ANY Brentford fans feeling sorry for themselves at making a fruitless journey to Bury's Gigg Lane on Saturday should spare a thought for poor Richard Todd.

The Shakers fanatic flew in from Dusseldorf specially for the match!

He was gutted when he arrived at Gigg Lane at quarter to three only to discover the match had been cancelled because of heavy rain.

But his £180 plane ticket didn't completely go to waste.

The Bolton Evening News arranged for him to meet manager Andy Preece, who had a chat with the super fan and autographed the ticket.

Preece said: "I can't believe it. It's typical. He's a fantastic fan coming over here from Germany to cheer us on and then this happens. It sums up how our luck is going at the moment!"

Richard, 32, flew into Manchester Airport on Friday specially for the football and flew back on Sunday. He stayed at his dad Jim's house - another Bury fan - and driving to the match they suspected something was wrong.

"My dad was saying that when he used to go to games as a boy there were crowds of 35,000 and he pointed to the empty streets and said look at it now," said Richard.

"But when we got to the ground and found it was off it explained why it was so quiet. I mean I knew we'd been getting low gates but I thought things couldn't be this bad!

"I was gutted it was off. I've been a lifelong Bury fan and I love watching the team. But I'm not too upset because I'm coming back in a fortnight to watch the Swindon match."

And that's good news for Andy Preece because Richard is something of a lucky charm. The last match he flew in for was the 1-0 victory over Bristol Rovers in October - the last time the Shakers won.

Preece added: "I hope he comes against Swindon. That means three points are in the bag!"