HE may have left Bury while still at junior school, but Matt Holland hasn't forgotten where his footballing roots are.

The Ipswich Town skipper and Republic of Ireland international is the latest Premiership soccer personality to get behind the Shakers Buy A Seat fundraising campaign.

Following hard on the heels of such luminaries as Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson and Liverpool and England midfielder Jamie Redknapp, Matt was only to pleased to sign up for a seat.

And with good reason, as well as being a Shakers fan himself he knows all about what it's like to be a player with a cash-starved club from his days with AFC Bournemouth.

Matt, who will be 28 next month, joined the Cherries after coming through the youth ranks at West Ham United but soon after joining the Dean Court club they were soon in financial trouble.

"Things were pretty dire for a time when I was at Bournemouth," explained Matt.

"Much the same as Bury they went into administration and although things are a little better for them now, crowds are up and they have a new stadium in the offing, they are still struggling.

"There's got to be a case for more money filtering down to smaller clubs in the league.

"Especially when you see reports this week that the Professional Footballers' Association are paying more players wages than ever this season.

"A new system is needed because the situation is getting no better - the big question is what to do?"

"Growing up in Bury I still look for their result first. It would be terrible if they were to fold.

"Clubs like Bury and Bournemouth are the lifeblood of soccer in this country and we need to keep the smaller teams."

Matt's father Mike was a striker with local Bury Amateur League outfit Fishpool United and after watching his dad doing the business on Goshen Playing Fields he'd often end up on the terraces at Gigg Lane.

"My dad's team used to kick off at 2pm and after the match we'd end up watching Bury," he said.

"At the time, in the early 1980s, Craig Madden was at the height of his popularity and he was a bit of a hero for me.

"I always remember Gigg Lane was one of the best pitches in the league at that time and I went down their quite a bit."

His father's work took the family down to London when he was nine years old and the young Holland's soccer career never looked back.

Within two years of moving south he had joined Southampton's centre of excellence and then went to Arsenal only to be rejected for being too small.

But showing true Lancashire grit he stuck at the job and went on to join West Ham then Bournemouth before he became one of Ipswich boss George Burley's first acquisitions signing for £800,000 in August 1997.

Now an established international with Mick McCarthy's men Matt is looking to the summer and the World Cup where he could bump into a couple of old schoolchums of his. . . Gary and Phil Neville.

"We were all at Chantlers Primary School at the same time," added Matt.

"Gary was a year below me but I remember him. I'm pretty sure my mum used to play rounders with their mum too!"