Mark Carter is our guest for tonight’s fixture with South Liverpool, Pete Cullen looks back on his career.
It was surely one of the best ever £6,000 that Bury Football Club spent when they paid that modest amount to bring Mark Carter north to Gigg Lane in September 1993. Spike was already approaching 33 at the time but having been introduced to the professional ranks relatively late in his career, he certainly grasped his perhaps unexpected chance.
Starting out on the books of Liverpool as a teenager, he moved into the local non-league scene with today’s visitors South Liverpool, Bangor City and most prolifically at Runcorn. Barry Fry then took Spike to Underhill in February 1991 and he helped Barnet gain promotion into the Football League the following May. He scored 34 league and cup goals in his first full season there and 14 in his second, which prompted Mike Walsh to secure the striker’s services.
He was an immediate success with the Shakers and bagged 20 goals in his debut season. The following year he claimed 15 goals as the Shakers earned a Play-off place, and he played in that heartbreaking 2-0 play-off final defeat at Wembley in May 1995. He remained an immediate choice in the team once Stan Ternent took over as Bury boss and scored 18 goals as the Shakers were promoted from Division Three in 1996. The goals kept coming too as Bury made it back-to-back promotions and Spike played in 30 league games as Ternent’s boys claimed the Division Two Championship and a shot in what is now the Championship.
Playing colleagues used to relate stories about how laid-back Spike was before a game, just sitting doing a crossword in the corner of the dressing room right up to kick-off time, but he always delivered and contributed greatly in what was one of the most successful periods in the club’s more recent history. 62 league goals in 134 games is a fantastic ratio by anyone’s standards.
Welcome back Spike.
