It used to be Gresley and Tamworth, now Burton Albion’s first season in the Championship opens at Nottingham Forest. Their chairman, who has sacked one manager is almost 20 years, says there will no change in approach

When Burton Albion made the short trip to Nottingham shortly after winning promotion to the Football League, it was more than just the Trent that separated them from the City Ground. The home of Nottingham Forest must have seemed as though it belonged to a different world as the League Two newcomers scrambled their way to a 1-1 draw with Notts County. Content to leave Meadow Lane with a point, the most Burton could do was peer at the stadium across the river and dream of playing there one day.

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Seven years on their journey to Nottingham on Saturday afternoon has a slightly altered route. A club whose main rivals were once Gresley Rovers and Tamworth and who reached the Conference in 2002 begin their first season in the second tier of English football with a trip to Forest, who won their second European Cup back when Burton had just joined the Northern Premier League. That Burton are managed by Nigel Clough, whose father, Brian, made Forest the best team in Europe, makes the first meeting between these sides even more special.

Another tantalising prospect for Burton is the visit of Derby County on 26 August, an occasion that will serve as a reminder of how far they have come. Clough’s first spell at Burton, which began with him answering an advert in the Daily Mail for a new manager 18 years ago, ended when he joined Derby in 2009.

There is much more to the rise of Burton than those glamour fixtures, though. Despite progressing at a tremendous rate in the past seven years, their ability to remain grounded during an unprecedented period of success stands out. There is a warm and welcoming atmosphere around the Pirelli Stadium. They are a club with an impressive sense of identity and much of their fortune is down to the work of the chairman, Ben Robinson, though he shies away from the praise.

Burton Albion were founded in 1950, after previous doomed incarnations as Swifts, United and Wanderers, and Robinson became involved in 1975 after the insurance broker was asked to help out by a friend on the board, Jeff Salt.

They played at Eton Park and Robinson remembers regular visits to the bank manager, a ground with no commercial revenue and a plate of sandwiches and a cup of tea for visiting directors in a boardroom with no view of the pitch. The room’s distinguishing feature was a bottle of whisky and a jug of water on the table.

Robinson, well connected in the town, focused on improving the club’s commercial clout. Soon there was advertising on the team’s tracksuits, then on the shirts, and it was not long before the team bus was sponsored by the local brewery.

Robinson left in 1984 to concentrate on a new business, but he kept his shares and returned in 1995 when the club was in debt under new ownership. “They sold Steve Cotterill and John Gayle to Wimbledon for about a quarter of a million,” he says. “But you didn’t see a lot of improvement in the ground. I’ve never been a paid chairman and at one point you had three paid directors.”

Eventually, Sir Stan Clark bought the club and cleared the debt, before Robinson took over in 1997. He increased their share capital and moved them to the Pirelli in 2005, paying £7.4m.

The nature of the beast is not many clubs are giving managers enough time Ben Robinson

Burton had been on the rise for a while. Robinson credits Clough with energising the town and making the team more professional, but his own role should not be overlooked. Burton had not won promotion from the Conference when Clough left for Derby. Although they rather limped over the line under their caretaker manager, Roy McFarland, the strong infrastructure implemented by Robinson meant they flourished in the Football League.

One of Burton’s strengths has been recovering from losing managers to bigger clubs. Gary Rowett joined Birmingham City during the 2014-5 season. His replacement was Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, who won promotion to League One before joining Queens Park Rangers last December. He was replaced by Clough, who took them into the Championship.

At a time when managers in the Football League are an endangered species, Robinson’s patient approach should be a model for other owners to follow. He has sacked only one manager, Paul Peschisolido, and he prefers not to smother his employees. If it is old hat to talk about family clubs, it is true in Burton’s case – Robinson’s son is the bar manager and his daughter is the commercial director.

Asked about his attitude towards managers, Robinson recalls an incident from Rowett’s time. “Chesterfield away,” he says. “I turned to a director and said: ‘Gary’s playing one guy up front, that’s surprising.’ What happened? This guy scored two goals and we won 2-0. The nature of the beast is most clubs are looking for pretty rapid success and not many clubs are giving managers enough time to make mistakes.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Burton’s Pirelli Stadium, seen here in pre-season with QPR the visitors, holds just under 7,000 fans. Photograph: Joe Toth/BPI/Rex/Shutterstock

“It’s the manager who should stand or fall on his beliefs, tactics and skills. The big factor with us is we’ve had our gradual development over all these years. We’ve always given our managers time to develop and not interfered.”

Aware they may not be in the Championship next season, Burton have not pushed the boat out in the transfer market. The stadium has a capacity of just under 7,000 and Robinson points out they had average attendances of just over 4,000 last season. To keep growing they will need to attract new fans, which will be easier in the Championship. Robinson accepts they may hit a financial wall. Outside investment from the right source is not unthinkable.

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Mixed in with that ambition is Burton’s desire to remain true to themselves. As a way of illustrating the role a club should play in the local community, a good place to start is the prostate cancer awareness scheme they ran at their ground last season. “We had 130 men over two days and 100 on the waiting list,” Andy Taylor, the club’s head of community, says. “A large number were sent for biopsy straight away and 19 were diagnosed with prostate cancer and sent straight for treatment.”

Robinson, who comes from a working-class family, is proud of the club’s charity work. “For the club to have its own charity that employs 40 people, it’s all self-funded, it’s important,” he says.

When Taylor praises his chairman’s work, Robinson shifts awkwardly in his seat. “It’s a selfish thing,” he says. “I’ve had lots of pleasure out of this club. The club has been blessed with a lot of great people and volunteers. There’s a lady who has been here for years who looks after the teas and coffees in the boardroom. I’ve tried to put her on the payroll and she won’t have it. She loves the club. It’s not about the money.”