THE writer of the letter signed "United and Bury fan" (March 15) should not mislead readers by pretending to be a Bury fan. No true fan would publicly slag off his team.

I was amongst a group of City fans who responded to the appeal by attending the Notts County game and, yes, it probably wasn't Bury's best performance this season, but to compare them to a pub team after one visit is appalling. How many pub teams has this correspondent seen? I see two each Sunday morning, whilst refereeing in the Bury & District League.

True fans, and I mean true fans, not the "prawn sandwich" brigade, attend week in, week out, whatever the performance. Have Manchester United never given a bad performance? What about when Bolton, Liverpool, Arsenal, Newcastle and Chelsea visited Old Trafford this season?

The players and manager at Bury need confidence-building support, not criticism. So when City are away we will go to Gigg and pay our £14 (more than I pay at Maine Road for the North Stand) and put our loose change in the buckets in an effort to keep Bury afloat.

ROGER BOWDEN,

Ripon Hall Avenue,

Ramsbottom.