Burton Albion Season Preview 2021/22: Brewers back from the brink

If you are one of these cynics who think miracles don’t exist then you weren’t watching football in League One last season.

Harry Houdini would have given Burton a standing ovation for their great escape in 2020/21. The Brewers looked dead and buried before the arrival of Jimmy Floyd-Hasselbaink and Dino Maamria.

With the side sat plumb bottom after just two wins in 21 games, former player Jake Buxton was sacked, leaving the club almost certain to go down but Hasselbaink and Maamria bagged nine wins in their first 12 matches, including a club record in the EFL of six straight victories, to push the Brewers to safety.

It was a remarkable turn of events that was helped by some incredibly shrewd business in the January transfer window. That work has laid the foundations for the coming season, which is unlikely to see Burton battling again at the wrong end of the table.

The Staffordshire outfit are one of the best-run sides in the EFL and they will have learnt their lessons from last season. Expect the team to be younger, better organised, and more creative. All of which should serve them well as they attack a new era with new hope.

The Squad

There has been a fair bit of squad churn at the Pirelli in the last eight months but it was necessary in order to push the Brewers away from danger and improve their chances of success in the coming campaign.

Deji Oshilaja and Cameron Borthwick-Jackson add defensive reinforcements while Conor Shaughnessy and Tom O’Connor arrive along with Bryn Morris in midfield.

The club signed Omari Patrick after the former Bradford man enjoyed a decent campaign up in Cumbria with Carlisle and Ellery Balcombe should give Ben Garratt some stiff competition in net joining on loan from Brentford.

Aaron Amadi-Holloway gives the club an option to play more direct with the former Oldham striker joining following a stint at SC East Bengal.

Jonny Smith was a superb signing in January and he could be a key player again this season while mainstays John Brayford and Lucas Akins offer stability and experience.

Newcomer to watch: Louis Moult

The former Preston man arrives at the Pirelli with some good pedigree. Having started out at Stoke, the 29-year-old bounced around on loan for a number of seasons before making his name in non-league football first with Nuneaton and then with Wrexham.

A move to Motherwell in 2015 ignited his career and the attacker would score 50 goals in 98 appearances for The Well which earned him a move to Deepdale.  He should be a good addition for Burton and take some of the goal-scoring burden off Kane Hemmings.

Verdict

Burton won 13 of the 24 league games Hasselbaink and Maamria oversaw after arriving in December, taking 44 points from a possible 72. If they can produce that sort of form in 2021/22 then they would be automatic promotion contenders. Ok, so that might be asking a bit much, but this is a side that has its mojo back and the world is, once again, their oyster.

words James Richards, D3D4 Football