Does Burton’s record signing of Kyle McFadzean show growth from their “small club” tag?

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Burton Albion have come a very long way since winning promotion to the Football League in 2008-09. After five years of building towards progress in League Two, the hard graft of a line of young managers including Gary Rowett and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink has culminated in the club reaching the dizzy heights of the Championship for the first time in its history.

A familiar face in Nigel Clough guided them over the line after Hasselbaink’s departure for Queen’s Park Rangers, the man who sent Burton on their great journey by taking them to the top of what is now the National League in the season where they won promotion back to the Football League.

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After two magical seasons, the club has gone from visiting Crawley and Southend to Newcastle and Norwich in regards to their opposition, and are relishing the challenge of life in the Championship and a league encounter with the “big club down the road”, Derby County.

However, throughout both of those campaigns, there has always been a modest approach at what is by category a very small club. Their 6,912 capacity home ground; the Pirelli Stadium, will be the smallest in the Championship next season. To put it into perspective, the next smallest ground, Rotherham United’s New York Stadium, is almost twice the size. Burton’s average gates of 4089 are minuscule compared to the average Championship club.

Recently, they signalled their intent to assault the Championship by smashing their transfer record with the recruitment of MK Dons defender Kyle McFadzean for an undisclosed club record fee on a three-year contract. It is confirmed to be more than the £20,000 that the club paid for midfielder Russell Penn back in 2009, and MK Dons boss Karl Robinson had confirmed that the price tag on the 29-year old was within the region of £500,000.

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McFadzean first appeared in the Football League with Crawley Town following their promotion from the then Blue Square Premier (now National League), before being snapped up by the Dons for an undisclosed fee, and went on to make 93 appearances for the Milton Keynes club, scoring four goals.

Such a coup for a club of seemingly such small stature is a wake-up call for the football world, and it could be perceived as a sign that these small clubs actually can compete on small budgets but also as they climb higher and accumulate financial rewards, they may just begin to acquire spending power of their own.

Indeed, Burton Albion are a very well run club under Chairman Ben Robinson and made strong use of the loan market last season with signings such as Mark Duffy from Birmingham City and Hamza Choudhury from Leicester, who were a vital part of their promotion winning side. However, to make such a marquee signing of their own for such a fee is certainly reason to believe that they may be stepping out of the “small club” shadow and changing mentality towards even greater ambitions.

Having been written off in League One, Albion embarrassed the bookies with their promotion campaign and now may be setting their sights on a nigh unthinkable achievement of retaining their newly earned Championship status.

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In McFadzean, they have a player who has Championship experience, after a learning curve season with MK Dons in 2015-16 which saw the club relegated, though new manager Nigel Clough is optimistic that in his opinion one of the “best centre halves in League One” will come back a stronger player for that experience.

“I think he’ll be better this time making the step up, thanks to his previous experience in the Championship. We think he will be a help for us and he leads by example on the pitch.

“He’s a good age and has matured as a player. He’s probably at his peak and has hardly missed a game for the last two years”.

Although the MK Dons were relegated back to League One, losing a player of McFadzean’s stature will come as a real shock, and for a club like Burton to poach a key player from a club with a bigger infrastructure will certainly raise eyebrows. Dons manager Karl Robinson has also expressed his disappointment at losing the player:

“I’m deeply disappointed to lose Kyle. We had meetings with him in the summer.

“He knows what our ambitions are for next season and going forward, but he’s decided his future lies elsewhere”.

The prospect of working with Nigel Clough; a seasoned manager in the divison from his year’s with Derby County, was a key aspect in persuading McFadzean to join the Brewers. Although Clough only laid the foundations back in 2009 which other managers built on before his return, his experience and contacts in the higher echelons of the Football League and now the acquisition of McFadzean may prove real game-changers in the approach of the Staffordshire club as it seemingly begins to set its sights on bigger and better things.

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They have lived with the tag of “punching above their weight” throughout their successful runs in League Two and their promotion campaign in League One last season, and now it seems they have reached a point where they are looking to establish themselves as a club which belongs in the higher divisions and finally win over their doubters.

The sky is indeed the limit now for Burton Albion, and they are undoubtedly doing their best to operate in their new and unknown environment within their means. With a coach who has vast experience of the division, the club may be starting to shed its small club skin and looking to stand tall in the second tier.

It has been a step too far for other small clubs such as Yeovil Town, but lessons will have been learned from their rise and fall, and the hierarchy at Burton Albion will be determined to ensure the Brewers do not succumb to a similar fate.

Small club or not, they are in with the big boys now, and they are looking like making a real go of it. How they fare will be a fascinating scenario to unfold, but whether they fall or fly an exciting new chapter is beginning at the Pirelli Stadium, and this so far successful club will be one to watch over the coming season.