2012/13 saw the Shakers go perilously close to going out of business (they were less than a day away from oblivion according to manager Kevin Blackwell) before Stuart Day completed an eleventh-hour takeover.
The arrival of a 31-year-old property developer could have set some alarm bells ringing but Day and his team, as well as allowing Blackwell to put together a whole new squad, have put in place a host of initiatives to try and put Bury FC back at the heart of their community.
From this distance it seems as though they are slowly winning the battle.
Last season in League One, average gates were 2,749 with a low of 1,396 for the match against Stevenage.
So far this season the average is 3,305 and that’s at a lower level (where Bury are 18th in the table at the time of writing) and without the benefit of a big local match against Preston North End which attracted over 5,200 through the turnstiles last season.
The positivity has also been reflected in away support with big followings going to Rochdale and Fleetwood in the league and Norwich City in the League Cup (helped by an army of coaches paid for by the club).
Talk of feeder clubs has swirled around English football in recent weeks and Bury are often cited as potential targets but the glory of the game in this country is in the sheer amount of towns and cities where there is a local professional club to act as a focal point for the community.
That status needs to be constantly worked towards, however, and the Shakers deserve huge credit for their various attempts to make the club and its town feel closer to each other.
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http://www.buryfc.co.uk/news/article/fun-day-information-1091826.aspx
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