Bury F.C.
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| Bury F.C. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Bury Football Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nickname(s) | The Shakers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Founded | 1885 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Gigg Lane Bury Greater Manchester England (Capacity 11,669) |
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| Manager |  Alan Knill |
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| League | League Two | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007–08 | League Two, 13th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Bury Football Club is an English association football team based in Bury, Greater Manchester. The team are currently playing in the 4th division, Football League Two.
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[edit] History
The club was formed in 1885 at a meeting in the Swan and Cemetery public house after which the club took a lease on a pitch at Gigg Lane. Both the Swan and Cemetery and Gigg Lane still exist today.
In 1889 they were founder members of the Lancashire League, before joining the Football League Second Division in 1894, which they won at the first attempt. They beat Liverpool in a play-off to clinch promotion to Division One. They stayed there until 1912.
Bury have won the FA Cup twice. On April 21, 1900 they beat Southampton 4-0 at Crystal Palace, and before returning to the London venue in 1903. The latter 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 April 18. The 1903 cup also had another great achievement for Bury as the 6-0 scoreline still remains as the highest ever win in an FA Cup final which all players received a medal for.
In 1923 they were promoted again, and in 1926 they achieved their highest League position ever, 4th in the First Division. But two years later they were relegated and never played top flight football again. Steady decline followed and by 1971, they had reached the Fourth Division for the first time.
The main local rivals of the club are Bolton Wanderers.
Bury have produced a large number of excellent players over the years, including Les Hart, Dean Kiely, Terry McDermott, Alec Lindsay, Colin Bell, Neville Southall, Craig Madden, Lee Dixon and Roger Stanislaus.
Perhaps Bury's most infamous player has been David Adekola, a Nigerian who came to Bury after successfully convincing football officials that he was a former Nigerian international player with top flight experience in Europe, though no records of such claims exist. Their recent history has witnessed some great success with youth development, with players such as Colin Kazim-Richards, David Nugent and Simon Whaley moving onto Premiership and Championship clubs.
The clubs greatest benefactor was Hughie Eaves a local benefactor under the stewardship of whom Bury were promoted to the second tier of English football.
Recently Bury became the first football club to score a thousand goals in each of the top four tiers of the English football league. [1]
Currently they are in the 4th tier of English football, League Two. They were relegated to this level in the 2001-02 season.
In late 2006, Bury enjoyed their best of run of form for the past decade with six consecutive league victories. They drew 2-2 away at Weymouth F.C. in the FA Cup on 12 November, 2006. This game was notable as being Bury's first ever live appearance on terrestrial TV and attracted a respectable average audience of 1.4 million, peaking at 1.6 million just before the end. On December 20, 2006 they were the first team to ever be thrown out of the competition for fielding an ineligible player.[2]
After the FA Cup debacle, Bury failed to win in 16 games, and relegation to the Conference for the first time in the club's history became a possibility. Bury 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.
In 31-year-old Chris Casper, Bury did have the League's youngest and most up and coming manager. In the past, they have been managed by Graham Barrow, Mike Walsh, Stan Ternent, Neil Warnock, Andy Preece. More recently Casper had asked Martin Scott to step in as the new assistant manager due to the departure of Ian Miller to Leicester City.During the close season former Lincoln City manager Keith Alexander was appointed Director of Football.
Following yet another heavy defeat at the hands of Darlington, it was announced on the 14th January 2008 that Chris Casper and Keith Alexander had left the club, 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.
On the 4th February, the club revealed Alan Knill to be their new manager. Knill had made more than 150 appearances for the Shakers as a central defender between the glory years of 1989 and 1993. More recently, Knill had been employed at Chesterfield, as their assistant manager and had had a spell in charge of Rotherham United. Although his managerial record before joining Bury was mixed, the combination of him being a former player and cheap to employ made him a popular choice with both the players and fans.
Their home, Gigg Lane, is owned outright by Bury F.C who rent it to FC United for their home games.
This season Bury finished 13th in the table.
[edit] Honours
[edit] Leagues
- Football League Second Division/First Division/Football League Championship: champions 1895; runners up 1924.
- Football League Third Division/Second Division/Football League One: champions 1961, 1997; runners up 1968.
- Football League Fourth Division/Third Division/Football League Two: promoted 1974, 1985, 1996.
[edit] Cups
- FA Cup winners 1900, 1903
- Football League Cup semi finals 1963
- Lancashire Cup winners 1892, 1899, 1903, 1906, 1926, 1958, 1983, 1987
- Lancashire Junior Cup winners 1890
- Manchester Cup winners 1894, 1896, 1897, 1900, 1903, 1905, 1925, 1935, 1951, 1952, 1962, 1968
[edit] Players
[edit] Current squad
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[edit] Notable players
Famous former players include:
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[edit] Supporters
- Film director Danny Boyle is a fan of Bury FC and watches the games at the Gigg Lane on a regular basis [1].
- The radio broadcaster Mike Read is a regular fan as is musician Mark E Smith of The Fall.
- In 2002, club's Press Officer, Gordon Sorfleet, was awarded the UEFA Supporter of the Year Award for his work on behalf of the club. [2] [3]
- Actress and model Gemma Atkinson is known to be a supporter and appeared on BSkyB's, 'Soccer AM' at the start of the 2007/08 football season as a 'soccerette', unveiling the club's new away shirt. [4]
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Odebayo
- Y3K Shakers Site
- The Consortium
- [National Football Museum. Exhibition on Les Hart 44 yers service at Bury F.C.]
- Bury F.C. on BBC Sport: Club News - Recent results - Upcoming fixtures - Club stats
- Bury F.C. Official Site
- Bury F.C. Youth and Centre of Excellence Official Site
- Bury F.C. Official Message Board
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