SOCCER: We will not be Bury-ed

WHEN Bury Football Club were relegated to Division Four in 1980, fan Terry Robinson told his wife he 'didn't fancy going round the Fourth Division again'.

His wife replied: "If everyone thought like that, where would the club be?"

His wife's comments struck a nerve, and Robinson contacted the club to see how he could help out.

He started fund-raising and was soon asked to join the board.

Six months later, he became chairman of the club he had supported since he was a boy.

Two decades on, after the loss of the major shareholder, relegation from the First Division and the cost of redeveloping the stadium, the club is in trouble. Real trouble, according to some reports.

Such trouble that non-League Accrington Stanley, who suffered similar problems before they went bust in 1962, are holding the fund-raising night on Tuesday and will donate the money raised to the 'Save Our Shakers' campaign.

Chairman Eric Whalley is hoping to raise thousands so that Bury don't go down the same road Stanley did.

"When we heard they were in trouble we wanted to do what we could to help out," he said.

"They have always been good enough to send strong sides down here for pre-season friendlies, now it is our turn to re-pay the favour."

It came as a surprise to most that it was Accrington, and not one of the big clubs like Manchester United, City or Bolton, that came to their neighbours' rescue.

Chairman Terry Robinson said United did want to help. "The match they played at Wrexham a few weeks ago, they wanted to play here, but we had four other games on that week and we couldn't provide a pitch.

"But even if we had provided a pitch they would have organised a reserve game instead, they wanted to play their reserve game against Everton, and we only ever get 500 down here to watch United's reserves."

So Accrington it is, but Robinson doesn't think his club will go the same way as Stanley.

"There is no question of the club going under," he said, refuting reports that the club would not be able to pay the players wages soon if a buyer was not found.

"We only need to get to the end of the season and then we can get rid of players on First Division contracts and re-align and re-budget.

"The money from the Football League goes up as well next year. We need to raise about £200,000 between now and the end of the season, which is a big task, but you have to believe you can do it."

The sale of David Johnson from Ipswich Town to Nottingham Forest this week netted the Shakers £380,000.

"That has made the task far less daunting," admitted Robinson.

As well as a fund-raising dinner at Old Trafford, the club are doing bucket collections before games which has raised £9,000.

Robinson reckons the difference between Accrington then and Bury now, is that the Shakers aren't ashamed to say they are struggling. "Someone just came along to Accrington one day and said 'you are £45,000 in debt', or whatever, so they went along to the representative on the management committee, who happened to be the chairman of Burnley (Bob Lord), who suggested that they shut, so the legend goes.

"We are more open. We are not ashamed that we are struggling because everyone is.

"And it has paid dividends because we have had Eric kindly get in contact and offer to put a fundraising day on, which is great and even if it doesn't make any money the publicity it will create will make people more aware of the situation."

An astute businessman, 56-year-old Robinson made his money in farming and plastics before getting involved at Bury.

After a spell of part-owning the club with two other board members, Robinson sold his shares to multi-millionaire Hugh Eaves, who bought up 92 per cent of the club in 1989.

"He was probably putting money in to double what the club was making," said Ro- binson.

Eaves was involved in a £20m financial scandal and because of it, the club is up for sale. That was 18 months ago, and despite some interest there is still no buyer.

So the fund-raising continues.

"Apart from the bucket collections, we always try to give something back for the money we receive," said Robinson.

"Unfortunately, we are asking the hardcore fans to put even more money in, but they are willing to do it.

"The collection sometimes equals the amount of money we put into the bank from gate receipts, if we have a small crowd, because we have a high proportion of season ticket holders." The number of fans through the turnstiles is a major problem for the club. The average this season is around 2,500, but even in the First Division, the club struggled to get 4,000.

Robinson puts it down to apathy in the town.

"It is not apathy towards the club, it is apathy towards the situation. People think the club will just survive, that something will just happen.

"We have never been a well-supported club anyway. The support for Bury is far less than for other clubs in the area because Bury is not like other towns.

"It is an amalgamation of different towns. There's Bury, with 70,000 people, and added on to it is Whitefield, Prestwich, Tottington, Radcliffe and Ramsbottom.

"Whitefield and Prestwich are as near to Manchester as they are to Bury. Radcliffe has a polarisation to Bolton and Ramsbottom polarises both to Burnley and Bolton.

"We are hemmed in by a lot of other clubs and we are not a town like Burnley and Bolton.

"We haven't been able to encourage people to come, even when we were in the First Divison."

With the club dropping rapidly down the league, relegation from the Second Division is a real possibility.

But the priority now is financial survival.

The fans won't be happy with relegation, but they might be grateful for the chance to go around the third division clubs again.

It is better than no club at all.