at the near post. Mustapha Carayol's low shot from the resulting corner went wide, but Northampton took all three points.
Scores on the Doors
Atmosphere: 6/10
Food and Drink: 3/10
Stadium: 7/10
Welcome: 7/10
Overall Experience: 6.5/10
GG
A full album is available at the Gloucester Groundhopper Facebook Page, available here: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100078510199252