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Latest News and Articles
Thank you for your continued support of the club. Bury FC is a community, fan-owned football club competing in the North West Counties Football League Premier Division. #BuryFC | #PartOfIt
Bury FC Women’s & Men’s U23s update
Jason Jarrett’s Bury Women’s First team have been working hard over the summer and have welcomed excellent new additions to the squad, are looking sharp and ready for the new season ahead. Following a stunning 5-0 thriller, played behind closed doors at Gigg Lane, they now look forward to further training sessions and matches at the stadium with some restrictions in place initially.
The opening game of the season saw the team travel down to local rivals Salford City FC on Wednesday 21st August and they shared the points in a 1-1 draw, with Bury dominating at times. The first home game is against Tranmere Rovers at Gigg Lane, and is part of the club Fun Day on Sunday 25th August. Entry is just £3 for adults and free for children and includes fun day entry, a recreational tournament in the morning, the women’s match at 2pm, followed by a fans team charity match.
Then on Wednesday 28th, Fleetwood Town will visit Gigg Lane, followed by Mancunian Unity on Sunday September 1st. For these two matches, and whilst we navigate the logistics and procedures of hosting additional games at the stadium, attendance will be capped at 200 with spectators using the West Stand (Manchester Road End).
Our match day caterers will open a kiosk selling food and beverages and the car park will be open on a first come first served basis. Entry for these matches will be £3 for adults and £1 for under 16s. Following these games, we will review the systems in place as we look to grow the fan base for our women’s fixtures. We will be adopting a similar model for our men’s reserves (u23s) fixtures on Monday evenings.
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Welcome to Bury: Mitch Allen
We are delighted to announce the signing of goalkeeper Mitch Allen.
The 24-year-old joins the club after leaving Prescot Cables earlier this month.
He started out in the Stoke City academy aged 8 progressing right through the ranks to their Under 18’s side.
After leaving Stoke in July 2018 he went into play for Stratford Town, Buxton & Prescot Cables where he spent four years until recently.
Mitch was apart of the team that won the playoffs with Cables last season as well as winning goalkeeper of the season in the NPL West.
He will provide cover and competition for Tom Stewart. Tom has some work commitments coming up over the next few weeks which will mean he misses a few games, so it was imperative that we had a top class goalkeeper to provide cover.
Mitch told buryfc.co.uk after signing: “Delighted to be signing for Bury, such a massive club with great ambitions, can’t wait to get going and to hopefully help the club gain promotion.”
Manager, Dave McNabb added: “Mitch has proved himself to be one of the best keepers in the NPL over the last few years. He’s an exceptional shot stopper with the ability to make match winning saves. Mitch’s distribution is another one of his outstanding qualities with the ability to turn defence to attack in the blink of an eye.”
Lead Image Credit: John Middleton
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Welcome to Bury: Ben Hockenhull
We are delighted to announce the signing of defender Ben Hockenhull.
The 22-year-old joins us after leaving Tranmere Rovers in the summer.
Ben came through the youth ranks at Manchester United before signing a pro deal at Brentford and spent 2 years there before moving to Tranmere in 2022.
Spent most of his time at Tranmere on loan at Warrington Rylands, Chorley, Spennymoor and Southport making 20 appearances in the Northern Premier League and 20 in the National League North.
Following his final loan at Southport, Ben started the final three games of the League 2 season for Tranmere.
Upon signing he said: “I’m delighted to join a big club like Bury. I can’t wait to show the fans what I can do and help the team try and win the league, taking the club in a direction back to where it belongs.”
He joins the Shakers to provide competition in the centre back position now that Efe is leaving the club.
Manager, Dave McNabb added: “A brilliant addition following on from Efe leaving the club. I’ve watched Ben a lot playing in the NPL and NLN and have always been very impressed.
“A tall, strong and powerful centre half who is very excellent defensively. He’s quick and very comfortable in possession with the ability to play out from the back and help build attacks from deep.”
Lead Image Credit: Richard Ault
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Efe Ambrose Departs
The club is sad to report that Saturday’s game will be Efe Ambrose’s last for the club.
Arriving on a wave of publicity, we were delighted to welcome Efe to Gigg Lane over the summer, he became an instant hit with the fans and the wider footballing community to see him continuing in the game.
The former Celtic player, 35, who had gained experience in the Champions League and secured 4-league titles north of the border as well as international recognition with Nigeria securing the Africa Cup of Nations in 2013, left Scottish League One side Queen of the South at the end of last season.
He featured in five out of seven pre-season friendlies and has so far started four games in the competitive campaign, scoring in our 7-1 win at Abbey Hey last week, supplying all those in attendance with his customary back-flip goal celebration.
Continuing to reside in Scotland, Ambrose was regularly travelling to the north-west for both training and matches. Despite a willingness to do this and play in front of the Gigg Lane crowd, this has caught up with earlier training times and the rigours of negotiating late motorway closures effecting the Ambrose family to a point whereby it has become no longer be sustainable.
After some open conversations with manager Dave McNabb over the past two weeks to explain this decision, Efe agreed to stay on to assist the club during a busy fixture period.
Manager, Dave McNabb reacted to the news: “I’m absolutely gutted about the situation with Efe. He has been brilliant for the team since he signed and even better off the pitch with me, the staff and the other players. He’s a true gentleman and one of the kindest and most down to earth men I have ever met.
“His love for the game is infectious. During a training session a couple of weeks ago, we ran a session where we had three rolling teams of seven. Efe quickly realised that two teams where a man short which often meant some changeover of bibs as the teams rolled on and off. Efe being Efe, wearing a blue bib, quickly grabbed a red bib and a green bib and put them in his pocket so that whenever his team rolled off, he could quickly put on one of the other colours and carry on playing. Not only did this clearly show how much he loves playing the beautiful game but also show his experience and intelligence.
“Unfortunately, despite his desire for the game and how much he has loved his time with Bury a few of the challenges we were aware of when he signed have actually shown to be a bit bigger than anticipated due to some unforeseen elements.
“I can’t thank Efe enough for everything he has done for me and the club in his short spell here and wish him and his family nothing but the best for the future.”
The game against Maghull in the FA Vase will be Efe’s last so we urge all supporters to give him a great send off at Gigg Lane on Saturday afternoon.
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Legends Q&A: Mark Patterson
Mark Patterson will be our guest for our FA Vase fixture against Maghull tomorrow, James Bentley looks back on his career.
It’s no overstatement to say that Mark Patterson saved Bury Football Club when he was sold to Bolton in January 1991.
Close season spending had reached previously unprecedented levels just six months before, when a combined £430,000 was spent on John McGinlay, Colin Greenall, Roger Stanislaus and Ronnie Mauge. When things started going from adequately to awry on the pitch, culminating in the defeat at Chorley in the first round of the cup, the 1990 cash crisis began as Hugh Eaves withdrew his funding.
Mark had been a consistent performer in the Bury midfield since his arrival from Preston in the middle of the 1989/90 season, helping the Shakers to the Third Division play-offs which they lost at the semi-final stage to Tranmere Rovers. A tendency for the spectacular, including a jinking, slaloming run against Blackpool that concluded with a beautiful chip over George Wood, went hand in hand with a combative style that fans love. Patterson’s determination to win was forged on the streets of East Lancashire where he was born and where he made his league debut, for Blackburn Rovers.
His performances hadn’t gone unnoticed by Phil Neal, who was managing that lot up Bolton Road. In fact, there was no way he could have not noticed Mark’s opening goal for Bury in the Gigg Lane derby played in October 1990 when he hit one of the most sweetly-struck free-kicks the Manchester Road End has ever seen, from all of 30 yards out, to leave Dave Felgate flapping at fresh air.
As the cash crisis bit hard, the entire playing staff was put on the transfer list. Neal pounced and took Mark to Burnden Park where he had a hugely successful spell in Bolton’s team that enjoyed cup runs and promotions while we enviously looked on. But at least we had a club thanks to the Wanderers’ cash that kept the wolf from the door, at least until Bury’s next financial implosion in 2001/02.
By that time, Mark had spent a second spell at Bury as he signed for Stan Ternent’s side following a morning meeting in Magaluf with Stan, Sam Ellis, Terry Robinson and his then manager at Sheffield United, Howard Kendall. While not as successful as his first, Mark weighed in with one of the three spectacular goals away at Birmingham City in March 1998.
If this all sounds very entertaining, that’s because that’s exactly what Mark’s career was. So too is his story which he tells in his autobiography ‘Old School – A Proper Football Education’ and it will be great to see him back at Gigg.
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Match Info: Maghull (H), Sat 24th Aug, 3:00pm KO
The Shakers march on! Tuesday’s convincing 2-0 league victory against AFC Liverpool lifted us to fifth position in the league table, just two points behind leaders Ramsbottom United. We now face Maghull at home in the FA Vase first qualifying stage on Saturday and Cheadle Town in the league on Monday.
There was only ever one team in Tuesday’s match, although there was quite a gap between the goals. Skipper Macauley Wilson’s header gave us the lead on 12 minutes, and it was a long 80 minutes more before we hit a second. But Rustam Stepans’ cool and clinical penalty clincher on 90+2 was well worth the wait.
After five league games, unbeaten Bury are now in 5th place on 11 points – just two behind Ramsbottom United and Chadderton. Now if we’d won instead of drawing against Irlam in our first game on the 3G pitch… But there’s every reason to be positive as we face two more games at Gigg Lane in three days. Up first: Maghull FC in the FA Vase first preliminary round on Saturday.
In Opposition – Maghull
Maghull went down 3-2 away to Manchester side Maine Road FC on Monday evening. They are currently fifth in Division One North of the NWCFL, having won four matches, drawn two and lost two.
The Merseyside club was founded in 1921 and joined the Zingari Alliance League 1922-23. They were in the Cheshire County League when it linked up with the Lancashire Combination to create the NWCFL in 1988.
On the Day & In the Ground
Our brand new Matchday @ Gigg guide is available to read to find out everything you need to know going on in and around the ground.
Click on the image to the left to review all Gigg has to offer!
Mark Patterson is our special guest in Starkies & Eyelevel Sponsors Lounge.
Match Coverage & Live Stream
If you are unable to make it to the action at Gigg Lane, we’ll have all the live coverage across our media platforms.
Live Stream: A live stream will not be available for this game. Keep up-to-date with all our video content via the club’s YouTube Channel. Click to subscribe and never miss highlights and match reaction across the season.
Audio Commentary: Roch Valley Radio will be providing commentary for this game. Join the team from the press box at Gigg Lane. Click here ahead of kick-off to listen live. Audio commentary will be provided for every game of the season, so you will never miss a piece of the action.
Social Media: Our team will also bring you in-depth text commentary via the club ‘MatchDay Live‘ Twitter feed, with team news and half time and full time updates available also on Facebook and feel like you are there with our match galleries and imagery available over on Instagram.
Whatever the weather, wherever you are across the globe, we have you covered.
Up the Shakers!
#ShakersTogether | #BuryFC | #PartofIt
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