Not a season when Brewers loans could be considered successful
HOWEVER you look at it, the 202324 season was not a successful one for Burton Albion in terms of their forays into the loan market, whatever other problems they had.
There have been some inspirational loans who have made a huge difference in the last few seasons but the class of 23-24 did not include them.
The two loans made at the start of the season, Steve Seddon, on a season-long deal from Oxford United, and Kwadwo Baah, will go down as the most successful but, sadly, it was a low bar.
Six more came in January, five of them forwards, but a total of two goals between them tells its own story.
With new manager Martin Paterson having to deal late in the transfer window and with funds presumably by then at a premium, he largely had young inexperienced players who, unsurprisingly, were not cut out for a relegation battle.
You could also add that the attritional style Burton were playing in an attempt to get out of trouble did not suit them.
Here’s a run through of the season’s eight loans.
Steve Seddon
It appears it was only a technicality that stopped Seddon being the full transfer that Dino Maamria would have preferred – he knew the player from a loan with Stevenage – and the season-long loan was strongly hinted at as being with a view to a follow-up full signing.
As such, we tended to see Seddon as a full-blown Brewer.
He has divided opinion but, for the most part, he has impressed. Either as an out and out full-back or a wing-back, he has defended determinedly, if not always successfully, and driven forward at every opportunity.
There was no better example of that than when he sparked the comeback against Derby County in Paterson’s first game in charge by running at the Rams from halfway and unleashing a pinpoint accurate low shot which pulled a goal back.
Three sendings-off in one season, unique among Burton players in the Football League, might hint at a discipline problem but they were all for two yellows and there was a careless rather than nasty element to the bookings, although his former teammates for Cambridge United plainly knew how to wind him up.
They were also the only sendings off in a career of six seasons so far.
Overall, a sound player to sign, I would think.
Kwadwo Baah
Baah arrived from Watford with a reputation for explosive wing-play but also for getting injured. He was aiming to get his career back on track after an unsuccessful loan in Germany.
We saw both the explosive play and, unfortunately, the injuries. Between them, we also saw that, like a lot of wingers, he can have frustrating days when nothing he tries works out.
But he was responsible for a couple of the finer moments of the season, a brilliant solo finish to arguably the best team move the Brewers put together in the season to hammer in a goal for the first win, away to Port Vale, and an emphatic finish to put the icing on the cake in the 4-1 win over Bristol Rovers.
In successive 2-1 home wins against Wigan Athletic and Cambridge United, it was very much a case of “give him the ball.”
But injury won in the end and his last appearance was on New Year’s Day away to Bolton Wanderers.
That he made friends here was evidenced by him turning up to watch when the Brewers won away to Stevenage late in the season.
He is still only 21 and you would hope for his sake that there is a decent career still waiting for him.
Joe Hugill
Hugill arrived in January, Paterson’s first loan signing, with a good reputation from Manchester United and exploded on to the scene with a composed run from halfway and finish to equalise against Derby County.
Goals scored when a forward has that long to think about them usually bode well.
Sadly, Hugill scarcely showed that composure again and, while running willingly, rarely threatened to score again.
Perhaps he would have banged them in for fun playing in a successful side; perhaps the experience, harsh as it has been, will help him in his future career.
Tolaji Bola
Wing-back Bola came in from Rotherham United with a decent reputation and looking to play more regular football but he has still made only 51 appearances in six seasons, six of those with Arsenal’s under-21s in the EFL Trophy.
There were flashes of something good, decent crosses, but after he started the dismal 4-0 home defeat to Oxford United and saw the ball bounce over him at halfway in the build-up to the first goal, he was not in the squad for the last four matches and initial thoughts that he may be one for next season melted away.
Ademola Ola-Adebomi
After Hugill, the most used of the young strikers, with 17 appearances. The 20-year-old from Crystal Palace tried to put himself about but, generally, League One defenders had too much strength and nous for him.
He scored once, the equaliser at home to Peterborough United, before late goals saw the Brewers lose 3-1, and provided an excellent assist for Mark Helm’s goal away to Bristol Rovers.
Antwoine Hackford
Unfortunately, it could not be said that Hackford managed anything in six substitute appearances to suggest he should be getting a start ahead of the others.
Kyle Hudlin
Paterson may be wishing now that he had not built the 6ft 9in Hudlin so much by saying he had more to him than just height and that the Brewers could bring it out of him. In one start and four substitute appearances he frankly looked all at sea and had disappeared from the squad before the key matches in April.
Jonathan Leko
As previously well documented, the unluckiest player of the season for Burton, the most experienced striker brought in, but he succumbed to an ACL injury within a few minutes of coming on against Cambridge United.
He was a split second, half a yard, from connecting and scoring instead of crashing into goalkeeper Jack Stevens and it was a split second which ended his season. Things could have been so different.