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Shakers season review
IT is odd to think that in a season that has lurched so dramatically from high to low, that the Shakers should end up being content with a safe mid-table finish.
But having spent so long living on their nerve ends, it makes a refreshing change for fans to immediately look forward to August with a sense of optimism, rather than sit morbidly picking the bones out of the months gone before.
Two key decisions moulded Bury's campaign: the one which brought the experienced head of Keith Alexander to the club for an ill-fated spell as director of football, and the infinitely more successful one to replace both him and manager Chris Casper with the former Gigg Lane defender Alan Knill.
Neither man's arrival was particularly heralded at the time. Alexander had enjoyed play-off success with Lincoln City but his reputation for advocating direct football coupled with a sense of sympathy for Casper, who effectively had a more accomplished coach brought in over his head, meant his relationship with the supporters never scaled the heights it did at Sincil Bank.
The pair's rapport behind the scenes provided a stormy backdrop to the first half of the season. When the team's results suffered on the pitch, they paid with their jobs in late January.
That paved the way for Knill - a centre half signed by Sam Ellis in the early 1990s.
He had only limited managerial experience with a cash-strapped Rotherham on his CV when the board announced he would be the man to lead the club out of the rut they found themselves in with three months of the season remaining.
There was no fanfare. No hoards of supporters waiting to welcome him back with open arms. Knill would not have wanted them anyway.
He got on with his job quietly and with the kind of refreshing straight talk that was poles apart from the previous regime.
Having identified the shortfalls, Bury quickly climbed clear under his tenure and were effectively safe with five games to spare. Even then, Knill refused to take his foot off the pedal, only too aware that every point gained would make his recruitment exercise in the summer that little bit easier.
He now has the chance to put his own stamp on a side that responded magnificently to his arrival. Though it seems there will be little room for sentiment, with many of the old guard leaving for pastures new. Whispers of play-off charges and promotion have suddenly started to drift around Gigg but having maximised his honeymoon period, Knill is realistic enough to know the hard work starts here.
Indeed, the play-offs were on everyone's mind when Alexander and his long-time number two, Gary Simpson, were brought in last summer, despite some reservation over how the new management team would work with incumbent boss, Casper.
The Football League's youngest manager could perhaps count himself lucky to be getting a third bite at the cherry having struggled against relegation for the previous two campaigns.
But a third battle against the drop looked unlikely when Alexander called in some more of his trusted lieutenants, Paul Morgan and Ben Futcher, and added the likes of Steven Haslam, Jim Provett and Andy Mangan to the Shakers squad.
Hopes were raised even higher when on the first day of the season, a half-fit Andy Bishop stepped off the bench to score twice in a 2-1 win against promotion-favourites MK Dons on the opening of their new stadium.
It proved to be a real false dawn. Seven winless games later, the cracks had already started to show in the Casper-Alexander relationship, leading some sections of the support to call for changes at the top.
Assistant Simpson was relegated to a scouting brief after a display of petulance in a 2-0 home defeat against Chester City.
An anxious Casper was left picking up the pieces, forced into a public claim that he, and no-one else, was in charge of team and tactics.
The pressure was starting to weight heavy. But his saviour came in the form of young Scouser Mangan, who also emerged from the bench to inspire Bury to a 2-1 home win against his old side Accrington Stanley.
Many speculated at the time that the man Casper had worked so hard to sign in the summer might actually have saved his job. It also ended a truly awful winless run of home form that had stretched back to mid-December 2005.
The peaks and troughs of form that had characterised the previous season had returned, only this time more pronounced then ever.
In Simpson's absence, Alexander came down from the terraces to stand side-by-side with the manager in the dugout on matchday. The show of solidarity seemed to affect results and it seemed another cloud had passed.
Sports psychologist Dave Horrocks was brought in to help the squad and Chris Brass - released by the Shakers in the summer - stepped up on a coaching basis alongside his role with the Centre of Excellence.
Though the dugout was packed, the Accrington win was followed by a league and cup double over Rochdale at Spotland, which set up a tantalising trip to face fallen giants Leeds United.
By the time they travelled to Elland Road four weeks later, they had suffered just one more defeat, at Rotherham, but crucially had gained ground on the top half of the table with wins against Barnet and Notts County.
They went into that unforgettable night in West Yorkshire enjoying some good form.
Few, however, honestly expected them to beat the three-times league champions on their own turf.
Though Ben Futcher and Bishop scored the goals, the tone for one of the club's most famous recent victories was set by a defiant display in goal from Jim Provett in front of nearly 19,000 supporters.
Four days later another giant, albeit a smaller one, was put to the sword as Peterborough crashed at Gigg Lane. But that was the last league win earned under Casper and Alexander, whose relationship deteriorated publicly from there on in.
Though their roles has been undefined at best since the start of the season, it became even more difficult to distinguish who was pulling the strings as the side lurched from one poor result to another over Christmas. Both men claimed to be in control and, though the Shakers put in another Herculean performance at Carrow Road to take Championship side Norwich City to a replay, a heavy defeat to Darlington a week later spelled a bitter end. The pair were sacked at a meeting on January 14, leaving coach Brass in charge for a home replay against Norwich just 24 hours later.
The former York City boss inspired the side to another famous win, dedicated quickly by player and caretaker alike to the former manager, who was also first to text in his message of congratulations.
Dale Stephens' rocket kept the undefeated run going for Brass in a 2-2 draw against Bradford but when Southampton cruelly ended the FA Cup run in the fourth round at St Mary's, form once again went tumbling out of the window.
Brass' chances of landing the job full-time took a massive blow as MK Dons got revenge with a 5-1 mauling at Gigg Lane. And though names came and went on the rumour merry-go-round, no candidate stood out from the rest even in the week prior to Knill's arrival.
Peter Reid and Paul Simpson had publicly turned down interviews but it later emerged that Ian Harrop, charged with headhunting the new boss, had targeted the Slough-born Chesterfield coach at an early stage.
He barely had his feet under the table by the time Stockport came to Gigg Lane to earn a 3-2 victory littered with defensive errors.
But he knew enough about the squad to move instantly into the loan market to bring in striker Adam Rooney (Stoke), goalkeeper Darren Randolph (Charlton) and, eventually, centre-half Efe Sodje (Gillingham) as impressive reinforcements.
A first win arrived quickly, courtesy of a sublime last-minute Bishop free-kick at Bradford, and the bandwagon barely stopped rolling from there.
Back with a 4-4-2 formation and with flying winger Elliott Bennett - a loan signing made by Brass on transfer deadline day - in irresistible form, the Shakers galloped rather than cantered to safety.
Knill's enduring message: "If you don't win, don't lose," had seemingly transformed the dressing room psyche. And when the wobbles did arrive at Barnet or Wrexham, the manager left little doubt that defeats would not mean the start of a massive slump.
Judging by the way Bury finished the season it might have been easy to take an if it isn't broke, don't fix it' mentality but Knill remains convinced that the problems he inherited in January remained entrenched in the fabric at Gigg Lane.
Established players are expected to be released and shake-ups to both the training facilities and attitude around the club are on the cards. Kicking and screaming they may be, but the manager is determined to drag Bury into the 21st century.
There are plenty of reasons for optimism on the playing front, too.
Andy Bishop proved that goalscoring is an innate knack. Never at his best, he managed 25 goals despite barely managing a full week in training. He also demonstrated that loyalty is not a lost concept in the modern game after vowing to stick by the club when the vultures began to circle in the transfer window. The trick now, for Knill, is to keep hold of him when the next round of speculation starts this summer.
Nicky Adams cast aside his image as a bit-part youngster to emerge as a genuine creative force. It remains one of Gigg Lane's greatest mysteries why some sections of the crowd continue to overlook the fact he is a 21-year-old, who with a touch more consistency, could be the next finished article off the famous conveyor belt. His contract situation must be resolved, quickly.
And Captain Fantastic, Paul Scott, weighed in with yet another season of consistency. Quite rightly voted Player of the Year for the second successive campaign, he thankfully signed a new deal to remain as the Shakers' bedrock for the next two years.
So it would seem Knill has the basis of a side capable of building on a mid-table finish, particularly if he can once again convince bright young stars such as Bennett, Randolph and Rooney to further their learning curve with a spell in League Two.
His case has been helped by his side's incredible finish to the season. Suddenly, Bury does not seem such an unattractive destination.
4:31pm Wednesday 7th May 2008
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