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‘Accrington Stanley and now it’s the likes of Newcastle United…It’s crazy’

7 years ago
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It is Burton v Newcastle next up, a game that Manager Nigel Clough yesterday said was ‘the biggest mismatch in a league game in the country’.

It is a remarkable story and only 19 months ago (May 2015), Burton Albion were still playing in League Two.

Consecutive promotions have lifted Burton from the fourth tier to the Championship, amazing really for a club who first got as high as the Conference (now National League) only 14 years ago.

Nigel Clough – Wednesday 14 December 2016:

“It’s probably the biggest mismatch in a league game in the country, not so many years ago we were playing the likes of Park Avenue and Accrington around this period.

“I don’t think there is any point in us sitting back against Newcastle, we hope they recover well for Saturday. We have to play at an intensity to outplay teams in this league, to repeat it every game is going to be hard for anyone to do in England.

“I hope Rafa will join us for a glass of wine after the game and all of his staff. We aren’t sure how we will fit them all in, in our tiny office.”

Echoing his manager’s comments, Burton defender Damien McCrory describes it as ‘crazy’, the fact that only two seasons ago they were playing against the likes of Morecambe, York, Cheltenham and Accrington Stanley.

Burton are having a good go at surviving/thriving in the Championship, as even though they are fourth bottom, they are outside the relegation zone and only six points off Barnsley who are in the top half of the table.

At the club since 2012, McCrory has been an almost ever present in the amazing rise of the club, but says ‘we don’t want it to end here, we want to go on and get further success’.

Best of luck to them after this Saturday and who knows, despite having a stadium that holds less than seven thousand fans, who is to say Burton can’t just possibly make it into the Premier League one day soon? With gates of around ten thousand, Bournemouth are proof that if you can get into the top tier, with the relatively fair distribution of TV cash any club now can have a good go at making it in the Premier League.

Damien McCrory speaking to the Burton Mail:

“I don’t think either Newcastle or Aston Villa will like coming to the Pirelli Stadium.

“If we start the game like we did on Tuesday night, and I don’t think Huddersfield wanted to come here, I think the game showed we were on the front foot and we took it to them.

“If we do the same thing to Newcastle and Villa away, I think we can get results.”

“It’s crazy…in my first season we were playing against clubs like Accrington Stanley and now it’s the likes of Newcastle.

“The club has come on leaps and bounds and I’m proud I’ve been part of that.

“We don’t want it to end here, we want to go on and get further success.”

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