Bury are reborn out of love for the town and the game itself
IT HAS been a little over a year since English football lost Bury FC. The club, one of the oldest in the game, was expelled by the Football League in August 2019 for financial mismanagement – it still exists but, at present, only really in name.
News of Bury’s demise came as a blow to all lovers of the game, but in particular to the supporters and people of the Greater Manchester town which this famous old institution had served for more than 130 years.
The two-time FA Cup winners were in League One when the gates on Gigg Lane were locked for the last time. Owner Steve Dale, who admits he was ‘not a football fan’, had not long since bought the Shakers from former chief Stewart Day for £1 but any hopes of a turnaround in the club’s finances with his arrival were sadly not realised.
Not content to sit back and watch the team he loved disappear from the footballing map, lifelong fan Chris Murray, along with a few like-minded supporters, set about forming another club – ‘so his kids would have a team to support’ – and the story of how AFC Bury rose from the ashes of Bury FC is told in a new documentary Bury: Bring Football Back [BBC iPlayer].
Turning an ambitious thought into a working reality is, however, not without its problems. First off there is the small matter of trying to convince the town that forming a new club is even a good idea.
Then you need somewhere to play, a manager and a squad and, just when you think that maybe the hard graft is behind you, there is the rather sizeable issue of a global pandemic.
That said, never underestimate the power and determination of a committed football fan and Murray, a former marketing man, and his backers’ journey to league status – albeit seven tiers below where Bury FC were at the time of their last match – is one made up of pure love for the game.
As they are keen to stress, AFC Bury are not Bury FC. The plan was not to replace the club they all loved but to bring football back to the town they loved and – in that – they got the result they craved.
If proof were needed the beautiful game is about much more than the ‘Big Six’, Project Big Picture or a European Super League, then this heartwarming documentary is it.