The club was formed in 1885 following a meeting at the Swan and Cemetery Hotel, between the Bury Wesleyans and Bury Unitarians Football Clubs. Gigg Lane's first ever game took place on 12th September 1885 when Bury played a Friendly match against Wigan, and won 4-3.
In 1887 the first shed was built at Gigg Lane at a cost of £50 (although this debt was written off and never paid for), also in the same year Bury recorded their record defeat, 0-10 v Blackburn Rovers in the FA Cup 1st Round.
In 1889 they were founder members of the Lancashire League,in which Bury's first ever floodlit game took place on 5th November 1889,when a crowd of 7,000 saw bury defeated 4-5 by Heywood Central.In 1892 bury were Lancashire Challenge Cup Winners, before joining the Football League Second Division in 1894, which they won at the first attempt, being undefeated at home all year, and beating Liverpool in a play-off at Stoke, to go up to the First Division. They beat Liverpool in a play-off to clinch promotion to Football League Division One. They stayed there until 1912.
Bury have won the FA Cup. On 21 April, 1900 they beat Southampton 4-0 at Crystal Palace, and before returning to the London venue in 1903. The second win was achieved without conceding a goal in the entire competition, including a record FA Cup Final score of 6-0 over Derby County on 18 April, which remains the highest ever victory in an FA Cup Final.
In 1906 the South Stand was built at Gigg Lane. And by 1922, the ground was finally handed over to the club from the Earl of Derby as a gift. In 1924 the Main Stand was built, during this period Bury's ground was one of the best in the Football League.
In 1923 they were promoted again, and in 1926 they achieved their highest League position ever, fourth in the First Division. But two years later they were relegated and have so far not played top flight football again. Steady decline followed and by 1971, they had reached the Fourth Division for the first time.
The club's greatest benefactor was Hugh Eaves, a local benefactor under the stewardship of whom Bury were promoted to the second tier of English football. Bury, along with long-fallen former First Division regulars Huddersfield Town and Grimsby Town pushed for a place in the Premiership, only to see their plans being derailed by the financial crisis caused by the collapse of ITV Digital.
In 2001-02, the club was relegated to League Two following a spell in administration for financial irregularities.
In May 2005, Bury became the first football club to score a thousand goals in each of the top four tiers of the English football league. In November 2005 Bury emplyed the services of performance coach, Jimmy Petruzziello, to help them turn season around On 20 December 2006 they were the first team to ever be thrown out of the F.A. Cup for fielding an ineligible player.
After the FA Cup debacle, Bury failed to win in 16 games, and relegation to the Conference for the first time in the club's history became a possibility. They survived the relegation battle of the 2006/07 season, where a 0-0 draw with Stockport County ensured they would stay up to play another season in League Two.
In Chris Casper, Bury had the League's most up and coming manager. In the past, they have been managed by Graham Barrow, Mike Walsh, Stan Ternent, Neil Warnock and Andy Preece. During the close season, former Lincoln Town manager Keith Alexander was appointed Director of Football.
It was announced on the 14th January 2008 that Casper and Alexander had been sacked, the board terminating the pair's contracts simultaneously. A club statement said the pair had "lost the confidence of a large majority of the fans". Chris Brass, formerly the manager of the club's Centre of Excellence, was given the vacant manager's post on a caretaker basis. His first match in charge resulted in a cup upset, the Shakers knocking Norwich City out of the FA Cup in the third round. Despite this early success, results remained inconsistent, and a more full time solution was sought by the board after Brass led Bury to a humiliating 5-1 home defeat to MK Dons.
On 4 February 2008 Bury appointed Alan Knill as manager. Having made more than 150 appearances he went on to coach the side from 3rd bottom to 13th position in the 2007-08 Season. Having defied the critics in his first season he lead Bury to 4th place where they missed out on goal difference by one goal leaving them in the playoffs.
In the 2008/09 playoffs Bury lost out to Shrewsbury Town despite leading the tie with two minutes of normal time remaining. In the first leg, Bury won 1-0 away from home thanks to a late Neil Ashton own goal. At Gigg Lane in the second leg, Phil Jevons had the chance to put the game away but missed a penalty. A goal meant that the game went to extra time where Bury saw many chances saved by keeper Luke Daniels. Bury lost on penalties as top scorer Andy Bishop and substitute Danny Racchi both had their penalties saved by Daniels. |