| Full name | Burton United Football Club | |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1901 | |
| Dissolved | 1910 (merged withBurton All Saints) | |
| Ground | Peel Croft,Burton upon Trent | |
Burton United Football Club was afootball club based inBurton upon Trent in England. The club was established in 1901 by a merger ofBurton Swifts andBurton Wanderers, and played their last competitive season in 1910. In 1924 they merged withBurton All Saints continuing the lineage of the history of football in Burton, while at the same time legally ending the club. Between 1901 and 1907, the club were members ofthe Football League.
The club was formed in 1901 whenBurton Swifts merged withBurton Wanderers. Swifts had played in the Football League since 1892, whilst Wanderers had been Football League members between 1894 and 1897 but were now members of theMidland League. It was unusual for a smaller town such as Burton to host two Football League clubs so it was hoped the merger would see an upturn in fortunes for the United club.
The new club took Swifts' place in theSecond Division of the Football League and took over residence at theirPeel Croft home. However, the new club failed to achieve success, and never finished above 10th place or made it past the first round of theFA Cup. In the1904–05 and1905–06 seasons the club finished in second last place, and in1906–07 finished bottom. At the end of the season the club failed to win re-election, losing their Football League place toFulham.[1] Following the re-election meetingBurslem Port Vale resigned from the League, and although United applied to take their place, it was instead offered to and accepted byOldham Athletic.[2] Notable figures include W. D. Clarke who was reportedly "among the best-known figures in the world of Association football in pre-war days."[3] and C. Grewcock[4]
The club dropped into theBirmingham & District League, and in 1909 also became members of theSouthern League. At the end of the1909–10 season the club finished bottom of the Birmingham & District League and second bottom of their Southern League division, and subsequently merged with Burton All Saints, who had been established around the same time as United. They becameBurton Town in 1924. They ceased playing in 1940, and were merged intoBurton Albion shortly after they were founded in 1950. Albion did not reach the second tier of English football, however, until2015–16, when they were promoted to the by-nowFootball League Championship.
