Bury F.C.

Bury

Full name	Bury Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Shakers
Founded	1885; 139 years ago (1885)
Ground	Gigg Lane
Capacity	12,500[1]
Owner	Football Supporters' Society of Bury Limited (50+1)[2]
Manager	Dave McNabb
League	North West Counties League Premier Division
2023–24	North West Counties League Premier Division, 3rd of 24
Website	Club website
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Bury Football Club is an English association football club based in Bury, Greater Manchester which plays in the Premier Division of the North West Counties League, the ninth tier of the English football pyramid. This follows FA approval of a June 2023 merger with phoenix club Bury AFC. Prior to expulsion from the English Football League, Bury FC had last played in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football pyramid, in the 2018–19 season.

The team are known as "The Shakers", and play in white shirts and navy blue shorts. Gigg Lane, one of the world's oldest football grounds, has been the club's home venue since 1885. The club has long-standing rivalries with near neighbours Bolton Wanderers, Oldham Athletic and Rochdale. Established in 1885, Bury was a founder member of the Lancashire League in 1889 and crowned champions in 1890–91 and 1891–92, before being elected to the Football League in 1894.

Bury won the Second Division in 1894–95 and earned promotion to the First Division in which they played for 17 seasons. They won the FA Cup in 1900 with a 4–0 victory over Southampton and again in 1903 with a record 6–0 win over Derby County. Bury were relegated to the Second Division at the end of the 1911–12 season and were there for twelve years until securing promotion as runners-up in 1923–24. They were relegated in 1928–29, their last top-flight season. In 1956–57, they dropped into the third tier for the first time but won promotion as champions of the Third Division under Dave Russell in 1960–61. From 1967 to 1971, they had one promotion and three relegations, the last of which was from the Third to the Fourth Division.

Bury won promotion at the end of the 1973–74 campaign and remained in the Third Division until 1979–80. Under manager Martin Dobson, Bury won promotion back to Division Three in 1984–85. In 1990 and 1991, the club qualified for the Third Division playoffs, but were then relegated in 1992. In 1995, Stan Ternent became team manager, leading the team back to the second tier for the first time in 28 years after securing two consecutive promotions in 1995–96 and 1996–97. The club stayed there for just two seasons before being relegated twice in four seasons. They secured promotion out of League Two in 2010–11. After that, Bury switched between Leagues One and Two, being twice relegated (in 2012–13 and 2017–18) and twice promoted (in 2014–15 and 2018–19). Bury finished the 2018–19 season as runners-up in League Two, earning promotion to League One for the 2019–20 season. However, the club was unable to begin the season because of longstanding financial difficulties, and was expelled from the Football League on 27 August 2019.

In November 2020, the club was placed into administration. In February 2022, Bury fans' group Est.1885 completed the purchase of Gigg Lane from the administrator and announced that they had acquired the trading name, history and memorabilia of Bury FC. After the sale was completed, efforts began to bring professional football back to Bury. In October 2022 supporters were urged to vote in a poll regarding a potential amalgamation of the Bury Football Club Supporters' Society (who owned Gigg Lane and the "Bury FC" trading name) and the Shakers Community Society (who owned phoenix club Bury AFC). The proposals initially failed to reach the required 66% threshold from both societies, but, on 5 May 2023, the merger of both societies was approved following a second poll.^[3] Bury AFC adopted the Bury FC playing name ahead of the 2023–24 season and returned to Gigg Lane, following an FA approval announced on 5 June 2023. Upon merging, the two team's histories were combined — retroactively counting Bury AFC's seasons as seasons for Bury FC.