The culmination of 10 months’ hard graft has led the Shakers to league title success in the North West Counties Premier Division, and a first title since the return to the hallowed ‘turf’ of Gigg Lane. We look back at the season that was, in our summary of a record-breaking time to be a Shaker.
The victory at the weekend against Burscough resulted in Dave McNabb and his squad negotiating a full league season unbeaten on the Gigg ‘astro’, this following the installation of the artificial surface during the 2024 off-season.
The management and coaches were keen to stress the importance of having facilities to both play on and train from, and hasn’t it just reaped the rewards at the business end of the season – 15 wins, with nine straight clean sheets to finish with.
And how they were needed. Lower Breck, coming from a mid-play-off position at the turn of the year, put in a run of epic proportions to keep up the pressure as fellow challengers Ramsbottom United fell away through February. This meant we had to be at our very best right until the last day of the season. Breck’s only loss in this period was thanks to a first half DJ Pedro hat-trick in January. Those three points at Gigg Lane ended up being of paramount significance.
The season started in the bright sunshine by the seaside at Squires Gate. Despite showing the promise from pre-season which saw all opponents swept aside with ease, our four goals on the opening day were not enough to stave off a brave Gate fightback and the spoils were shared. This, at a side who sit bottom of the table as the season finishes, was not the ideal start.
Despite this early season set-back, we quickly hit our stride shortly afterwards.
Our obvious striking prowess in the form of ex-Emley forwards Irywah Gooden and Reuben Jerome, and the attacking-intent of forward thinking full-back Bebeto Gomes led to early high-scoring games. Five away at Padiham and seven away at Abbey Hey were examples of the competition being taken apart in the league.
Our first competitive game back at Gigg Lane post the summer pitch re-fit was, however, a disappointing one, with Declan Daniels returning to haunt the Shakers’ faithful and slam home a penalty as visitors Irlam took the lead twice before being pegged back to draw on our opening home fixture of the season in mid-August.
It was noticeable how wide-man Rustam Stepans, a summer arrival from Charnock, regularly appeared on the scoresheet in the early stages of the season. Notching up six goals before the end of August and regularly taking the player of the match awards strongly indicated why Dave McNabb had been so keen to bring in the Latvian-born winger. He ended up with 24 goals in all competitions, another worthy nominee for Player of the Season no doubt.
Our FA Cup exploits during the same period were starting to get noticed from far and wide, and despite being drawn away in each round, we disposed firstly of Congleton, then Avro, Garforth and Blyth all from leagues above, before a tasty tie was pulled out of the hat at the third qualifying round stage.
A trip to Radcliffe had become a regular occurrence for many Bury supporters following the troubles of 2019, with origins of the current set-up being tenants at the Neuven Stadium from 2020 to 2023 under Bury AFC. Fate saw the Shakers head just the short couple of miles down the A58 to take on the newly-promoted National League North side, with a place in the final qualifying round of the world’s oldest cup competition at stake.
2,800 packed into the tight stadium that day to witness a cracker of a cup tie. Radcliffe took an early lead to silence the 800 (or so) away supporters before a couple of second half goals saw Bury go ahead with fewer than 10 mins to go. A Radcliffe strike nestled into the Bury net as we headed towards added time and a replay at Gigg Lane looked likely, before Reuben Jerome chased a lost cause, forcing a defensive error and was felled in the area in front of the travelling contingent.
Bryan Ly stepped up to calmly slot home the penalty to a cacophony of noise in the away end and seal our passage through, securing the most notable scalp in our short non-league journey so far.
We finally succumbed to Tier 3 Harborough Town just one round short of the First Round Proper, with a very harshly awarded penalty in front of 1,800 packed into Bowden Park in mid-October.
Our FA Vase journey wasn’t as vast, ending after three short rounds with a penalty loss at home to Chadderton the following week. And after exiting the two other minor cup competitions shortly after, the focus was set on the league. At the start of the season, and following last season’s play-off heartache which left us facing another season of North-West Counties football, this was always the main objective.
The early exits of both Macauley Wilson and the former Champions League-playing centre-back Efe Ambrose, due to changes in circumstances for both, left gaps in the central defence filled by the youth of the silky Lewis Earl and sturdy Ben Hockenhull but the impressive run from late October through November coincided with attacking reinforcement in the form of one Djavan Pedro.
Arriving from Buxton, initially on loan, DJ added strength and agility to the front line. He scored seven in his first seven games including doubles away to AFC Liverpool and in the 8-0 rout of Longridge Town the following week. He ended up with 24 goals in the league, proving to be the catalyst the season needed before the team went through the stickiest patch of the season as we headed into winter.
Visiting Lower Breck has never been easy, and this season proved to be no different as Bury found themselves 3-1 down at half-time with a lacklustre first-half performance. Despite a second-half rally and goals from Pat Jarrett and Alex Cherera, the Shakers left the Anfield area of Liverpool down to 10 men following the late sending off of midfielder Bobby Carroll, and pointless for the first time in the season.
The return of club legend Nicky Adams in early December was not able to arrest a mini-slump of just two wins in six games, losing again on Merseyside when visiting Litherland the following week, and then being pegged back to draw in consecutive games firstly against Irlam and then Abbey Hey. The significance of upcoming games against Chadderton and Ramsbottom either side of Christmas, both at the time sitting just above the Shakers at the top of the table, was looming large. The advantage of games in hand that the Shakers had amassed through the early-season cup success was dwindling down, coinciding with the teams at the top starting to pull away.
In came the defensive changes of Aaron Chalmers and Courtney Meppen-Walters who steadied the ship, and set the platform by going unbeaten in these two crucial festive fixtures. A hammering was delivered to Chadderton at the Vestacare Stadium, and we then secured a 2-2 draw against the Rams at Gigg Lane on Boxing Day in front of a modern day Gigg Lane record crowd of 5,834. In doing so, Ramsbottom became the only side who were not beaten by the Shakers in the league this season, following a 1-1 draw in the reverse fixture in September.
Another high-scoring affair at home to lowly Prestwich Heys in the final game of 2024, eventually winning 5-2, left the Shakers well in the hunt for the title as we headed into 2025.
However, 2025 did not start as manager Dave McNabb would’ve wanted. With Aaron Chalmers being ruled out for a significant period following an accident at home over New Year, and despite securing the signature of league top-scorer Lewis Byrne from rivals Chadderton, the Shakers were hammered 4-0 by a dominant West Didsbury side who were starting to mount their own challenge for the play-offs.
There was a lot of soul searching at the time, who was going to push the side on to secure top spot come April?
A postponement of the visit of FC Isle of Man the following week gave the squad a breather before returning to winning ways at Barnoldswick and a first goal for both Byrne and another new recruit, Tyler James, who arrived from Padiham having notched up 21 goals since the start of the season.
The firepower was there but could this fire us to glory? You bet it could!
The welcome early return of Chalmers for the Lower Breck game later in January gave the side a lift in what turned out to be the most important three points the Shakers secured from there on in.
DJ Pedro, on the back of the hat-trick in that game versus Breck, then hit winning goals in five of the next six games including a last-gasp header to settle the game when FC Isle of Man did eventually visit in February.
Jordan Lazenbury’s strike just after half-time in the return fixture against West Didsbury was to be the last goal the Shakers conceded all season. This game took place on the 15th February.
A 7-0 hammering of Litherland to avenge the loss at the running track in December was the highlight, but equally as important as 1-0 wins away at South Liverpool and FC St Helens. Cam Fogerty grabbing the winner in the victory in St Helen’s highlighted his importance to the team, so often going under the radar. The 20-year-old midfielder had become a consistent performer alongside captain on the field Bobby Carroll since arriving early in the season as a replacement for the unfortunate Brad Carroll, who was unable to return from a serious knee injury picked up in the 5-1 win at Padiham in only the second league game of the season.
With crowds building towards 4,000 at home games and the town sniffing the league title, all eyes were cast west and to Merseyside as Lower Breck continued their own rich vein of form, both sides matching each other’s wins as every week passed. A slip-up from either would’ve let the other in. The pressure should really have been taking its toll but you wouldn’t have known it as, aside from a late winner in the derby against Litherland with two games to go, Breck were equally dispatching sides with consummate ease to set up a final day decider.
Breck required the Shakers to slip up and lose, whilst overturning the five-goal difference in the process.
The early goal from Aiden Walker, a February addition from Farsley Celtic, and a red card for Burscough on Easter Saturday meant that the NWCFL record crowd of 8,719 was able to settle into celebratory mode quite early and could shake off any nerves that they may have walked into Gigg Lane with.
Tyler James continued his excellent late season form, following up his double against Cheadle Town at FC United in the penultimate fixture, and hat-trick against his former team Padiham the week before that, with another three goals to the delight of the expectant crowd and secure the league title in Dave McNabb’s first full season in charge. This keeps up his impressive record of promotions throughout his career so far, that includes navigating both divisions of the NWCFL and then securing the Northern Premier League West Division title at the first time of asking, as well as the FA Vase the season before when with Warrington Rylands.
Leaving Tier 5 of the non-league and heading for Tier 4 means we join the Northern Premier League West Division for the 2025/26 season. And the way this squad finished, you wouldn’t bet against another serious tilt at that league over the next 12 months.
But now, sit back and reflect on a record-breaking season that has seen over 75,000 people enter the turnstiles of Gigg Lane in the club’s 140th anniversary year. This is an average of 3,315 supporters attending per league game.
A record haul of 109 points, 33 wins (72%), 131 league goals (2.85 per game) and 19 clean sheets from 46 league games, and 157 goals (2.75 per game) in total across all 57 first-team games – it really has been a season to saviour.
Here’s to next season, enjoy your summer, Shakers!
