Bury F.C.

Formation of the club and the first hundred years (1885–1985)

Bury Football Club was founded in 1885 by Aiden Arrowsmith following a meeting at the White Horse Hotel in Bury, between the Bury Wesleyans and Bury Unitarians Football Clubs.^[1] Gigg Lane's first ever game took place on 12 September 1885 when Bury played a friendly match against a football club from Wigan and won 4–3.^[1]

Bury first entered the FA Cup in 1887–88. Drawn to play Blackburn Rovers away from home, they travelled to Ewood Park but scratched before the game; the two teams played a friendly match instead, which Bury lost heavily.^[2] The team first contested an FA Cup match in 1891–92: they beat Witton and Heywood Central before losing to Blackpool after a replay in the third qualifying round.^[3]

Bury were founder members of and runners-up in the Lancashire League in 1889–90, and won the championship in their second and third seasons.^[4] In 1891–92, Bury were Lancashire Challenge Cup winners for the first time in the club's history.

Bury team pictured in 1892

They were elected to the Football League ahead of the 1893–94 season,^[5] won the Second Division title that same season by a nine-point margin, and beat Liverpool, the First Division's bottom club, in the test match to gain promotion.^[6] They retained their top-flight status for 17 seasons.

During that period Bury twice won the FA Cup. In the 1900 final, they beat Southern League team Southampton by four goals to nil. Three years later, they did not concede a goal in any round as they went on to beat Derby County 6–0, which remains the widest winning margin in an FA Cup final; the ball used in that match is on display at the National Football Museum.^[7]

They returned to the First Division for a five-season spell in the mid-1920s, and achieved their highest ever finish, of fourth place, in 1925–26. Relegated back to the Second in 1929, Bury have not played in the top flight since; the closest they came was a third place in 1936–37. They flirted with relegation all through the 1950s, finally dropping into the Third Division North for the first time in the club's history in that league's last season before the regional sections were amalgamated into national Third and Fourth Divisions in 1958.

Chart of table positions of Bury in the Football League.

Returning to the Second Division as Third Division champions in 1961, Bury spent seven of the next eight seasons at that level. In 1962–63, they reached the semi-final of the Football League Cup, losing 4–3 on aggregate to eventual winners Birmingham City. By 1971, Bury were in the Fourth Division, only for a three-season spell, but they were to spend the first half of the 1980s at that level.^[4]

The Hugh Eaves years (1985–2003)

Further spells in the third and fourth tiers preceded two successive promotions in the mid-1990s: third place in Division Three – after the Premier League broke away from the Football League in 1992, the divisions were renumbered upwards^[8] – followed by the Division Two title in 1996–97 brought Bury to the second tier for the first time in forty years. The club's greatest benefactor in this time was Hugh Eaves, a local man and an avid Bury supporter. After two seasons they were relegated on goals scored, the only team to have ever done so, and by 2002, financial problems caused by the collapse of ITV Digital brought the club into administration and to the brink of folding.^[9] A supporters' campaign raised enough money to keep the club afloat,^[10] and in recognition of his role within that process, UEFA presented club press officer Gordon Sorfleet with their Best Supporter award for 2002.^[11] Bury were relegated at the end of that season.

Yo-yoing between the third and fourth tiers (2003–present)

In May 2005, Bury became the first (and to date the only) football club to score a thousand goals in each of the top four tiers of the English football league.^[12] A year later, in December 2006, Bury became the first team to be thrown out of the FA Cup for fielding an ineligible player in a second-round replay win against Chester City.^[13] Short after the FA Cup debacle, Bury failed to win in 16 games, and relegation to the Conference beckoned for the first time in the club's history. They survived the relegation battle, where a 0–0 draw with Stockport County ensured they would stay up.

In the 2008–09 season, newly appointed manager and former player Alan Knill led Bury to a fourth place, missing out on automatic promotion by a single goal. In the following play-off semi-final they were beaten on penalties by Shrewsbury Town. During the 2010–11 season, both Knill and assistant manager Chris Brass left the club to take over at Scunthorpe United.^[14] Youth team manager Richie Barker took over as caretaker manager and led The Shakers to promotion to League One that same season.^[15]

In December 2012, Bury pulled out of the relegation places in League One, but were placed under a transfer embargo after falling into financial difficulty as a result of poor attendance figures,^[16] and ended up relegated at the end of the season. Bury finished the 2014–15 season in League Two in third place, with a club-record points haul of 85 and promotion back to League One.

The club finished in last place in 2017–18 and were subsequently relegated to League Two for the second time in five seasons.

Current squad

As of 04 September 2018.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Joe Murphy 2 DF Tom Miller 3 DF Chris Stokes 4 DF Will Aimson 5 DF Adam Thompson 6 DF Eoghan O'Connell 7 MF Nicky Adams 8 MF Stephen Dawson 9 FW Jermaine Beckford 10 MF Danny Mayor 11 FW Chris Dagnall 12 MF Callum Styles (on loan from Barnsley) 13 GK Mathew Hudson (on loan from Preston North End)

No. Position Player 14 DF Phil Edwards 15 MF Byron Moore 16 DF Ryan Cooney 18 FW Dominic Telford 19 MF Jamie Barjonas (on loan from Rangers) 21 DF Callum McFadzean 26 MF Jay O'Shea 28 DF Saul Shotton 31 MF Neil Danns (captain) 32 FW Caolan Lavery (on loan from Sheffield United) 36 FW Nicky Maynard 37 DF Douglas Nyaupembe

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 17 FW Jordan Archer (on loan at Maidenhead United till 1st October 2019) 22 FW Chris Sang (on loan at Marine till 5th November 2018) 23 DF Joe Skarz (on loan at FC Halifax Town till 30th June 2019) 24 DF Tom Aldred (on loan at Motherwell till 30th June 2019)

No. Position Player 27 FW Gold Omotayo (on loan at Maidstone United till 10th November 2018) 33 FW Harry Bunn (on loan at Southend United till 30th June 2019)}} 35 MF Scott Burgess (on loan at Wrexham till 1st January 2019) 43 GK Scott Moloney (on loan at Skelmersdale United till 7th October 2018)

First Team Management

• Sporting Director: Lee Dykes
• Manager: Ryan Lowe
• Assistant Manager: Rob Kelly
• First Team Coach: Steven Schumacher
• Goalkeeping Coach: Brian Jensen
• Sports Scientist: Jamie Hesketh
• Head of Medical & Performance: John Lucas
• Sports Therapist: Tom Walsh
• Performance Analyst: Jimmy Dickinson

Academy Management

• Youth Team Manager: Ryan Kidd
• Academy Manager: Mark Litherland
• Youth Development Coach: Dave Fitzgerald
• Lead Foundation Phase Coach: Graham Hastings
• Head of Academy Sports Science and Medicine: Joshua Birtwistle

League Championships

• Football League Second Division / Football League First Division / Football League Championship (1): 1894–95
• Football League Third Division / Second Division / Football League One (2): 1960–61, 1996–97

Cup

• FA Cup (2): 1899–1900, 1902–03

Minor wins

• Lancashire Cup (11): 1892, 1899, 1903, 1906, 1926, 1958, 1983, 1987, 2014, 2015 , 2018
• Lancashire Junior Cup (1): 1890
• Manchester Cup (12): 1894, 1896, 1897, 1900, 1903, 1905, 1925, 1935, 1951, 1952, 1962, 1968