BURTON ALBION FOOTBALL CLUB

THE PIRELLI STADIUM

PRINCESS WAY BURTON UPON TRENT

DE13 0AR

BY SUPPORTERS CLUB COACH

For full details of Away Travel which has changed from last season, this includes pick up times: –

Click here: – FGR Away Travel – Forest Green Rovers Supporters Club (fgrsc.com)

For further information, including pickup point locations

Away travel arrangements 22/23 – Forest Green Rovers Supporters Club (fgrsc.com)

Book coach ticket with your match ticket from FGR.

25% discount for FGR Supporters Club members.

Click – Tickets | WE ARE FGR

By phone on 0333 123 1889 Monday to Friday, between 9am and 3pm.

Please try to book as early as possible

BY TRAIN

NB There is a planned rail strike on 1 October. Please check train times before travelling.

There are direct trains from Gloucester Station which takes about 1 hour 30 minutes.

Burton Railway Station is around a mile and a half away from the Pirelli Stadium. As you come out of the station turn left and go down the hill. Turn right into Derby Street and from there it is a straight road up to the stadium. It should take about 25 minutes to walk.

The Trent Barton Villager V1 & V2 buses, which start in the town centre and then pass the railway station and the Pirelli Stadium. As you exit the station, turn left and you will immediately come to the stop. It stops right outside the ground and the journey takes about 5 minutes. Returning, the stop is opposite where you got off. Buses on a Saturday are normally twice an hour.

Trent Barton Bus Services – http://www.trentbarton.co.uk

Away fans are predominantly housed in the East Terrace at one end of the ground, where just over 1,400 fans can be accommodated. In addition, 400 seats are also made available to visiting supporters in the Main Stand (East end of the South Stand). The turnstiles open 90 minutes prior to kick off and fans are normally searched on entry to the stadium. As you would expect from a modern stadium (2005), the view of the playing action (there are no supporting pillars) and facilities are good.

There is a Cash Point located at the Co-operative Shop across the road from the stadium.

Burton have football programmes – The Match Day Brewer – which cost £3.

National Memorial Arboretum

National Brewery Centre – www.nationalbrewerycentre.co.uk

FA National Football Centre  – www.thefa.com

National Adventure Farm – www.adventurefarm.co.uk

Barton Marina – www.bartonmarina.co.uk

National Memorial Arboretum – www.thenma.org.uk

Rosliston Forestry Centre – www.roslistonforestrycentre.co.uk

Clay Mills Victorian Pumping Station – www.claymills.org.uk

Mercia Marina – www.merciamarina.co.uk

In the Ground – Refreshments are available in the away supporters’ concourses at the Pirelli Stadium There are bar and refreshment facilities within the away areas which offer a range of pies, burgers, hot dogs and the ‘famous’ Burton Albion faggots, chips and peas. Confectionery and both alcoholic and soft drinks are also available.

The Beech Inn

The nearest pub is probably the ‘The Beech Inn’ (post code DE13 0DL) which is around a ten-minute walk, up the A5121 Derby Road (going in the opposite direction to Burton town centre) on the left. You can also park your car there at a cost of £5. There is normally a burger van outside the pub although the pub does sandwiches.

Further on past the Beech pub on the same side of the road is a McDonalds. Otherwise, there is the Great Northern pub, which serves Burton Bridge Beers, along with a guest ale. This pub is located on Wetmore Road, which leads off the roundabout near to the stadium entrance, go up and over the railway bridge and the pub is on the left.

If you particularly like your real ale then just under a half a mile away from the stadium is the Burton Town Brewery. Situated in a small industrial unit in Falcon Close (off Hawkins Lane, which itself also runs off the main roundabout by the ground), it opens its doors before matches and has available real and craft ales, lagers, cider and wine. There is plenty of on-street parking in the area and fans are welcome to bring in their own food. Also nearby is the Tower Brewery on Glensyl Way. Featuring a cosy snug room it also has a large function area that looks out onto the brewing vessels. However, it is not always open before matches so check with them first via their website. On the way to the ground on Hawkins Lane is the handy ‘Fish Hut’ Fish and Chip shop.

Near to the railway station are the Roebuck, Devonshire, the Last Heretic micropub and the Cooper’s Tavern. The Last Heretic opens from 11am, has a large beer garden and has a range of ales and ciders. If you walk from the station to the ground, you will pass the Albert Ale House on your left which also serves Burton Bridge Beers and then a little further on towards the stadium (just past the roundabout), is the Derby Inn, which has five real ales on tap.

The Great Northern Pub

Guide to Vegan Food in Burton – A vegan’s guide to: Burton-On-Trent | WE ARE FGR

Last season Burton finished 16^th in L1.

This season they are currently bottom with 4 points, two places below FGR.

Last time out they lost away to Shrewsbury 2-1 but their previous match they recorded their first win of the season 2-0 away to Exeter.

Burton’s top scorer is Davis Keillor-Dunn with 4 goals.

Noureddine “Dino” Maamria

Born and brought up in Tunisia for the first 4 years of Maamria’s life his family lived in a tent and owned 2 goats one of which Maamria named Gary after Gary Lineker.

Maamria started his playing career with As Marsa of Tunisia. He left the club in 1994 and spent a season at CO Transports. He moved to England in 1996 and joined Burnley. Maamria subsequently signed for Glentoran, spending the remainder of 1996–97 season with the club. He joined then Conference club Doncaster Rovers in 1998, spending two years there. He spent the 2000-01 at Southport, before signing for Leigh RMI in July 2001. After two seasons at Leigh, Maamria signed for Stevenage for a five-figure fee in February 2003. He left the club after making 10 appearances, joining Charleston Battery in USA. He made nine appearances for Charleston, before re-joining Stevenage in September 2003. Maamria went on to spend three seasons with Stevenage. In July 2006, he re-joined Southport, before signing for Rushden & Diamonds on a free transfer in January 2007. After being released by Rushden at the end of the2006/7, Maamria signed for Northwich Victoria in August 2007.

He made the transition from playing to coaching and management, managing Northwich Victoria, Southport and Nuneaton Town in non-League. During his time as manager of Northwich, Maamria won the Conference Premier Manager of the Year award for the 2007/8 season, during which he guided Northwich to Conference Premier safety having been in administration and 15 points adrift of safety at the time of his appointment. In March 2018, he was appointed as manager of League Two club Stevenage, a position he held until September 2019. Later that month, Maamria was appointed as head coach of Oldham Athletic. He has also been a first-team coach and assistant manager at Stevenage, Preston NE & Newport County.

Following Hasselbaink’s resignation, after his second time as Burton Manager, on 5 September 2022, Maamria was promoted from assistant to manager.

Davis Keillor-Dunn scoring one of his three goals against Accrington Stanley.

Davis Keillor-Dunn

Keillor-Dunn spent his youth career at Middlesbrough, Sunderland & Chesterfield before moving to Ross County in 2016 for whom he played 40 times. Ross County sent him on loan to Falkirk in 2019 where he played 11 times. He then briefly played at Wrexham before joining Oldham. He played over 80 times for Oldham. After scoring five goals in four consecutive matches as Oldham fought against relegation, Keillor-Dunn was awarded the L2 Player of The Month award for February 2022. Following relegation to the National League, Keillor-Dunn was released by the club at the end of the season. He joined Burton in July 22.

Sam Winnall

Gassan Ahadme joined Ipswich on 1 Sept 22 for a six-figure fee, at the time he was Burton’s equal top scorer. Burton then signed free agent Sam Winnall.

Winnall returns to the club he made his EFL debut for during a loan spell from Wolverhampton Wanderers in early 2011, a move that yielded seven goals in 19 games while the Brewers were in League Two. Following further loan spells at Hereford, Inverness and Shrewsbury, Winnall made a permanent move to Scunthorpe United, spending a season at Glanford Park and netting 23 times before being snapped up by Barnsley.

Winnall would make a fantastic impact at Oakwell – playing a key role by scoring 24 times in their 2015/16 play-off promotion season and he would continue his fine scoring record in the Championship, earning a move to Sheffield Wednesday in January 2017.

Following a loan spell at Derby County, Winnall dropped back to League One level in 2020 to sign for Oxford United, for whom he scored seven times before leaving the Us last summer.

Nigel Clough – Burton Manager 1998 -2009 & 2015 – 2020

The club moved its home ground in 2005 to the Pirelli Stadium from Eton Park.

Although the ground opened for business in July 2005 with a low-key pre-season friendly against Chester City, the Pirelli Stadium was officially opened in November 2005 by Manchester United who ironically returned to the Pirelli two months later in the FA Cup third round with Albion holding the Premiership giants to a 0-0 draw in front of a then record ground attendance of 6,191 before losing in a replay at Old Trafford.

The club’s nickname, The Brewers, evokes the brewing heritage of Burton upon Trent.

Burton Albion were formed in 1950 and initially joined the Birmingham District League before switching to the Southern League eight years later. They were promoted from the Southern League Division One in 1965–66, 1971–72 and 1973–74 and were relegated from the Southern League Premier Division in 1970, 1973 and 1977. Burton spent 1979 to 1987 in the Northern Premier League, before reverting to the Southern League Premier Division. They re-joined the Northern Premier League in 2001 and were promoted to the Conference as Northern Premier League champions in 2001–02. Nigel Clough spent seven seasons as the club’s player-manager in the Conference (the first of two spells as manager) and then led them into the EFL as champions of the Conference in 2008–09. They lost the 2014 play-off Final but went on to win the League Two title in 2014–15 and were promoted from League One in 2015–16. Burton spent two seasons in the Championship until relegation in 2018.

The club mascot is Billy Brewer who despite the scary face is apparently quite a character. Billy has recently found love and there is now a Bettie Brewer as well, by an amazing coincidence her name is alliterative too. The children in the picture seem too normal to be Billy & Bettie’s.

Derby County Shirt 1984-86 – Bass sponsored various sports teams including Derby County, Crewe Alexandra, Blackpool, Yeovil & Bristol Rugby but never, ironically, Burton Albion.

Manet’s 1882 ‘a Bar at the Folies-Bergères’ (Courtauld Gallery, London)

The beer bottles depicted are easily identified by the red triangle on the label as Bass Pale Ale, and the conspicuous presence of this British brand instead of German beer has been interpreted as evidence of anti-German sentiment in France in the decade after the Franco-Prussian war. We’ll discuss the issue of the mirror and perspective another time.

No current players have played for both FGR & Burton so…..

Marmite

The first jar of Marmite was produced in Burton in 1902. Burton thanks to its excellent water is the capital of British Brewing. Marmite is an off-shoot of the beer industry there, the by-product yeast needed for the paste was supplied by Bass Brewery to make the nutritious – rich in B vitamins – spread, you legendarily either love or loathe. Marmite is still made in Burton at their Wellington Road factory.

Bovril

Marmite was owned by the Bovril Company (both owned by Unilever since 2000). Napoleon lll partly blamed France’s defeat in the Franco-Prussian war on the lack of food for his army. In 1870 John Lawson Johnston, a Scottish butcher living in Canada was ordered to deliver a beef-based product for the French troops. This resulted in the creation of Bovril. The name Bovril is a combination of part of the Latin word for ox – Bovinus – and a reference to a novel of the time – ‘The Coming Race’ (1871) about a superhuman race who lived on a super food called Vril.

And the Beet Goes On – Vegan Bovril (an oxymoron)

In November 2020, FGR announced a collaboration with the makers of Bovril to create a Beet-based version of Bovril.

This prompted one correspondent, possibly not a vegan nor a FGR supporter, to write to the Stroud News & Journal.

‘I am however moved to comment on FGR’s dietary foray into Bovril. It begs the question how soon will it be before they substitute their animal or petrochemical based footwear and ball for heavily starched socks and a hessian bag stuffed with straw? And supporters chanting baa baa.’

The Stig from TV’s ‘Top Gear’- In February 2014 Jeremy Clarkson tweeted that ‘ Just heard from The Stig. It seems he supports Burton Albion’

A YouTube clip of Burton’s 2-1 win against Bristol Rovers in 2011 appears to back this claim up – The Stig at Burton Albion FC – YouTube.

Paddy Considine, the popular actor currently starring in TV’s ‘House of Dragons’ was born in Burton in 1973 and still lives there despite his parents regularly asking him to move out. Considine is reported to be a Burton Albion supporter, but this photo clearly shows him wearing an FGR shirt under his jacket.

A common phrase meaning something which has ‘gone for a Burton’ is no longer functional – a reference to a person who had died or an item that was broken.

It dates from the 1940s and the first reference to it in print that I know of is from the wartime diary of RAF pilot Colin Dunford Wood. His entry for 22nd May 1941 includes:

Front gun jams so I have to come home, quarter of an hour after the other two, to find the camp being bombed, and 110s just finished and they all think I have “gone for a Burton”.

Very soon afterwards, in November 1941, the American newspaper The Akron Beacon Journal published a list of aviation related jargon terms, including this:

“Go for a Burton – Killed in action.’

There are various etymological explanations of the phrase’s origins, but one is that

‘To go for a Burton’ refers to the beer brewed in the Midlands town of Burton-upon-Trent, which was and still is famous for its breweries. RAF pilots who crashed, especially those who crashed into the sea, that is, ‘in the drink’, were said to have ‘Gone for a Burton’.