New Ground, New Albion
Albion were by this time eager to prove themselves on a higher level, and entry to the Southern League became a priority. The Birmingham League had merged with the less illustrious Birmingham Combination, providing the first competitive matches between Albion and a small club from across the border in South Derbyshire - Gresley Rovers. (see special Albion v Gresley section). It was also to Gresley that the Albion board turned for a manager in the summer of 1957 when player-boss Reg Weston announced his retirement. The Burton board appointed Moat Ground boss and ex-international Sammy Crooks to the Albion hot seat. Crooks bought in a bevy of players with him from Gresley, and expectations were high of the former England outside-right, but Albion's fortunes plummeted under the new man, who only lasted until November before resigning "at the request of the directors". (New arrivals from Gresley failing to live up to expectations? Hmmm, sounds familiar....) This was to prove a reccurring theme throughout Albion's history - high ambitions and expectations off the pitch, but frustration and under-acheivement on it.
An early example of the "Gresley-reject "crossing the Trent - Brewers boss of the 50's Sammy Crooks (or "Judas" as the Gresley fans would have called him, if they'd had any in those days) reckoned that a daily diet of Champagne would be just the thing to prepare Albion for a big Cup match. It didn't. He got the boot.
The clubs ambition was evidenced by the search for a new ground to replace Wellington Street which was by now inadequate for the club's needs. After the usual searching around, a piece of land off Derby Road, owned by the shoe manufacturers Eatoughs, was identified as a suitable site, and the Supporters Club was prepared to put up the £2,000 cost of purchasing it. The move to the new ground coincided with an upgrade in status, as Albion's application to join the Southern League was finally accepted in the Spring of 1958. However, by the time Eton Park opened for business on September 20th 1958, Albion were already finding the going tough in their new league. 5,527 turned up to witness the first match at the new ground, an FA Cup match against old rivals Nuneaton Borough, but by the following Spring attendances had plummeted to as low as 500 for some league games. Albion chalked up just three victories and three draws as their first Southern League Campaign ended with the Brewers rooted to the bottom of the table.
There were also problems off the pitch. The move to a new ground had left the club in a precarious financial position, which was compounded by the re-organization of the Southern League before the 1959-60 season. Now Albion had to travel to such far flung places as Ramsgate and Trowbridge -as well as the more familiar Kidderminsters and Corbys- which in these pre-Motorway times meant an overnight stop over for the players. the club lurched from one financial crisis to another (another reccurring theme here), and at one stage had to borrow £2,000 from the FA to fight off the receivers. As a succesion of managers was asked to build a team on shoestring resources, the Brewers spluttered along season after season barely finishing out of the bottom four in the Southern League Division One. It took the arrival of a man who would later find international fame as one half of the most famous managerial partnership in English football history - to turn the club's fortunes around.
Southern League Cup
31-year old Peter Taylor had made his name as a goalkeeper for Port Vale, Coventry and Middlesbrough when he was brought to Eton Park by Bill Townsend -now the club's manager- and when he resigned in October 1962, Taylor was offered the job. Some kind of financial stability had been restored to the club by this time, and after a period of consolidation in his first season, Taylor set about rebuilding his squad, in the process signing some of the most celebrated names in the clubs history. Stan Round, a 26-year old regarded as one of the best non-league strikers in the game, became Albion's record signing when they paid the princely sum of £200 to Hinckley Town. He was joined by forward Ritchie Barker, a man who would in later years make a name for himself as a player at Derby and a manager at Stoke City, and was more recently Trevor Francis' assistant at Sheffield Wednesday. But to Albion fans of a certain age he will forever be remembered as part of the greatest goalscoring double-act the club has ever known. Barker and Round , aided by the service of another Taylor signing and ex-Middlesbrough player, the highly talented winger Lloyd "Lindy" Delaphena, would go on to notch up an incredible 306 career goals between them in 469 appearances at the club, and they remain today by some distance the all-time leading scorers in Albion history -Round with 157, Barker on 149.
The Albion team poses by the aircraft about to take them south to Weymouth for the first leg of the Southern League Cup Final, April 1964
In that first season of their partnership, the goals of Barker and Round propelled Albion to the Final of the Southern League Cup -another trophy which was still highly regarded in non-legue football at the time. More than 2,000 managed to get the afternoon off work to see Albion beat Bexley United in the Semi-Final (floodlights had not yet arrived at Eton Park), and they were rewarded with a 2-0 victory. Albion were the underdogs for the two-legged final against Weymouth, as no team from outside the Premier Division had ever won the Southern League Cup. But Peter Taylor's team were treated like pro's for the big match, flying in to Bournemouth on a private charter plane from Burnaston Airport for the first leg. Despite losing 2-1 at Weymouth's Recreation Ground Albion recovered to put four past the Terra's in the return fixture in front of 5,860 -still an Eton Park record crowd. Stan Round was sidelined by injury for both matches but his strike partner Barker netted two, and Captain Mick Walters lifted the Brewers most significant piece of silverware yet. Peter Taylor and Albion would build upon this Cup success to push for a more lasting goal - promotion to the Southern League Premier Division.
The Brewers team pictured at Eton Park before winning the Southern League Cup- 18th April 1964 - Brewers legend Richie Barker is front row, 2nd from right- his goalscoring partner Stan Round sadly missed this game through injury (Full line-up, back l-r Raynor, Delaphena, Finney, Lines, Aston, Follan front - Knight, Reeves, Walters, Barker, Moore)