Away Days: Burton Albion

BURTON ALBION

The Brewers

THE GROUND HISTORY
The Pirelli Stadium
Capacity: 6,912

IMAGES

Nigel Clough, as player-manager, had masterminded the rise of Burton Albion. Finishing second in two successive seasons in the Southern League and winning the Southern League Cup. A realignment then saw them play in the Northern League which the Brewers won with a record number of points and gave them promotion to the Conference. The club built the new stadium to match their football league ambitions after reaching the Conference and it was completed in 2005. It was funded it by selling their old ground for property development and by being given the land from Pirelli in return for naming rights apparently. the ground has seen year-on-year improvement for the midlands side culminating in promotion to the Football League in 2009. Nigel Clough having installed himself in the clubs record books and spending eleven years at the Burton (1998–2009) moved down the road to Championship Derby County and signed Dean Moxey from city having seen him play against Burton so effectively on a number of  occasions. Paul Pescchisolido took over the reigns and achieved a solid 13th place finish last season. The record ended this season as they finished in a respectable 19th.

As a side note ex scum and gull manager Neil Warnock’s second his managerial position was at the Brewers between 1981–1986 after one season in charge at Gainsborough Trinity.

WHATS IT LIKE?

THE PLACE

I travelled to this one in the back of a mates van but from what I saw unless you’re an industrial estate enthusiast there is not much to get from the place itself and certainly not anywhere near the ground.

THE GROUND

The ground is very impressive an eye-catching design in a bit of a wasteland. Plenty of car parking space around the ground it has a glass finish which makes it look eerily like a car showroom. te specification are perfect for both the current size of the club and its ambitions. Too many clubs build new stadiums with rows and rows of empty seats. The Pirelli has four stands of which only one stand has seats. The away fans main area is behind the goal at one end on a nice terrace with good acoustics. The ground hold 6,912 and to date their biggest attendance was 6,191 against Manchester United in the FA Cup in 2006 (something we have in common although they earned their replay at home) and the highest League attendance was 5,801 against Notts County a game they lost 4-1. So the ground is perfectly suited to their size and has the potential to be extended if necessary by the looks of things and it does not appear as an empty wasteland (Darlington anyone). I was very impressed with the set up and although there is not much around the ground there is a bar beneath each stand with a television for football and a burger bar which you can use before the game and during apparently. Burton are the prime example for me of a small club developing themselves in the right way and Nigel Clough, who I have a lot of time for, has it seems to me anyway much in common with our own lord and saviour Paul Tisdale.

THE MATCH

Blue Square Premier
26 April 2008
Burton Albion 4-4 Exeter City
Att: 2,281

A fantastic spectacle with both teams already confirmed in the playoffs it was all about playing for pride momentum and league position. There was a surprisingly good turn out from city given that in many ways this game was irrelevant. The crowd responded to the excitement on the pitch making a good amount of noise. Both teams came out to attack and Dean Moxey gave us the lead after 3 minutes. Burton equalised through Daryl Clare just 6 minutes later and it remained 1-1 at half time.

The second half started the same way as Adam Stansfield put us 2-1 up. Burton fought back with a goal from Williams and looked the better team. With ten minutes left Shaun Harrad scored a three minutes double salvo to make it 4-2. A chant of “bring on the Cambridge” seemed to spur city on as we fought back with an unlikely George Friend goal and a 90 minute equalizer from that man Richard Logan to set up a playoff semi final with Torquay.