Hasselbaink’s Burton Albion close to confirming survival as Plymouth Argyle travel to Staffordshire

Burton Albion could secure their place in League One for another season on Saturday, should they win against Plymouth Argyle and other results go their way.

When former manager Jake Buxton was relieved of his duties on December 29th, the Brewers’ prospects of staying up were bleak. The club sat bottom of the table with just 13 points from 21 games, the Staffordshire side had played more games than anyone else at the bottom and won just twice up to that point.

Many had written off Burton’s chances of staying up and, heading into the transfer window, people were suggesting the club should look to build for next season to try and bounce back in League Two. The club was more ambitious than that. They quickly appointed former manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink who had a successful spell at the club in 2014-15.

‘New year, new me’ is a saying often said on January 1st by people wanting to make changes to their life and using the turn of the year as the excuse to ring the changes. Burton Albion would have been hoping their appointments of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Dino Maamria would have signalled that change, but it is hard to imagine they could have predicted just how successful those appointments would be.

When Hasselbaink left Burton for Queens Park Rangers in 2015 he was one of the highest rated young managers in the Football League, but his career stalled. The QPR move did not work out, nor did a spell at Northampton Town in 2017-18.

Returning to the Brewers was a brave move to make for Hasselbaink given how his previous two jobs had gone. If he had failed to turn around Burton’s form it would have been three unsuccessful jobs in a row, and may have signalled the end of his managerial career.

The appointment of Maamria was as eye-catching as the appointment of Hasselbaink. Not many clubs replace a manager with two managers who both have more experience than the outgoing manager.

Maamria had managed both Stevenage and Oldham Athletic in League Two in recent seasons and had overseen improvements in both clubs after being appointed, as he had in non-league with Nuneaton and Southport beforehand.

Despite bringing a lot more experience to the Pirelli Stadium, the job on their hands still looked a very difficult one, made even more difficult by a 5-1 defeat to Oxford United the day after being appointed, although it wasn’t until after that game that the duo took to the dugout.

Only Hull City, Peterborough United and Sunderland have picked up more points than the Brewers since the turn of the year, but no-one has a better points per game record than the Staffordshire side. The table below shows how League One sides have performed in 2021, since the appointment of Hasselbaink – but it does also include the fixtures on January 2nd before he officially took charge.

The turnaround at the Pirelli Stadium has been magnificent. The transfer window saw the squad refreshed going into the second half of the season. All of the loan players from the start of the season left the club, with five new loanees taking their places.

The club made four permanent additions during the window, bringing in Tom Hamer and Jonny Smith who both played at Oldham under Maamria in 2019-20, as well as the experienced Josh Parker and Wales U21 international Terry Taylor.

The new-look Burton side are a very different prospect to the one that started the season and the one that lost 2-0 at Home Park back in October, where Luke Jephcott and Byron Moore scored for Plymouth Argyle.

One of Burton’s departing loanees in January was Niall Ennis who joined the Staffordshire side from Wolverhampton Wanderers the week after that defeat to Plymouth.

Ennis failed to make an impact at Burton and was a bit part player in his time at the club. The striker then joined Plymouth Argyle for an undisclosed fee and like the Brewers he has had a much stronger second half of the season.

The former England youth international was a substitute in his first four games at Argyle but having made a good impression in all four games he was quickly rewarded with his first start, and has started all but one game since.

After successive 3-0 defeats it is unclear how Ryan Lowe will set his side up for the game at the Pirelli Stadium. Ennis scored on his return to Doncaster Rovers, another of his former clubs, and will be hoping to add Burton to that list if chosen ahead of Ryan Hardie, Luke Jephcott and Klaidi Lolos.

The sides sit 16th and 17th in the table coming into this game, and with both looking comfortable there could be a few surprise additions to the teamsheet. Both sides will want to finish the season as well as they can, but with survival almost confirmed there is little to play for other than pride.

Burton Albion can already be proud of their efforts this campaign having been written off by so many, and as a newly promoted side Plymouth Argyle may well be proud of staying in the division this season, although many in Devon do feel they should have been fighting higher up than they now find themselves.

One thing that is to play for is Burton’s unbeaten home record, and generally good head-to-head record, against Argyle. Of the 11 meetings between the sides Plymouth have won two, compared to Burton’s six wins, with the remaining three games finishing level.

The Brewers have hosted Argyle on five occasions, winning three and drawing two.

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