Burton Albion

Nigel Clough: 'Burton Albion's promotion is remarkable'

By Darren Plant, Senior Reporter | 08 May 2016

Burton Albion manager Nigel Clough describes his club's promotion to the Championship as "remarkable" after they were confirmed as League One runners-up.

Manager Nigel Clough has acknowledged that Burton Albion's rise to the second tier of English football is a "remarkable" achievement.

At the turn of the millennium, Burton were competing in the Southern Premier Division - the league below the Football Conference - but on Sunday, they became a Championship side after securing the point that they required to earn promotion from League One.

Their draw away at Doncaster Rovers was enough to hold off a late challenge from Walsall, and Clough was quick to praise the confidence of his team as they made it back-to-back promotions in the Football League.

The 50-year-old told Sky Sports News: "When I was here before, we were in the Southern League Premier Division, going to Weymouth and Dorchester and having a bacon sandwich at 8am on a Saturday morning and all of a sudden, we're in the Championship. It is truly, truly remarkable.

"We saw the other result coming through and we thought that we could afford to concede and it's fitting with all the clean sheets we've had that we secure it with a 0-0.

"We knew we could get a clean sheet today and it would be enough. The lads have got belief and that's what they can do. The previous two managers Gary Rowett and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink have instilled that into them and that's what you saw today."

Clough returned for his second spell at the club in December having previously managed there for over a decade between 1998 and 2009.