The Club

You can't help feeling a bit sorry for Bury and their supporters. Every Saturday they see legions of football fans heading off to the game - only it isn't their game, it's Manchester United's or Manchester City's. Likewise, the town has a couple of England footballers, sons of a Bury supporter, but they - Gary and Phil Neville - ply their trade in the vast stadium of Old Trafford rather than at Gigg Lane. Frustrating? It certainly must be but it wasn't always so.

When the club was founded back in the 19 th Century it could certainly hold its own with its big city cousins. Admitted to the second division of the Football League in 1894, at the same time as Manchester City, they beat City 4-2 in their opening game (playing then, as always, at Gigg Lane) and proceeded to win all fifteen of their home fixtures that season. They duly won the Championship and beat Liverpool - the bottom club in Division One - in a 'test match' to secure their place in the top flight. The next few years proved something of a golden era for the club as they won the FA Cup twice in 1900 and 1903 (before either Manchester City or United had managed to do so) and they stayed in Division One until 1912.

Bury had one further spell in Division One, in the late '20s but after that it has been lower divisions all the way and since the 1960's it's more often than not been the bottom two of those. There have been recent successes - albeit on a far smaller scale than those of the neighbours - in Bury's centenary season, 1984-5, they were promoted to Division Four under the charge of a familiar name, Martin Dobson (we must suppose that the memories Shakers' fans have of Dobson are a little better than our own). And then in '96 and '97 the club earned successive promotions under Stan Ternent, including a 29 game unbeaten home run.

More recently, Bury have faced more than just footballing challenges with financial crises threatening their existence. Put into administration in March 2002, the 'Save the Shakers' campaign was led by Neville Neville (yes, he's Gary and Phil's dad) while the club's press officer Gordon Sorfleet won the UEFA Fan of the Year award after his magnificent fundraising efforts. Somewhere in the ground some of you may even 'own' a seat: one of the innovative fundraising measures the campaign instigated was a scheme to 'sell' seats in the ground.

Finally, the Shakers - why? By all accounts it stems back all the way to the late nineteenth century when club chairman, J.T. Ingham, announced at a Lancashire Senior Cup game against Everton: "We'll give them a shaking. In fact we are the Shakers." So now you know.

The Town

As a town Bury is also somewhat dwarfed by Manchester but it's not simply an outpost and has its own history - its name comes from the Anglo-Saxon 'burg' or 'burh' meaning stronghold - and in the middle ages the area came to prominence as a centre for wool. It was a few hundred years later though when things really began to happen for the town after one of its most famous sons, John Kay, invented the flying shuttle in 1733 which revolutionised cotton weaving and is seen as not only a key development for the textile industry but also of industrial revolution. His son, Robert, also made a contribution, inventing the 'drop box' some thirty years later and 'Kay Gardens' in the centre of the town commemorates these achievements. Cotton became extremely important to Bury but other industries sprang up too, notably paper manufacturing which still exists today.

Bury has another claim to fame as the home of the black pudding. The local delicacy is sold in Bury Market (Chadwicks is the stall to head for) which is open on Saturdays if you fancy taking some home. Not only does the town make black pudding though; it is also the home of the 'World Black Pudding Throwing Championships'. At this prestigious event (contestants come from Australia and South Africa amongst other places apparently) the idea is to throw a black pudding (wrapped in ladies tights) at a load of Yorkshire puddings balanced on a plinth high up on a pub wall. We kid you not. Incidentally, does anyone else have a vague memory of Bury fans with blow-up black puddings back in that 80's inflatable fad?

And to restore some credibility we'll ignore the fact that the DJ (we use the term loosely) Mike Read is a fan of Bury FC and instead focus on the claim that the legendary Mark E Smith - a local lad - supports the club. Quality. And if the home team gets physical on Saturday we'll surely be entitled to claim it's a 'Kicker Conspiracy'.

Boozers

In town there is a Yates and other standard fare but if you take the Manchester Road out towards Gigg Lane there are quite a few boozers including The Blue Bell, The Swan and Cemetery and The Staff of Life. The local CAMRA group has a website , which seemingly lists every pub in the area, while the Real Bury Pub and Beer Guide gives more information about the area.

Upsetting the locals

It's not hard really, mention Manchester United and you'll probably get a reaction. Saying you've eaten the best black pudding ever in Yorkshire may cause a local to blow a gasket…