A lot has gone on in the world of being a Bury fan since we last spoke, both on and off the pitch.
On the pitch you may or may not have seen that Bury successfully achieved promotion to the Northwest Counties Premier League last season, clinching the title with a game to spare by beating St Helens 4-0 in the last home game of the season. It wasn't an easy ride, despite suffering just one defeat all season, and it was this that really cemented my passion for Bury AFC. Personally, I and many others I know and spoke to loved the ride and the experience along with the rewarding feature of lining the pockets of numerous clubs with our big away followings.
In the end we successfully held off two other teams in our promotion bid, both who produced superb form throughout the season to really challenge us and make things interesting. I honestly think any other season we'd have been up with six games to spare. First Golcar were the early pacesetters, but we dispatched them 7-3 in October in front of a packed crowd on a Tuesday night to go top of the league. Golcar kept at our necks but began to slip away in the new year, however, behind them and creeping quietly were Holkier Old Boys who managed to put together an unbelievable run in the new year which took them to just three points behind us and with a game in hand as we approached the closing five fixtures. A defeat in the late February, a postponement followed by two successive draws couldn't have come at a worse time for us, and very suddenly we looked laboured, tired and lacking in ideas whilst Holkier hit some blistering form around this time, a notable result for them was a 6-1 victory away at Darwen, a team we'd just failed to beat the previous Tuesday, at home. I admit I became very worried at this point that we'd stutter and collapse. However we pulled ourselves back together with three successive 2-1 victories which put us on the brink of promotion. The pick of these being a 2-1 win at Bacup Borough, a club who had chosen to create a mini rivalry with us and with a manager who liked to openly slag us off. Their home support for the fixture was even boosted by 50 odd Rochdale fans who chose to turn up and cheer on the home side, despite their own team being engaged in a league two relegation battle. It added to the sweetness of the victory, the scenes at full time as flares went off and players celebrated together and in front of the fans, then in the local cricket club post match, with hundreds of Shakers singing whilst in the background car horns beeped and rattles shook as fans leaving and entering the cricket club yelled 'Bury' loudly. It felt like we were on the brink of something great after so much sweat and toil, and this was cemented when promotion was secured the following week in front of nearly 1900 fans.
Couple of low points - our crowds, whilst very good for this level are not as high as I'd hoped.
Radcliffe's fixtures meant we had to move most of our Saturday games to a Sunday or a Tuesday. I didn't get to see us play a home Saturday match until January for this reason.
Other low point being the appearance of another group of fans - EST 1885 who rather than trying to work with us, chose to work against us, and this brings us to my next point.
So there has been this divide amongst Bury fans for nearly three years, the divide being caused by some who believe Bury AFC were set up too early, as Bury FC still 'existed.' However, the club is nothing but a lifeless carcass that exists name alone. This has led to a hate filled campaign from one set of fans called FTP, (f**k the phoenix), and the likes of me and 1500 odd Bury supporters are labeled rats for not sticking with the original club, even thought there is nothing of the original club to stick with. I could go on and on and list all the things that have happened around this hate campaign, but I will be here all day. Its something that has been constant and not very pleasant though, and it has really divided what was already a shattered and limited fanbase.
So this group EST secured Gigg Lane, you'd think that's great. However, their intention wasn't or work with Bury AFC, it seemed they wanted their own club called Bury FC. When they secured the ground they actually released a statement saying or at least insinuating that they'd rescued the original club, which of course wasn't true. The two groups finally started to work together in the new year, but there was always something underhand going on. EST made a bid for a place in the league with their own club called Bury FC, (no debts paid, just wanted the FA to feel sorry for them and accept them), unsurprisingly it was rejected. It turned out they needed a hand me out off the government to get the funds for Gigg Lane so didn't have the required money. This was secured owing to Bury being a marginal political seat, there have been a few other incidents but the crowning glory came back in May when a statement was released from the official Bury FC twitter account that had been dormant for three years stating the club had come out of administration. It went viral and nationwide with clubs congratulating Bury FC on the news, some of our own and other club supporters really thought it had happened. The tweet was released with the old news story and a link which basically just repeated the original story of EST getting the ground and the naming rights.
Nobody at EST corrected the mistake, in fact members were retweeting the story.
So, I am obviously biased towards AFC, but you may be able to see why I and many other members of Bury AFC might have an issue with this group, many of them are wealthy and used to sit in our executive suite at Gigg Lane back when we were in the league. All the indications they have given is that they don't care or want the regular fans running things.
After all this though, we are at a point in negotiations where a business plan has been drawn up and there is real potential, (vote pending), for the two groups to merge. If this happens Bury AFC will be playing at Gigg Lane, which for many is our spiritual home. The plus point of this is we will get a lot of money from the government and council to boost Gigg Lane and turn it into a community hub, we will have a more unified fanbase, all aiming in one direction and the worry of two clubs will be over and the players and manager who brought a lot of joy and delight last season will be doing it all again, but at our historical home ground. Also, Bury AFC will at some point down the line revert back to Bury FC and for many it will be the original club. For me this is massive and I would have snatched your hand off for this back in August 2019 after our expulsion.
The downside of this is, (if the vote carries, its both groups who have to vote for it) 49% of the club will be handed over to the 'benefactors' who helped fund this. Meanwhile our superb board who have created and ran AFC so well, through a pandemic and broken fanbase, to make monthly profits and sit in a strong place financially, will be broken up and have to sit for re-election against the Bury supporting members of EST. It's a huge risk and if the vote doesn't carry we would be in the hands of unreliable people who put themselves well above the fans.
It also irks me and others that the so called benefactors didn't have anywhere near enough money and had to rely on a government hand me out to get this over the line, yet they are demanding 49% of the club. The main benefactor is called Peter Alexander, he is American and according to his twitter page he supports United. He is originally from Bury though, but a recent interview saw him claim Colin Bell as his all time favourite Bury player as he remembers him scoring a hattrick at Gigg Lane. The game in question happened when Alexander would have been three years old and Bell left shortly after, so not something that fills me with confidence. Fairly recently he came to Bury and pitched a presentation at Gigg Lane which included budgeting for crowds of 3000 fans at Gigg Lane in tier 9, and gaps left for income from 'other investors.'
Now since then things have changed as Bury AFC people have worked on the business plan and the council have insisted on having input and someone from the council sitting on the board. It's being released tomorrow and I am very wary on which way to vote, however, pending what the plan says I will vote yes. Some are militantly saying no as it'll sacrifice everything AFC stand for and have built and as you can imagine the FTP brigade are not happy either.
I apologise, its a long post and the road remains rocky and uncertain - so I ask, taking everything into consideration what would my Quaker friends do in the same situation?
Feel free to ask any questions as I have missed some things out, and it is worth adding that there are some good and professional people involved in EST, but as a whole they have not acted well or professionally, not IMO.
Up the Shakers and Up the Quakers
