Reviving the Phoenix: How Bury are Climbing Back Up the Leagues After 134 Years of History
Key Highlights :
When Bury FC went bust four years ago, it was a shock to everyone involved in the club and the wider football community. After 134 years of history, the Shakers were suddenly gone. But thanks to fan power and well-directed investment, they are now back in business and pre-season friendly with fellow phoenix club Macclesfield will light the path towards them climbing back up the leagues.
The Shakers gave away free season tickets to the first 100 kids who attended the phoenix club's open training session at Gigg Lane and they could have given away hundreds more. It was a sign of the enthusiasm and optimism that Bury fans have for the club's future.
Manager Andy Welsh admitted he was going to “feel like a kid on Christmas Eve" the night before his side's opening league game against Glossop North End in a fortnight. He won the golden ticket out of 750 applicants when Bury AFC – a fan-owned offshoot club who agreed a groundshare with Radcliffe four miles away – kept a team playing under the Shakers banner.
Robbie Savage, director of football at Macclesfield, has cheerfully dubbed the pre-season friendly between the two clubs the Reborn Cup. Both clubs suffered extinction within 13 months of each other, but have been brought back from the grave. It's a reminder that starting over in the North West Counties League isn't a penitentiary – it's a launch pad.
Welsh promises a manifesto of attacking football to keep the turnstiles clicking merrily eight divisions down the ladder. He said: “We will play on the front foot with high energy and tempo. The fans have waited four years to watch their team back at Gigg Lane, so I'm not going to keep them waiting another 12 months to see a forward pass while we move the ball sideways and backwards.”
The manager's finest hour as a player was winning promotion to the Premier League with Sunderland in 2005 and he's hoping to replicate that success with Bury. He added: “We have some assets and funding which will hopefully allow us to build something similar, and a pre-season friendly at Macclesfield will be a good test for us on the pitch – and a chance to pick their brains behind the scenes.”
Welsh was a helpless bystander when the Shakers disappeared off the radar, branding the events which led to Bury's expulsion from the Football League in August 2019 “disgraceful.” He said: “I remember looking on and wondering, 'How can this be happening to a club that's been in existence for 134 years? How can so much history be allowed to just vanish?'
The club is now being run by the supporters so it's in good hands, but no other country has a pyramid system like ours and there needs to be more support at the bottom end. Football is in a perilous position if we keep spending money that isn't there. There have been some historic clubs going under and it's the fans who keep bringing them back from the dead.”
Bury are now looking to rise again and Welsh is confident that the club can make it back to the Football League. He said: “Everyone will have to play their part if we are going to climb back up through the leagues, but the word is spreading: Bury are back at Gigg Lane and we mean business. This is the start of a journey, and we have the privilege of leading Bury back to where in belongs – in the Football League. Now that a community has got its club back, we want to give them hope at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon.”
It won't be easy, but Bury fans can be optimistic about the future of their beloved club. With the right attitude and a little bit of luck, the Shakers can make it back to the top.
