NEW BURY RISE FROM THE ASHES
PHOENIX CLUB BRING BACK TOWN’S SMILES
ALMOST a year to the day that Bury FC were expelled from the EFL, Bury AFC, the phoenix club raised from the ashes, played their first-ever game, beginning a new era for the town’s football supporters with a comfortable 5-0 win at Daisy Hill.
Wednesday’s victory was a bonus for new manager Andy Welsh, with the former Sunderland winger quick to acknowledge that the occasion was more important than the win.
“Now we’re up and running, to see fans watching us having a good workout like that, is brilliant,” he said.
“To have the first-ever game is a huge, momentous occasion whether it was in front of 150 fans or five fans, first and foremost it was a fabulous occasion. We’re not getting too excited and credit to Daisy Hill as well, they made it hard for us in the first half.”
Defender Matty Williams will go down in the record books as the scorer of AFC’s first goal, his strike from the edge of the box the only goal of the first half as they warmed up for the start of the season in the North West Counties League. A raft of changes did nothing to ease the pressure on the home defence, with one of the new introductions, Adam McWilliam, claiming the second before Lewis Gilboy made it three with the goal of the game. The former Accrington Stanley player started and finished an attack that saw him curl in a cracking effort. A trialist made it 4-0, with McWilliam grabbing a diving header late on.
Standing with the manager, and with a huge grin on his face, was Chris Murray, the club’s first chairman. “There are so many people to thank for us to get to this point, and it felt quite surreal being here,” he said.
“But walking around the ground seeing so many happy, smiling faces, it has made all that hard work worthwhile. It’s felt like the last few weeks have dragged, but once I saw our supporters coming into the ground it started to feel real. It felt like reward for all the effort that’s been put in since we decided towards the end of last year, to start the football club.”
Not one to take credit for his part in making the dream of bringing football back to Bury, Murray is quick to share the praise.
“I have found it very rewarding to work with different types of people from different types of backgrounds all working towards the same goal, to create a football club for the fans by the fans,” he said. “We have had tremendous support from people that have already been in our position, the likes of FC United and Chester, and everyone connected with Radcliffe FC, where we will be playing our games. Without all of those people we wouldn’t be here.”
Once the new club was up and running the appointment of the fledgling club’s first manager was one of the first big decisions the new board made, and with several high-profile applicants in the mix, it may have surprised some that Welsh came out top of the pile. Murray explained why the former Osers sett United manager was handed the task.
“From the minute I met Andy, listening to him speak, I sensed that he understood what we were looking at doing both on and off the pitch and when he came back for the second interview, I realised that the people around the table were very impressed too,” he said.
“I knew that he was someone that I could work with, and every day he proves how right we were in putting our trust in him.”
Desire
Welsh is mindful that there will be a weight of expectation on everyone connected with Bury AFC, not least himself and his playing staff and after the club’s first game he spoke of how he is relishing the challenges.
“As a club we want to win promotion and we want to kick on, but as a club whatever we achieve this year will be seen as a positive,” he added.
“This time last year the supporthad no team to follow. What I’m looking forward to is how we grow both on and off the field. If I have a message for our supporters, it’s that we will win games but it’s how we react when things don’t go our way. Let’s have that air of getting behind the club, let’s get behind the lads, let’s make more noise than anyone else, let’s make a mark on the division, that’s what I’m excited about.
“But we’re certainly not coming into this division to make up the numbers, that’s not what I’m about. When I took the role I stated that I wouldn’t be happy for the club to do that.
“The ultimate aim is to get promoted, but we have to be respectful of the other clubs in the league. We will have to earn the right to be up there, we will have to go out and win games, but that is easier said than done. We will have to all be of the right mindset to achieve what we all desire, and making sure that happens is down to me.”