I AM a former Bury resident now residing in Cheshire. However, I travel the 35 miles or so to watch the Shakers at Gigg Lane.

Two incidents from recent friendly matches against Manchester City and Burnley demonstrate that there has been limited

progress in the thinking at Gigg Lane in the past 20 years.

I attended my first match at Bury back in the early 80s and can recall vividly the horrendous racist chanting from the Manchester Road end.

Many black players have since been on the Gigg Lane books and, in some cases, have become crowd favourites. Yet while the attitude towards black players seems to have improved, racism towards other ethnic groups is still rife.

At the recent City game, Ali Bernabia was subjected to chants from a small section of the South Stand crowd. Against Burnley another small group, possibly comprising the same individuals, chanted to Burnley supporters that their town was over-run with Asian immigrants. Sadly, this chant is likely to repeated at games against teams from other towns having a sizeable Asian population, such as Rochdale, Bradford and Oldham, among others.

This is not only offensive but shameful and portrays Bury folk as backward, ill-educated, narrow-minded half-wits, which I know not to be the case. The lack of any action by stewards adds insult to injury. They seem to me to be more intent on ejecting youngsters for singing or putting their feet on empty chairs.

Is it any wonder that black supporters identify fear and intimidation as reasons for not attending football matches? I therefore urge the right-minded supporters within the club to rid Bury FC of this scourge.

ASHAMED SHAKER,

Cheshire.