The Burton Albion Story

[Mallakith]

THe story so far, ill try to update regularly if people seem interested.

Season 1:

Initially only signed Zlatko Yankov on a free and delved into the loan market bringing Alexsander Prijovic in from Derby on Loan.

Started inconsistently but after reading the TT&F developed a nice balanced 442 and started to be more solid.

Prijovic was recalled in January and a 30k offer for Keith Gilroy was too much to turn down however I used the money to bring in Darren King as defensive cover and Courtney Pitt as a direct replacement.

The form dipped towards the end of the season with us missing the playoffs by a whisker of 2 goals.


Season 2:

Again not much action in the transfer market as I felt that the balance of the team was now good. But again loaned from Derby and got Arnaud Mendy as cover/options in midfield.

Pitt recovered from the scepticism of the fans to nail his place on the left and my strike partnership of Harrad and Pearson were on fire in a 30 game unbeaten run Harrad particularly was banging them in left and right and ended the season with 39 goals.

Promotion was sealed in the penultimate game of the season with Jake "the snake" Buxton scoring an equaliser in the 91st minute of the game sparking scenes of jubilation around the Pirelli Stadium.

Season 3:
(preview)
I feel much work needs to be done in the close season as Yankov and Stride are now showing signs of age (but Stridey has been offered a 1 year extension as he deserves to play league football).

Youth full back covered some games and looks a prospect so he'll be drafted up to reserves and may get a few games and I expect to be tackling lots of offers for Harrad.

Theres some good players out of contract so hopefully ill be able to tempt some to the Pirelli Ill let you know when the season starts

Update: frustration abounds through the close season as players prefer to stay in lucrative contracts in reserves they obviously dont know the big things that are coming. My main target was Matt Holland to anchor my midfield now Yankov has retired but he was lured to Bournmouth. All other targets dont want to come. Time to search abroad and loan market I think.

Kevin Poole has retired and is now purely goalkeeping coach so i need a replacement there /sigh

Had a fairly good friendly against Forest albeit losing but there are some large cracks that need filling

 

[Faisal-91]

Promotion was sealed in the penultimate game of the season with Jake "the snake" Buxton scoring an equaliser in the 91st minute of the game sparking scenes of jubilation around the Pirelli Stadium.

Haha sounds sick! Keep it going.

 

[Mallakith]

Sooo first venture as a professional club with the board desiring I stave off relegation. with a 50k transfer budget and 10k in wages my only signings in preseason was Mark Hughes from Torquay to bolster my midfield a little, Andras Simon (a hungarian U21 international centre forward) came in but has been largely disappointing in his appearances so far and the signings were rounded off by Jan Sebek (Czech U21 Goalie) to cover Saul Deeney.

Despite fears of a long hard season the lads have rallied together and strung some good results together, and currently in the January transfer window the Brewers sit seventh and the board are considering releasing more funds to aid a push to promotion.

The fans' biggest disappointment came in the JP Trophy when leading Derby County by an amazing 3 - 0 a power cut (irl) caused the game to be abandoned. Unfortunately the warning was headed and the Rams cruised past us in the replayed fixture.

Harrad is finding it more dificult in the higher league but is still the clubs top scorer.

Welll so much for optimism... after reaching 7th at christmas i managed an injury list reminiscent of Saving Private Ryan and a run of results posts new year to rival Hull City last season.

Finally finished the season limping across the line in an almost wonderful 22nd place in the league.

The loss of my midfield mainstay Hughes to an achilles injury for 4 months didnt help but the team were woeful at times and the defending laughable. I realised too late that the Tug's Training Regime i had put the team on combined with my one coach was doing a great job of reducing all my players stats so hopefully my close season hiring of a defensive and offensive coach plus altering the schedules slightly (dont ask i kind of made them up) seem to have at least got most of the arrows pointing in the right direction!

Close season saw a spate of younger (crapper) players released and two of the giants of our promotion season Martin Butler and Darren Stride finally deciding to retire. I also decided not to renew Jody Banim (age and dodgy fitness) and Darren King (got injured or sent off every time he played then cried he wasnt playing) contracts.

The board agreed to enquire into setting up a partnership with a local club and while my heart wanted Derby County the best they could offer was Notts F****** I sucked up my pride and this season have a young winger who can play left or right and has reasonable stats on loan (regen i assume). Several players have come in and hopefully the squad is slightly deeper and also slightly more skillful than last season and we can push and and secure mid table mediocrity (or better!)

Thought id add a screeny of transfers (note ive been busy) and what I think should be my starting XI:

 

[Mallakith]

Season four update

well what a ride... the year started badly with us being knocked out of pretty much every cup competition available at the first round (being drawn against recently relegated from the championship peterborough not helping) but a steady season saw us rise through the ranks and never look in any particular danger.

Entering the final week of the season a win for Burton and loss for Brentford could have seen us in an unexpected playoff place but it wasnt to be and a draw at Bury consigned us to ninth place.

However Robert Mak(see attached) and Super Shauny Harrad have formed a fairly lethal partnership banging in 40 odd goals between them in 36 appearances each, the only downfall to this is Greg Pearson has taken umbrage at being less involved and asked for a transfer.

My defence still worries me as we ship a lot of goals and im finding it hard to understand why, one week my defenders will look world class the next like Claude Davis.

Saul Deeney's form dipped allowing Jan Sebek to nail the goalkeeping slot only relinquishing the shirt when away on international duty.

A weekness at left back (in depth not in the superb Aaron Webster) has pushed me into signing an 18 year old from Leeds reserves which gives me Corbett and Webster (getting older) and 2 young backups who i should be able to rely on.

As every close season my plans may well be undone by the greedy eyes of other clubs looking at the SIX! oh yes SIX! under 21 internationals I now have playing for me.

So funds for next season I think need to go into trying to entice a top class organiser at centre back to tighten them up a bit.

Result of the season? Burton Albion 5 Luton Town 0 (shows my inconsistency a little lol)

 

[mickofboro]

im currently doing this with kings lynn started bsn finished 9th first season then got promotion finishing 2nd finished 11th bsp then won the league and im currently in coca cola league 2 just wish a billionaire would buy the club would make things easier

would have loved to get shaun harrad he has been top scorer in bsp for last 3 years chose a bigger club in this season though

 

[Mallakith]

His stats are sick for BSP with Mak as well I play Harrad in the deeper role and Mak using his accel and pace one or both score pretty much every game.

Its the first time ive really taken on a team other than Derby and am enjoying the fact that while I do care about Burtons results (living close and working there) i dont have the same attachment to "real" players so i dont keep them on as i have a tendency to do with the mighty rams.

What Ive found has been a godsend is get a scout and an assistant with good "judging player ability" (and potential if poss) and get them to scout all the players at the trials, Mak and Sebek both came on a free from there and are awesome.

 

[Sheahan]

I live in Burton. Love reading your story keep it up

 

[Mallakith]

Sorry this seasons update took a while but i have been mostly watching cricket...

Not many purchases this season, brought in Dean Beckwith to try and shore up a dodgy defence at the start of the season and Kevin Roberts midway through the season to add strength to centre/right midfield.

With two weeks to go in the season we stood top but the delight of achieving automatic promotion that game meant we lost and drew the last two games and ended in third rather than as the champions which we deserved.

Managers player of the season Shaun Harrad, he has achieved two promotions with Burton and is the focal point of the team. Young player of the season would go to Lance Thompson whos improvement and performances this season kept Andy Corbett warming the bench until mid April when he unfortunately received a red card.

So next season League One... I think many of these players will be able to cope but have scouts looking for quicker centre backs as my main weakness seems to be with the ball over the top.

Saul Deeney, Danny Holmes, Ryan Austin and Tony James are going to be released as I feel they deserve first team football and currently I cannot offer it to them as other players are ahead of them in the pecking order.

The link with Forest was not as useful this season as they sent a Centre Half that was poor at best and downright awful if honest.

Robert Mak again scored nearly 30 league goals and has Preston Northend and other championship/premiership clubs circling, I cant hold him back but will be holding out for a reasonable compensation.

 

[Mallakith]

So first season in League One and departing from tradition i decided not to replace swathes of my squad and trust to the talent I already had.

I did however allow three first team players to leave at the end of their contracts, Ryan Austin, Danny Holmes and Greg Pearson along with removing several youth players who I didnt see making the grade.

Signings were sparse, just Chris Britton and Junior Stanislas came in permanently along with George Thomson again from my parent club Forest.

The season started poorly with many draws but few wins. A season of consolidation was what the board required and I had a reasonable transfer kitty to do that. Then the players hit their straps and went on several unbeaten runs to steadily climb the table.

In the midst of this came the clubs first trip to Wembley stadium in the Johnson Paints Trophy which we duly won to the raptures of the people thronging the streets on our return. An open topped bus ride around the brewing capital of the world due reward for a good bunch of players.

The FA cup third round brought the mighty powers of Chelsea to the Pirelli Stadium and in a great display of sheer ******-mindedness and desire the Brewers held them goalless and earned a replay at Stamford Bridge unfortunately the fairytale wasnt to be and we got stuffed 5 - 0 in the replay.

Result of the season for the fans (much as it may have upset the manager in rl), the trip up the A38 to Pride Park to see the Mighty Rams humbled 2 - 5 in their own backyard.

Robert Mak again top scorer with 21 goals Shaun Harrad managed 15 and Andras Simon 10 but injury to all three in the last few weeks of the season meant Harrad was playing with injections and i couldnt pull out the two wins i needed for the playoffs.

But a highly succesful first season in league one and a definite push for promotion next season.

Still have problems with my defence at times, I cant work out why against some teams they play like world beaters then others let players wander through them looking faintly embarassed to score.

Tom Sharpe is the worst (pictured) his stats seem ok but he has a tendency to be either awesome or **** any ideas?