Clarets not Gone for a Burton before!

Burnley face the League's newest club, Burton Albion at home in the FA Cup 4th Round on Saturday 29th January. We have never played them before so instead of our usual 'Last Time We Met' service, we give you some background information and history about the Staffordshire club.

Burton Albion were formed in 1950 although football in the town had been played previously in different club guises. Many former Burton football clubs had struggled financially. Burton Swifts, Burton Town, Burton United, and Burton Wanderers all came and went in this town tradionally associated more with Rugby Union.

Albion though has been by far the most successful to date, still being in existence after over 60 years.

They started off life in the Birmingham & District League playing at the Lloyds Foundry ground.

High attendances though lead to the club moving to a more suitable ground and from September 1958 following promotion to the Southern League they played their home games at Eton Park.

They would eventually play in the Northern Premier League and gain promotion to the Conference in 2002 after winning the NPL title.

In 2005, the club moved to their current ground, the Pirelli Stadium. The stadium cost £7.2 million to build and has a capacity of just under 7000. The new stadium is directly opposite where Eton Park used to be after it was demolished to make way for housing.

The team currently ply their trade in League Two, after securing promotion from the Conference for the first time in the 2008-09 season. They finished a respectable 13th in their first season in the League but this season are currently struggling in 20th spot just three points clear of the drop zone albeit with games in hand.

The club, nicknamed 'The Brewers' because of the town's brewing heritage(Burton Brewery) is currently managed by former Derby player and Canadian international striker Paul Peschisolido. He took over from Roy McFarland in May 2009 following their promotion from the Blue Square Conference. McFarland had taken over as caretaker manager following the departure of Nigel Clough to Derby County.

Let's hope we dont suffer 'Brewers Droop' or literally 'Go for a Burton' and slip on a banana skin when we play them for the first time in our history a week today.

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