The news Burton Albion supporters did not want to hear has landed, with confirmation that club captain Ryan Sweeney will join Mansfield Town when his Brewers contract expires this summer. Rumours had been gathering pace in the last few days and – for once in football – they proved to be true.

Sweeney returns to the Stags, where he spent to 2018-19 season on loan and then followed with a two-year contract. Mansfield remain the club with which he has made the most appearances. It is a huge blow to Burton supporters as the first news to break in the summer transfer window at a time when they were hoping for consolidation alongside the rebuilding manager Gary Bowyer will oversee.

Sweeney was the flag bearer for a season of defying the odds, taking over from Elliot Watt as team captain in December and leading the unlikely charge to League One safety. He had been offered a new deal by the club but he is 28 and the next move was always going to be a big one for his career.

It will be hard for supporters to view the move dispassionately but, when that is done, when Sweeney’s career is examined, the pattern is that he has moved on after two years wherever he has been. He did so from Mansfield in the first place, then from Dundee and each time at the end of a contract as a free agent. He did have two and a half years with Stoke City, having been signed by them after two years with AFC Wimbledon, but there were no senior appearances for the Potters – he was twice loaned to Bristol Rovers before moving to Mansfield for free.

Sweeney’s move adds some context to his comment at the end of the season, when asked about his future. He said he was settled “around here”. That was not a lie and while it raised hopes among supporters, a move to Mansfield will certainly not involve uprooting his family. Nor should it come as a surprise that Mansfield wanted him – they have just parted company with veteran centre-half Aden Flint and it is not difficult to see a like-for-like comparison between him and Sweeney as reliable, no-nonsense defenders.

In a message to Burton supporters on the club website, Sweeney said: “Thank you Burton Albion. The two years have had their ups and downs but I have enjoyed being a part of it and wish the Brewers every success in the seasons to come. My team-mates have been amazing and I have met some fantastic people. And to the fans – wow. You stuck by us and have been nothing but brilliant. Thank you for welcoming me and my family and being a huge part of the reason why I loved being here. Good luck to Gary and the rest of the boys for the upcoming season.”

For the Mansfield website, he said: “Once the opportunity arose to return to the club, it was something that I was really interested in and I’m really looking forward to putting the Mansfield Town shirt back on. It’s a club that I’ve got a huge amount of love and respect for. We’ve got some fantastic people here and even going back to the training ground; I almost forgot how good the facilities are.

“I think I’m coming back a more well-rounded player. I joined here (originally) in my early 20s and you’re still trying to find your feet in the game. I’ve gone away and experienced some incredible things. I’m excited to get back here and play because I know what this stadium is like when it’s packed out and rocking, so I’m absolutely buzzing.”

It was Dino Maamria who signed Sweeney for Burton in the summer of 2023 after his contract expired with Dundee, where he had captained them to the Scottish Championship title under Bowyer’s management. It seems strange to recall it now but his time with the Brewers did not start well. Jasper Moon, John Brayford and Sam Hughes started the first game of that season, a 2-0 defeat away to Blackpool, with Sweeney an unused substitute.

He came in for the Carabao Cup game against Leicester City a few days later and found the Foxes’ quick forwards a handful. When Derby County then won 3-0 at the Pirelli Stadium on the Saturday it had been an awkward start to his Burton career. He then found himself an unused substitute for a month until an 89^th-minute substitute appearance in the 3-2 win away to Port Vale in September.

His turning point came in a drab 1-1 draw at home to Fleetwood Town next up, when Moon went off injured after half an hour and Sweeney came on to win every header in sight as an orthodox centre-half in a back four. He did not look back, although, of course, it proved to be a difficult season. While the Brewers struggled to stay afloat, he was a reassuring presence at the back and finished the season with 46 appearances, taking on the captaincy and winning the players’ player of the year award.

When NFG bought the club in the summer, he was one of only three current squad members initially retained, along with goalkeeper Max Crocombe and midfielder Ciaran Gilligan. It seemed a compromise when he was named club captain and Watt the team captain for the start of the season but Bowyer changed that when he came in.

As he always had the previous season, Sweeney was the man most likely to come out and speak candidly to the media after a bad day – he seemed the natural leader of the group. He also replaced Brayford as the “unstoppable” defender, the one most likely to make a block, the one who would shrug off knocks and bangs and carry on, until a boot in the head as he made a brave clearance against Leyton Orient forced him off with concussion.

He picked up an injury in his last game, too, at home to Wigan Athletic but, fittingly, it was the day League One safety was assured for another season. This time he picked up both the players’ player of the year and supporters’ player of the year awards and joins a long line of players to leave after winning that prize.

There is an outpouring of disappointment that he has gone, which is inevitable, but it is important that fans do not see this move as defining the club’s summer business. Talismen have gone before and will go again – Darren Stride, Daryl Clare, Brayford. It’s football and clubs always move on.