Burton United Football Club was a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club based in

Burton upon Trent Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a market town in the borough of East Staffordshire in the county of Staffordshire, England, close to the border with Derbyshire. In United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011, it had a ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The club was established in 1901 by a merger of

Burton Swifts Burton Swifts Football Club was a football club based in Burton upon Trent, England. Established in 1871, the club joined the Football League in 1892, remaining members until merging with Burton Wanderers to form Burton United in 1901. Hist ...

and

Burton Wanderers Burton Wanderers Football Club was a football club based in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The club were members of the Football League for three seasons in the mid 1890s. In 1901 they merged with Burton Swifts to form Burton Unite ...

, and played their last competitive season in 1910. In 1924 they merged with Burton 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 of

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

History

The club was formed in 1901 when

merged with

. 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 the

Midland League The Midland Football League is an English football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the former Midland Alliance and Midland Combination. The league has four divisions that sit at levels 9–12 of the football pyramid. History Th ...

. 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. BurtonUnited

The new club took Swifts' place in the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

of the Football League and took over residence at their

Peel Croft Peel Croft was a sports ground in Burton upon Trent in England. It was the home ground of Burton Rugby Football Club and the Burton Swifts and Burton United football clubs, who played in the Football League between 1892 and 1907. History Pee ...

home. However, the new club failed to achieve success, and never finished above 10th place or made it past the first round of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

. In the

1904–05 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

and

1905–06 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

seasons the club finished in second last place, and in

1906–07 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

finished bottom. At the end of the season the club failed to win re-election, losing their Football League place to

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

. Following the re-election meeting

Burslem Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley of ...

resigned from the League, and although United applied to take their place, it was instead offered to and accepted by

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic ...

.Twydell, p7 The club dropped into the Birmingham & District League, and in 1909 also became members of the Southern League. At the end of the 1909–10 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 became Burton Town in 1924. They ceased playing in 1940, and were merged into

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club moved its home groun ...

shortly after they were founded in 1950. Albion did not reach the second tier of English football, however, until 2015–16, when they were promoted to the by-now

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...

Records

**Best performance: First round,

References

External links

* * *
Burton United
Historical Kits {{former football league members Defunct English Football League clubs Defunct football clubs in England Sport in Burton upon Trent Association football clubs established in 1901 Association football clubs disestablished in 1910 Defunct football clubs in Staffordshire 1901 establishments in England 1910 disestablishments in England Southern Football League clubs