Hectic summer as Brewers get ready for a new League season
BURTON Albion would be beyond the halfway point in the League One season in terms of games played by now if Covid-19 had not caused the last two games to be postponed.
As it stands, they are one match short of halfway but, even so, it has been an eventful few months – not least because the “start” dates back to the first week in June when Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink announced his first signing.
The signings kept on coming. In the first part of a review of the first half of the season, here is what happened through June and July, before a ball was kicked.
JIMMY Floyd Hasselbaink and Dino Maamria had pulled off the Great Escape, keeping Burton Albion in League One with an excellent run of form worth almost two points a game since their arrival in January.
But in the eyes of the management duo, who had met on a coaching course and found their footballing philosophies matched, the job had only just started.
Hasselbaink had lasted only a year in his first spell as Burton boss but, after finding both Queens Park Rangers and Northampton Town hot potatoes, he seemed resolved towards a longer project at Burton. Maamria, successful in terms of results wherever he had been, managing some clubs in dire financial straits, announced that he wanted to be part of something more substantial; to build a legacy at a club.
They had brought in 12 players when they first arrived. Their first summer window was to be even busier.
The first man through the door was Cameron Borthwick-jackson, whose career had begun at the top with 10 Premier League appearances for Manchester United but who had found things more tricky after that.
Maamria had worked with him with Oldham Athletic and there was a sense that, at 24, he could still hit the heights as a player if he found the right environment.
A day after Borthwick-jackson was announced came news that winger Omari Patrick would be signing when his deal with Carlisle United was completed.
At 25, he was another player with potential, keen to take the next step in his career.
The addition of the more experienced 27-year-old Deji Oshilaja, a central defender or midfielder who was leaving Charlton Athletic, took the signings to three in a week.
There was a brief lull in the action but then Hasselbaink signed midfielder Bryn Morris for the second time at Burton. He had brought in a teenaged Morris on loan from Middlesbrough during his first spell in charge of the Brewers and remained an admirer.
Meanwhile, academy product and local lad Ben Fox went in the other direction, joining Grimsby Town in League Two. It was a shame to see him go but probably a wise move for him in his overall career.
Draw a quick breath and it was back to the in door at the Pirelli Stadium. Striker Louis Moult had been rumoured to be on his way for weeks and now he signed.
Moult’s career record of a goal every two games looked good and he had scored the winner for Preston North End when they confirmed the Brewers’ relegation from the Championship in May, 2018. He could not get back into the Preston side after a cruciate ligament injury, though, and now wanted to play closer to his family home in Stoke.
One more day, one more player. Left-back Frazer Blake-tracy made it six signings with his contract with Peterborough United due to expire.
All six had been two-year deals so far, Hasselbaink stating he hoped to retain and improve saleable assets for the club.
That chain was broken a few days later when Danny Rowe was handed a one-year contract, having impressed in a short-term deal towards the end of the previous season. The Brewers also confirmed defender Michael Bostwick remained under contract for another year.
The next man in was Tom O’connor, who had spent two seasons playing mostly at centre-half on loan for Gillingham from Southampton. The Gills wanted to keep him but Hasselbaink saw him as more of a midfielder and that was one factor that swung the deal.
We were still in June at this point and before the month was out, former loanee Conor Shaughnessy was back in the building, following his release from Rochdale, who had been relegated from League One.
It was one signing no-one had predicted. He had not played previously under Hasselbaink but the manager saw a lot of potential in the tall Irish defender.
It was 10 signings when Jacob Maddox became the first loanee of the summer. The 22-year-old attacking midfielder arrived on a season-long deal from Vitoria Sport Clube in Portugal, where he had struggled to settle.
Hasselbaink talked of “bringing him home”. Maddox had previously been in the same Chelsea youth team as Mason Mount.
Hasselbaink declared himself happy with progress by mid-july but he was not finished.
The signing of striker Aaron Amadi-holloway on a one-year deal was something of a surprise but adding a striker suddenly looked a good idea when the luckless Moult injured his ankle badly in the preseason friendly against Leicester City, played for the Bass Vase, which
Burton duly won on penalties.
Burton-born centre-half Ryan Leak had played against the Brewers in a behind-closed-doors friendly and Hasselbaink liked what he saw. Leak, who played his schoolboy football with Wolves, had been trying his luck in Spain but had returned home rather than find himself stranded by travel restrictions during the spread of Covid-19.
That was 12 arrivals and Hasselbaink declared that his new squad was “ready to go”.
A season-opener loomed against Shrewsbury Town and Hasselbaink and Maamria had fulfilled their aim of getting the majority of the squad in place in time for a good length of pre-season together.
However, of course, the transfer window was still open...