Bury F.C.
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| Full name | Bury Football Club | ||
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| Nickname(s) | 'The Shakers' | ||
| Ground | Gigg Lane Stadium Bury Greater Manchester England (Capacity: 11,840) | ||
| Manager | Alan Knill | ||
| League | League Two | ||
| 2008–09 | League Two, 4th | ||
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Bury Football Club is an association football team based in Bury, Greater Manchester. The team play in League Two. The club's nickname is the shakers which was bestowed upon them by club chairman JT Ingham, an industrialist and ironmonger of the late 1890s.
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History
Formation of the club and the early years (1885 - 1906)
The club was formed in 1885 following a meeting at the Swan and Cemetery Hotel, between the Bury Wesleyans and Bury Unitarians Football Clubs. Gigg Lane's first ever game took place on 12 September 1885 when Bury played a friendly match against Wigan, and won 4-3.
In 1887 the first shed was built at Gigg Lane at a cost of £50 (although this debt was written off and never paid for), also in the same year Bury recorded their record defeat, 0-10 v. Blackburn Rovers in the FA Cup's 1st Round.
Bury's first ever floodlit game took place on 5 November 1889, when a crowd of 7,000 saw Bury defeated 4-5 by Heywood Central. In 1892 Bury were Lancashire Challenge Cup Winners, before joining the Football League Second Division in 1894, which they won at the first attempt, being undefeated at home all year, and beating Liverpool in a play-off at Stoke, to go up to the First Division. They beat Liverpool in a play-off to clinch promotion to Football League Division One. They stayed there until 1912. Bury's membership of the Football League from 1894 is now the 3rd longest ongoing run (after founders Preston North End and Notts County).
On 21 April, 1900 they beat Southampton 4-0 at Crystal Palace, and before returning to the London venue in 1903. The second win was achieved without conceding a goal in the entire competition, including a record FA Cup Final score of 6-0 over Derby County on 18 April, which remains the highest ever victory in an FA Cup Final.
In 1906 the South Stand was built at Gigg Lane. And by 1922, the ground was finally handed over to the club from the Earl of Derby as a gift. In 1924 the Main Stand was built, during this period Bury's ground was one of the best in the Football League.
Building strong foundations (1907 - 2001)
In 1923 they were promoted again, and in 1926 they achieved their highest League position ever, fourth in the First Division. But two years later they were relegated and have so far not played top flight football again. Steady decline followed and by 1971, they had reached the Fourth Division for the first time.
The Hugh Eaves years (1985 - 2003)
The club's greatest benefactor was Hugh Eaves, a local benefactor under the stewardship of whom Bury were promoted to the second tier of English football following back to back promotions. Bury, along with long-fallen former First Division regulars Huddersfield Town and Grimsby Town pushed to remain at that level, only to see their plans being derailed by the financial crisis caused by the collapse of ITV Digital.
In 2001-02, the club was relegated to League Two following a spell in administration for financial irregularities.
In May 2005, Bury became the first football club to score a thousand goals in each of the top four tiers of the English football league. They also share the club with a little non-league club charging them Div I level of hire to play there.[1] In November 2005 Bury employed the services of performance coach *Jimmy Petruzziello*[1] to help them turn season around On 20 December 2006 they were the first team to ever be thrown out of the F.A. Cup for fielding an ineligible player.[2]
After the FA Cup debacle, Bury failed to win in 16 games, and relegation to the Conference beckoned for the first time in the club's history. They survived the relegation battle of the 2006/07 season, where a 0-0 draw with Stockport County ensured they would stay up to play another season in League Two.
It was announced on 14 January 2008 that Casper and Alexander had been sacked, the board terminating the pair's contracts simultaneously. A club statement said the pair had "lost the confidence of a large majority of the fans". Chris Brass, formerly the manager of the club's Centre of Excellence, was given the vacant manager's post on a caretaker basis. His first match in charge resulted in a cup upset, the Shakers knocking Norwich City out of the FA Cup in the third round. Despite this early success, results remained inconsistent, and a more full time solution was sought by the board after Brass led Bury to a humiliating 5-1 home defeat to MK Dons.
The Alan Knill Era
On 4th February 2008 Bury appointed Alan Knill as manager. Having made more than 150 appearances he went on to coach the side from next to bottom to 13th position in the 2007-08 Season. Having defied the critics in his 1st season he led Bury to 4th place where they missed out on goal difference by one goal leaving them in the playoffs.
In the 2008/09 playoffs Bury lost out to Shrewsbury Town despite leading the tie with two minutes of normal time remaining. In the first leg, Bury won 1-0 away from home thanks to a late Neil Ashton own goal. At Gigg Lane in the second leg, Phil Jevons had the chance to put the game away but missed a penalty. A goal meant that the game went to extra time where Bury saw many chances saved by keeper Luke Daniels. Bury lost on penalties as top scorer Andy Bishop and substitute Danny Racchi both had their penalties saved by Daniels. In mid-2009 they won the pre-season 'Newsquest Cup' by beating FC United of Manchester from the Unibond Premier League (2-0) and Radcliffe Borough from the Vodkat League Div 1(2-1).
Honours
Championships
- Football League Second Division/First Division/Football League Championship: 1895
- Football League Third Division/Second Division/Football League One: 1961, 1997
Cup wins
- FA Cup 1900, 1903
- Lancashire Cup 1892, 1899, 1903, 1906, 1926, 1958, 1983, 1987
- Lancashire Junior Cup 1890
- Manchester Cup 1894, 1896, 1897, 1900, 1903, 1905, 1925, 1935, 1951, 1952, 1968
Minor wins
- Newsquest Cup 2009
Records
- Record League victory: 8-0 v Tranmere Rovers, 10 January 1970
- Record Cup victory: 12-1 v Stockton, FA CUP 1st rnd Replay 2 February 1897
- Record defeat: 0-10 Blackburn Rovers, FA CUP Premlim 1 October 1887, 0-10 West Ham United, FL Cup 2nd Rnd 25 October 1982
- Top goal scorer in a season: Craig Madden 35 Goals, 1981-82
- Top goal scorer overall: Craig Madden 129 Goals, 1978-86
- Most League Appearances: Norman Bullock 506 Games, 1920-35
- Record attendance: 35,000 v Bolton Wanderers FA CUP 3rd Rnd, 9 January 1960
Players
- As of 15 August 2009.
Current squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Former players
Coaching Staff
- Alan Knill Manger
- Chris Brass Assistance Manger
- Neil Cutler Goalkeeper Coach
- Efe Sodje Coach
- Mike Sheron Youth Coach
- Tommy Walsh Physio
Rivalries
The main two local rivals are Bolton Wanderers and Rochdale. There are other fierce, but friendly, rivalries with Oldham Athletic, Stockport County and Radcliffe Borough F.C.
Past managers
- T Hargreaves 1887
- H S Hamer 1887-1907
- Archie Montgomery 1907-1915
- William Cameron 1919-1923
- James Hunter 1923-1927
- Percy Smith 1927-1930
- Arthur Paine 1930-1934
- Norman Bullock 1934-1938
- Charlie Dean 1938-1944
- Jimmy Porter 1944-1945
- Norman Bullock 1945-1949
- John McNeill 1950-1953
- Dave Russell 1953-1961
- Bob Stokoe 1961-1965
- Bert Head 1965-1966
- Les Shannon 1966-1969
- Jack Marshall 1969
- Les Hart 1970
- Tommy McAnearney 1970-1972
- Allan Brown 1972-1973
- Bobby Smith 1973-1977
- Bob Stokoe 1977-1978
- David Hatton 1978-1979
- Dave Connor 1979-1980
- Jim Iley 1980-1984
- Martin Dobson 1984-1989
- Sam Ellis 1989-1990
- Mike Walsh 1990-1995
- Stan Ternent 1995-1998
- Neil Warnock 1998-1999
- Steve Redmond 1999-2000
- Andy Preece 2000-2003
- Graham Barrow 2003-2005
- Chris Casper 2005-2008
- Chris Brass2008 (Caretaker)
- Alan Knill 2008-present
References
- ^ "1000 goals for bury". 2005-08-25. http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/content/articles/2005/08/19/bury_football_club_1000_goals_feature.shtml. Retrieved 2007-10-01.
- ^ "Chester take bury's FA Cup place". BBC News. 2006-12-20. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/fa_cup/6186407.stm. Retrieved 2006-12-20.
External links
- Official Site
- Odebayo, a blog
- Y3K Shakers site
- Unofficial away fans blog
- The Consortium
- Youth and Centre of Excellence official site