LEGEND PETERS REMAINS BACUP’S BIG PLAN
BRENT PETERS is feeling just grand after reaching his latest landmark – 1,000 matches in charge of Bacup Borough.
The veteran boss took charge of his first match in September 1997 and has even helped stabilise the North West Counties League club when it was on the brink of going under.
“I was shocked [to hear it was 1,000 games],” Peters told The NLP after celebrating the milestone after the Macron Cup tie with Abbey Hey a fortnight ago. “I thought ‘Wow’ what an amazing effort.
“They actually said that it’s probably more than a thousand because of games in the Lancashire Cup that aren’t accounted for.
“I’m truly honoured and humbled by the response that I’ve received from the wider football community.”
When Peters first offered to help out at the club it was off the back of a stint as assistant manager at Doncaster Rovers under Chelsea legend Kerry Dixon.
“I was only intending on helping them out for a season,” Peters explained. “The club was in a bad state on and off the pitch. Our infrastructure was a shambles and we had no direction.
“It was September, the club hadn’t won a game all season, hadn’t got a point and had just lost 10-0 at Tetley Walker FC. Because I’m a football person I wanted to help the club out.”
Peters solidified Bacup’s status in the division and achieved the club’s highest ever league position after earning promotion in 2003.
“There’s been some good times and plenty of bad times. It has certainly been a challenging time. It’s always a rocky road at Bacup,” Peters stated. “Just keeping a club the size of Bacup Borough in existence is a challenge.”
Peters’ reign at Bacup has been defined by financial insecurity with the manager saving the club out of his own pocket on numerous occasions.
“The club was about to go bankrupt and I took the hit to keep us going,” he revealed.
“The chairman told me that it was probably the end of the club. We had loads of debt and the league were threatening to expel us. It was in 2000 and I’d just sold my furniture removal business and I knew that I had to make sure that there will always be a Bacup Borough.
“I paid the money for the cup competitions and paid some of the debts off because it was so important to me that Bacup survived.”