WE’RE BURY BUT WE PLAY LIKE LIVERPOOL!
Manager Ryan Lowe has more in common with Klopp than a taste for German beer
ALL across the country, it was business as usual. Football does not stop for Christmas and training centres from north to south hummed with activity yesterday as preparations for the festive fixtures cranked up. On the outskirts of Manchester, though, there was a noticeable exception.
‘What is the point?’ asks Ryan Lowe, Bury’s ambitious manager. ‘Will the players get any fitter with one extra training session? Do they want to see me on Christmas Day? No. I have a young family, too, and I know where everyone wants to be. It’s all about having faith.’
If you think this is a lack of professionalism or a young man’s naivety, think again. Every Bury player took a GPS heart monitor home on Christmas Eve and were told they had to complete a 30-minute workout last night. When Lowe downloads the results, he will know who has done what.
‘It doesn’t matter whether it is the captain, the best player or the leading scorer,’ says Lowe, after overseeing a session at the club’s Carrington base. ‘If they take advantage of the trust, they won’t play at Mansfield (today). It’s just common sense.’
That might be so but common sense is paying dividends. Bury have been through a period of financial turmoil but 40-year- old Lowe has turned them into promotion candidates.
Bury are League Two’s highest scorers with 45 goals and have earned that tag from Lowe’s determination to see them play the game properly. A book on the desk of his office — The Barcelona Way — gives you an idea of his philosophy and, one day, he hopes to pick Pep Guardiola’s brain.
Lowe, who played for Bury in three separate spells, was placed in charge in January following the sacking of Chris Lucketti. Saving them from relegation was impossible but his ideas have changed the narrative.
He has been to see Rafa Benitez and Jurgen Klopp for tutorials, striking up an affinity with the latter in particular.
‘It started when we played them in preseason and drew 0-0,’ says Lowe. ‘He came into the office and we had bought him some Warsteiner beer — the great big bottles! He sat with us for half an hour. He told us a few stories, gave us a few pointers.
‘He told me I could go and watch them train. So six weeks ago, I had lunch with him, then we went to his office and he got the tactics board out. He was brilliant.
‘If Liverpool and Manchester City can play football that way, why can’t Bury try to follow them? We want to play football the right way.’
Financial difficulties have beset Bury and there were reports of players not getting paid on time under previous owner Stewart Day.
However, Lowe says: ‘I have brought the budget down a lot. I spent the budget this year as if it was my own money.’
The decisions he has made so far have got results. Bury are fourth and Lowe’s team are bringing happiness to the club again.
‘Last year was awful,’ says Lowe. ‘I got into the car one day not speaking to anyone. Alfie, my son, was sat in the back, just looking into the mirror.
‘He was trying to catch my eye. So I said to him, “Are you OK, son?” He said, “Yes — don’t worry, we’ll win next week.” I had to look away, as I’d got a bit of dust in my eye! I thought: Never again will I be like that with my family over football.
‘Now I absolutely love it and the place is buzzing. This is my first job and I have to get it right. If you get through the first 12 months, you should be OK. I have to be able to feed my family. I’m desperate to succeed.’