Tony Bartley, 8th March 1938 – 22nd September 2024
Tony Bartley’s football career may have begun with Bury’s traditional local rivals, Bolton Wanderers, but it was Gigg Lane and the Shakers’ supporters with whom he shared a mutual love for the rest of his life.
Lance Corporal Bartley played for the Wanderers during his national service in 1956/57 but arrived at Gigg in 1958 via a spell at his hometown club, Stalybridge Celtic.
It was the beginning of a seven-year association during which time he was part of one of the most affectionately-remembered squads of the club’s history: the 1960/61 Third Division champions who blasted 108 goals on their way to the second tier.
Flying down the left wing, fans of his vintage remember a tenacious, hard-working winger who also weighed in with his fair share of goals, particularly against Stoke City against whom Tony once scored a winner in a match when he shared the pitch with Stanley Matthews. He also found the net in games versus Newcastle, Sunderland, Chelsea and Leeds.
With never a hair out of place, he is also remembered for his interactions with his fans, sitting on the perimeter walls of the Boys’ Stand, the South Stand or the Main Stand and joking with supporters as he readied himself to deliver a corner into the opposition area.
Ever-present in the 1962/63 season when the harsh winter derailed Bury’s promotion push to the top flight resulting in an eighth-place finish in the Second Division, Tony also played in the game in which Brian Clough sustained his career-ending injury. Years later, the two met again after a game at Blackburn Rovers at which Clough had been managing Nottingham Forest. Clough’s broad smile in the photographic evidence of the meeting is testament to how you couldn’t help be captivated by Tony’s simple joy in life.
Spells at Oldham and Chesterfield followed before a move across the Irish Sea to Sligo Rovers as player-manager, but it was always Bury that remained his true footballing love. The emotional video interview he gave to the club during the COVID-19 lockdown highlighted how upset he was at the club’s fate, and also how fondly remembered he was by supporters.
It was incredible to be able to welcome Tony back to the ground he loved for the game against Wythenshawe in March 2024.
His daughter Lisa remembers how his breath was taken away when he got out of the car and saw the Main Stand before he shouted his familiar cry of ‘Up the Shakers!’ It was, she says, a day of which he enjoyed every second.
Devoted to his family, Tony is survived by his wife Sybil whom he married while a Shaker in the 1960 close season, Lisa and her brothers Anthony and John, his eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Go well, Tony Bartley. You loved us and we loved you.
