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First County Visit:	Saturday 25th April 1981
Competition:	Football League Division 4 – (Tier 4)
Result:	Bury 0 – 1 Stockport County
Attendance:	2,862
Away Trip:	23
Away Day:	42
County Line-up	1 David Lawson; 2 John Rutter; 3 Steve Sherlock; 4 Martin Fowler; 5 Andy Thorpe; 6 Tommy Sword; 7 Oshor Williams; 8 David Sunley; 9 Nigel Smith; 10 Chris Galvin; 11 Tony Coyle
Scorer:	Martin Fowler
Manager:	Jimmy McGuigan; (however McGuigan was not present for reasons outlined below. Trevor Porteous undertook the official role for the game)
County Visits:	20

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BIZARRE AND FRENETIC … UNLIKELY WORDS FOR STAID GIGG LANE

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It was that completely bizarre encounter where a 9 man County, (for half of the game anyway) held out for an incredible, some may say unbelievable, win. More of which below,

Bury are of course just so similar to County; to Rochdale; to Oldham and all the other Greater Manchester area clubs that live in the shadow of the “big boys”.  Some might say that we are blessed with football in the area – from the Premier League down to the lower reaches of non-League. 

I’ve lived in Stalybridge for the last three years, and Bower Fold is but 250 yards from my front door.  But throw a blanket over things and within 10 miles you’ve got a choice from 2 Premier League outfits; three Football League Clubs and getting on for a dozen clubs down to the Evostik League.  That’s an awful lot of competition to attract the paying spectator.  And Bury are one of those that have seemingly endlessly struggled to draw in much support.  Add Rochdale to that – at the time of writing, (January 2017), they are riding high in League 1 and yet a crowd of 3,000 is something to be overjoyed about. 

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It was a League Cup game early in 1994/95. Deepdale was out of action at the time with the massive reconstruction programme which has transformed the whole ground in its early stages. The plastic pitch had been ripped up and the new surface had not yet bedded in

For many years it was the games at Gigg Lane; Spotland and to a degree Boundary Park that drew the epithet “derby”. In more heady times the encounters with Burnley and Stoke had more than a degree of frisson about them.  More recently it’s fallen to Altrincham; Stalybridge; Curzon and that offshoot FC United.  But it was those games at Bury and their ilk that always had a degree of anticipation.

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I’d been to Gigg Lane a fair few times before the first County visit. (Archive footage of Gigg Lane as I first remember it). A ground that at the time was seemingly unchanged for more than a fair few years.  The entrance off Gigg Lane itself brought you within view of a practice pitch, (now long covered by a car park), and a reasonable imposing Main Stand, from the exterior at least.  To the left was the covered Cemetery End, flanked by a somewhat quaint enclosure in the corner which in times past have been christened the “Boys Stand”.   

Opposite the Main Stand was a larger structure, with terraced standing at the Manchester Road End.  The far touchline had what looked to be a pretty venerable structure.  Indeed the South Stand, (above), had stood there for getting on for 80 years that April afternoon.  Summarising the ground I can but refer to Simon Inglis.  Taking aside any events on the pitch, which may colour a view of some of the places visited, Inglis had it right, “Gigg Lane is compact, homely but with an appealing residue of stateliness.  A most satisfying ground to visit”.

Reflecting back over the years there are two particular trips there which are still at the forefront of the memory.  They can be summed in in just two words.  The first, “bizarre” and the second “frenetic”.

As it turns out it was the first County visit that was nothing short of bizarre.  With a long list of over 2,000 games watched there have been many instances of games which could have deserved this description but without fear or favour none more than this. It was the back end of April 1981, when thoughts were already turning to the new cricket season.  Indeed the new Central Lancashire League campaign was due to start for me the following day.  Not that it was cricket weather.  Bitingly cold but nothing to stop football, well not at Gigg Lane at least.  30 miles to the east it was different.  Peter Freeman’s book, (Stockport County – A Complete Record”) catalogues events more than well, but first of all a bit of context.

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Built in 1924, it purportedly held 5,500 all seated. In later years the terrace at the front was unused, and seemed to be home to a row of sheds

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It was an important game given the Hatters league standing.  They stood fifth from bottom with three games left, only one of which was at home.  Their fellow strugglers in the battle against re-election had the same number of games but with home advantage in two.  County were weakened by the absence of talisman, Terry Park.  Under the misapprehension that the game would be on a Friday night Park had arranged to get married that day.  That was one key man short.  Nigel Smith, making his first appearance that season, stepped into the breach. 

Whispers started to emerge around 45 minutes before kick-off that things were not all well in the Hatters dressing room.  Twelve players need in those days, when there was only one substitute.  At that point with the shirts laid out only 8 of them could be filled.  Word was coming through that the weather on the other side of the Pennines was appalling, and with a fair complement of County players, plus manager Jimmy McGuigan, making their way from that direction a debacle was on the cards. Les Bradd, coming from Nottingham, purportedly had no chance of arriving, and things were compounded when Dave Sunley and Chris Galvin phoned up minutes before the kick-off to say they were stuck behind a snow plough on the M62.

The 8 available men were made up to nine as a call went out to the tea bar. Legend has it that then record signing Tony Coyle was summoned and was only at Gigg Lane as a spectator.  Coyle had been injured for over a month and patently wasn’t fit to play.  Casting aside a half-eaten pie, (apocryphally anyway), he was told to put the number 11 shirt on.

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Eventually a team sheet was handed in by County stalwart Trevor Porteous, in the absence of McGuigan.  It had 11 names on it, plus Sunley as sub.  Referee Callow of Solihull refused to allow the kick-off to be delayed pending the arrival so out trooped County with nine.  What was to unfold we wondered?  Bury were unbeaten on home soil for 17 games and a week previously had hammered Scunthorpe 6-1.  County near the bottom, Bury comfortably mid-table.  There could only be one outcome.

Which is why “bizarre” is the correct description.  With Coyle clearly under instructions to run around up front and make a nuisance of himself, the remaining 7, plus keeper Dave Lawson, somehow managed to keep Bury at bay.  Which actually suggests that the Shakers had a single clue how to break County down.  They simply didn’t.  They were hopeless beyond measure.   The cavalry arrived after 43 minutes and onto the field strode Sunley and Galvin to bring us up to a full complement.  Ideally Bradd would have turned up as well.  Perhaps it’s a good job he didn’t.  Named in the original 11 he was a case, perhaps unique in football annals, of being substituted without stepping foot in the ground never mind on the pitch.  Sunley’s arrival led to this phantom replacement.

Later that year, back at cricket I was talking to Paul Hilton about the events that day.  Paul was on the bench for Bury, making his way back from injury himself.  I suggested to him that Jim Iley, (the Bury boss), had shown no idea about how to take advantage of playing against none for nearly half the game.  Paul quite rightly wasn’t going to criticise his gaffer but did proffer the comment that he spent the whole game trying to avoid Iley’s eye just in case he might be summoned to go on, and therefore be a part of what was a truly shameful and embarrassing display.  Paul must have hid away well, because Bury ended up with the same 11 they had started with. 

Bolstered by a full team, the unthinkable happened.  Mid way through the second half, Coyle, by now flagging as unfitness and a month out of the game took its toll, managed to cross for Smith who headed into Martin Fowler’s path.  From 20 yards Fowler rammed into the net and an unlikely victory was ours!!  I’ve seen a fair few games where teams have finished with 9, (the Burnley debacle at Wembley thanks to Elleray being one), but certainly never start with that number.  Like I say, truly “bizarre”.  And those points, (only 2 for a win in those days!) meant that the spectre of yet another cap-in-hand application for re-election was averted.

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It was later converted to seating, and with the best will in world, not only provided a less than average view, due to the lack of rake, but also lost all of its atmosphere

A quarter of a century later, in March 2006, the word “frenetic” came into play.  10 weeks earlier County had spent Boxing Day getting what can only be described as the “mother and father” of all hammerings.  Shame; apoplexy and outright anger spilled out at the Moss Rose as a supine display saw the Hatters concede six without reply and left them fixed to the bottom of the League nine points from safety with half the campaign gone. 

Chris Turner was fired, and some would say not before time, and Jim Gannon, who had held court in the tea bar at the Moss Rose that afternoon, came in.  Twelve games later he had doubled the points tally and lifted us to 4^th bottom – the prospect of the Conference National whilst still a reality was at least becoming potentially avoidable.  The game at Gigg Lane would be crucial with a 3 point return levelling things up with the Shakers.

Putting things simply it was probably one of the most tension riddled games I have ever watched.  A phenomenal County following packed out the Cemetery End, and the support they gave that night was unquestionably a key factor in what unfolded.  It was a truly grim evening weatherwise – pouring rain and a mist enveloping Gigg Lane with the once fabled playing surface resembling a mud bath.  Chances were created and spurned at both ends and as the game neared a conclusion it looked as though a decent away point might be there for grabs. 

Enter Jamie Ward, making his first appearance for County in a loan spell from Villa, coming on as a sub for Matty Hamshaw.  Ward has had a decent career since that night and must have played in more than his fair share of important games, and he certainly had an integral part in what was about to unfold.

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Liam Dickinson’s signing from Woodley Sports had been one of the last acts of Turner’s reign, and Gannon clearly saw something in him.  Four full and four substitute appearances had seen 5 goals.  The guy clearly knew the way to goal, rough and ready as he was at that time.  With time ebbing out he somehow got the ball from Ward out on the County right, headed for goal and slammed in what was the winner.  Cue more than pandemonium.  To this day I believe that the release of tension right at that point with a packed stand and the sheer joy that Dickinson’s strike brought is the single best atmosphere I have ever been in at a football match.  It was so palpably strong that you could have cut it with a knife.  Indeed Mark still refers to it now, nearly 11 years later. He was 13 at the time and will remember it for ever. It was spine chilling on reflection and perhaps a good example of how the tribal following of YOUR football team can generate such emotion.

Gigg Lane then.  Simon Inglis suggested it was a satisfying ground to visit.  And on those two bizarre and frenetic visits he was more than spot on!!

January 2017

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Postscript March 2020

Re-reading my Gigg Lane thoughts I thought it would be interesting to link to a You Tube video I came across. It shows each and every one of the goals that Liam Dickinson scored for the Hatters. Check out the winner at Bury (0.46 in). The rest of them are worth a watch too – including the Wembley winner.

And re-reading the Gigg Lane piece my thoughts about “Fit and Proper” persons running Football Clubs came to mind. They’re laid out in the piece about Brisbane Road. Bury have disappeared out of the League, and are likely to have a phoenix club in the near future. Steve Dale – for it is he who has caused the demise of the Shakers – hang your head in shame. Another “Fit and Proper” person ….not.

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VISITS

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Day	Date	Competition	Tier / Round	Opponents	Res	F	A	Crowd	Away Day
Sat	25/04/81	Football League Division 4	Tier 4	Bury	W	1	0	2,862	42
Sat	12/09/81	Football League Division 4	Tier 4	Bury	L	0	2	3,077	45
Tues	19/10/82	Football League Division 4	Tier 4	Bury	L	2	3	2,447	65
Tues	01/11/83	Canon League Division 4	Tier 4	Bury	L	1	2	2,547	86
Tues	26/03/85	Canon League Division 4	Tier 4	Bury	L	1	2	3,740	109
Sat	06/12/86	Freight Rover Trophy	Group Round	Bury	L	1	3	1,261	137
Tues	29/08/89 (Highlights)	Littlewoods Challenge Cup	Round 1 – 2nd Leg	Bury	D	1	1	2,590	174
Sat	18/04/92	Barclays League Division 3	Tier 3	Bury	D	0	0	4,726	232
Tues	09/11/93	Autoglass Trophy	Group Round	Bury	W	3	1	1,737	269
Wed	17/08/94 (Game moved from Deepdale)	Coca-Cola Cup	Round 1 – 1st Leg	Preston North End	D	1	1	2,385	282
Sat	21/12/96	Nationwide Football League – Division 2	Tier 3	Bury	D	0	0	5,069	341
Tues	11/02/97	Auto Windscreens Trophy	Northern Quarter-final	Bury	W	2	1	2,497	348
Sun	18/01/98	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Bury	W	1	0	5,699	375
Sat	17/10/98 (Highlights)	Nationwide Football League – Division 1	Tier 2	Bury	D	1	1	5,732	391
Sat	02/01/99 (Highlights)	FA Cup	Round 3	Bury	W	3	0	5,325	398
Tues	07/03/06 (Highlights)	Coca-Cola Football League – League 2	Tier 4	Bury	W	1	0	3,116	551
Sat	16/12/06	Coca-Cola Football League – League 2	Tier 4	Bury	L	0	2	4,466	567
Tues	05/02/08 (Highlights)	Coca-Cola Football League – League 2	Tier 4	Bury	W	3	2	3,142	597
Tues	07/10/08	Johnstones Paints Trophy	Northern Round 2	Bury	L	0	1	2,384	612
Sat	13/11/10 (Highlights)	npower Football League – League 2	Tier 4	Bury	W	1	0	4,244	663

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ON MY JOURNEY WITH COUNTY AROUND 180 GROUNDS

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Previously – VICTORIA GROUND (HARTLEPOOL) Next stop – BOOTHFERRY PARK