Bury FC – the Wrexham of the Irwell Valley?

Between the ages of 6 and 16 I was a Bury FC fan. At first my dad took me. We passed the gas holder at the Irwell Bridge where they still made gas from coal. It smelled bad! We cruised up and down the rows of terraced houses beside the Gigg Lane ground in our Austin A40 to find the closest spot to ground. By the time I was 10 years old Dad had given up on the Shakers so I went to the games on the bus (the Number 2 from the village of Ainsworth). My elementary school (Wesley Methodist) handed out complimentary junior season tickets – a folded piece of blue card. The Shakers play in white shirts and blue shorts. It was all the encouragement I needed. At the ground junior season ticket holders went through a special turnstile.

Bury FC was competing in the second division of the English Football League although no one called it that in those days. And later in the third division. I was there for Cup visits from Crystal Palace and Leeds United (loads of fighting in the surrounding streets thanks to Leeds’ ‘Service Crew’)Bury defeated then Division One Man City 2-0, West Brom 1-0 and Middlesbrough 3-2 at Gigg Lane while losing 2-0 to Chelsea and 7-0 to Nottingham Forest in League Cup ties (the great Brian Clough team of the late 70s, European Champions the following year!)

Up through 1990 the Gigg Lane capacity was 35,000 and ground was filled for the FA cup third round local derby with Bolton Wanderers.

It was the era of Bury strikers like George Jones and Alex Dawson, Ronnie Phillips and Derek Spence. Terry McDermott got his break with Bury FC in 1969 – the year I started Grammar School! He went on in the 1970s and 80s to win 5 European Cups and 3 First Division championships with Liverpool. But before that in 1963 the late Colin Bell, Manchester City and England midfielder also made his professional debut at Bury. He played at Gigg Lane till 1966 before making 394 appearances for City and scoring 117 goals, in partnership with Francis Lee and Mike Summerbee. That was the first great City team! Bell also played 48 times for England scoring 9 goals.

Bury FC was founded in 1885 – 138 years ago. And Gigg Lane has been the home venue continuously since 1885. Bury won the FA Cup in 1900 beating Southampton 4-0 and they won it again in 1903 with a record 6-0 win over Derby County. Look at Wikipedia to see a mind blowing list of records.

Nowadays Bury play in the Premier Division (of the North West Counties League) (Tier 9 of English football)!

And then in August 2019 disaster struck! Despite a great run of results which resulted in promotion to League 1!, Bury was summarily expelled from the Football League. It was said that the club could not pay its players and staff – so the pitch could not be mowed and the turnstiles could not be operated on game days. There would be no one to serve Bovril and Holland’s meat pies to the Gigg Lane faithful. The insolvency was blamed on poor financial management.

A deal was struck to play home games at Staunton Park, Radcliffe 2.5 miles away and home to Bury AFC, a completely separate team. Both Frank Worrell and Gary Sobers played cricket there (If that’s your cup of tea!) It’s also called The Racecourse. (I was born at Bealey’s Nursing Home in Radcliffe in 1958.). But a prolonged controversy dogged a potential merger between the two teams and a return to historic Gigg Lane. Nevertheless over the spring and summer of 2023 negotiations reached a conclusion and on 8 July 2023. Bury FC returned triumphally to their home since 1885!

Bury FC is far from out of the woods. On 17 September 2023 Bury parted company with manager Andy Welsh, manager since 2020, after a run of form which saw 2 wins from 8 games.

But in the light of recent events in Wrexham and elsewhere Bury FC may be one short step away from salvation. In Bury as in Wrexham the heritage is precious. The team’s role in the community is invigorating. Survival is imperative. So where are the billionaire yanks? Where are the petrodollars? There could be no worthier beneficiary! Bury FC was recently featured on National Public Radio here in the United States. Maybe it will only take a TV documentary miniseries to revive Bury FC’s fortunes! Could Bury FC become the Wrexham of the Irwell valley?