BBC SPORT | Football | Teams | Burton Albion



By Paul Fletcher BBC Sport Online

After 52 years floating around the lower regions of non-league football Burton Albion have finally made it to the Nationwide Conference.

And manager Nigel Clough - son of the legendary Brian - cannot wait for the new season to start.

"There is a buzz and excitement around Burton," Clough told BBC Sport Online.

Not may people expect us to win the League so we can just settle down and try to consolidate our position

Nigel Clough

"It took a long time to reach the Conference but we have finally done it and everyone is excited about the new season."

But Clough, who took his first step into management when he took over at Burton in 1998, is refusing to get carried away.

He may lack the forthright style that made his father such a beguiling, charismatic manager.

But Nigel is not lacking his father's common sense and managerial shrewdness - and he is keen to play down his team's prospects.

"Having taken us so long to get into the Conference we're just going to take it one step at a time and just steer clear of trouble.

"The last two or three years there have been expectations for us to do well and in some ways now the pressure is off

"Not many people expect us to win the league so we can just settle down and try to consolidate our position."

Brian Clough watching Burton Albion in action
Nigel is following in Brian's managerial footsteps
And the former Nottingham Forest and Liverpool striker is even more canny when it comes to the issue of discussing his own managerial career.

"It's more about Burton surviving in the Conference this season than anything else.

"We then need to look at where we can go from there - can we press on and progress even further?"

Burton romped last season's Unibond Premier League, racking up more than 100 points.

They reached the final of the Championship Shield while Darren Stride, Aaron Webster and Dale Anderson were all selected for the England semi-pro team.

And Clough is happy with his squad, praising the effort and consistency of his players.

He is keen to give them a chance to prove themselves at a higher level but has also made a couple of useful additions to his squad.

Criag Dudley joined Burton in the summer
Craig Dudley is one of his team's new signings
"One of the reasons all the squad have stayed together is so that they can test themselves at a higher level - it is very important they get the chance to do so.

"But we have also brought in a couple of good players - Craig Dudley from Oldham, Ilkeston Town's Glen Kirkwood and Sean Gummer from Belper.

"Craig played for Notts County at 17, was part of the England youth set up and we are pleased to have him on board."

Clough is also keen to point out that the standard in the Conference is a lot higher than Burton are used to.

"We haven't really looked at the other Conference teams too much over the summer - we don't want to scare ourselves too much.

"We played five or six Conference teams last season and pretty much know the standard and what we must do to survive.

"About eight or nine teams are full-time, training every day - and that makes a big difference when you consider that we train once or twice a week."

But for all the dangers and pitfalls that lie ahead over the next 10 months the overall mood in Burton is one of excitement.

"I'd settle for mid-table safety I suppose but with the play-offs introduced for the top five teams there will be a lot of teams with a lot to play for.

"We have a couple of cracking fixtures to start the season - against Scarborough and then Barnet and I'm hoping that we'll have a good FA Cup run as well."