grafikhaus
Kraft durch Freude
On 13th November 2017, I did a brief ‘Memries of Burton’ – brief because our upcoming game at The Pirelli Stadium on Friday November 17th was only the sixth meeting between The Blades and The Brewers since Burton Albion FC were formed in 1950:
Our last meeting was significant for the fact that, not only did we win 3-1 (Sharp 2 – 1 pen. – and Clarke) in front of just 5,167, but one of our key players (Paul Coutts) was injured I a challenge from Burton’s Marvin Sordell – a challenge that would end Paul’s season:
This win lifted United up to second spot, a position that would be our highest since the Coutts injury. After that, United would go six League matches without a win, and just two wins in the next 13 League games.
Leading 1-0, Burton equalised on the half-hour when Palmer, in acres of space, was allowed five touches in front of the retreating Blades’ defence before arrowing in a long-range screamer. Who’da thunk it?
And here’s ShorehamView’s Vlog:
Since then, Burton have embarked on another relegation battle – absolutely no disrespect to The Brewers, their crowds and resources make their rise from non-League to this second season in The Championship remarkable.
League table
Thanks to the win at Reading, The Blades are back up to 6th position on 55 pts. Burton are second-bottom with 29 points and a far worse GD (-34) than bottom club Sunderland (-24) who have 27 points.
Latest table
Form guide
Our improved form has seen us climb into 7th position in the Form Table (based on the last six league games). Burton are in 21st position:
Men to watch
Burton have not got a stand-out goalscorer although Darren Bent (on loan from Derby County and yet to score for Burton may need watching.
Nigel Clough
Remembered with mixed emotions for his time at Bramall Lane, this could be the last time in a while that Clough pits his wits against The Blades.
Clough joined the Blades on 23rd October 2013 after a disastrous run under David Weir at the start of the 2013-14 season saw the Blades flirting with the relegation places. A solid season saw the Blades finish in seventh place (seven points behind sixth-placed Peterborough). Some credit Clough with ‘saving’ United from relegation, but I don’t agree. Clough had 33 League games to improve the Blades and we’d only won nine points from the first 13 games of the season under Weir (ten games) and caretaker Chris Morgan (three games). Clough’s tenure included a 0-3 defeat at Crewe…
What can’t be denied is an exhilarating run in the FA Cup in Clough’s first (part) season. An away win at Aston Villa in the third round was followed by a replayed win at Fulham and then home wins against Nottingham Forest and then Charlton in the sixth round. The Blades would finally lose to Hull City in the semi-final at Wembley.
Clough’s final season with us (2014-15) saw The Blades finish in fifth place and a place in the play-offs. After a topsy-turvy season where United occupied the play-off positions for over 3 months, the climax came over two legs in the play-off semi-finals against Swindon Town. After losing the home leg 1-2, the return leg came on May 10. An incredible 5-5 draw saw United go out on aggregate 7-6 - the highest-scoring game in the history of the play-offs.
On 25th May, just two weeks after losing to Swindon in the play-off semi-finals, Nigel Clough was sacked and replaced on June 2nd by Nigel Adkins.
The highlight of the season was a thrilling run to the Carling League Cup semi-final. Winning away at Premier League West Ham United and beating Premier League Southampton at home saw United narrowly lose to Tottenham Hotspur over two legs in the semi-final.
Once again, Clough had ‘pulled a rabbit out of the hat’ with a superb Cup run. However, his negative league tactics saw some embarrassing results – home defeats to Barnsley, Peterborough, Fleetwood and Crewe, MK Dons doing the double over us and away losses at (among others) Chesterfield, Coventry, Swindon, Port Vale and…Yeovil Town.
Clough’s record (all games) at The Blades was:
P: 104 W: 49 D: 30 L: 25 Win %: 47.1