BURY fans are being challenged to help catapult the club to the next level.

Chairman Stewart Day is appealing to supporters to spread the word about the Shakers’ fantastic start to the season in a bid to boost attendances.

David Flitcroft’s side clinched a third straight win last Saturday at home to Port Vale to move up to sixth place in League One.

They entertain Coventry, one of the division’s heavyweights, this weekend and are just three points and two places behind Tony Mowbray’s promotion hopefuls.

And Day has urged every one of the 3,200 home fans who attended the last match at Gigg Lane to bring a friend to cheer them on against the Sky Blues.

“We saw in our win at Bramall Lane against Sheffield United recently how our side responded to playing in front of 21,000 fans,” said Day.

“The players thrive on that big game atmosphere and we want to give them that at Gigg Lane.”

Day admits to being disappointed by the home crowds so far this season.

They are up on last year’s average gate of 3,700 but have been stoked by larger away followings than the club experienced in League Two in the last campaign.

The level of home support, however, has not really improved despite the perceived bigger draws of visits from local rivals, such as Oldham.

“At times last year we were getting crowds of 4,400 at games when we only had 300 away fans coming through the turnstiles,” added the chairman.

“Oldham brought nearly 2,000 with them this season and we still only managed a gate of just under 5,500.

“It is frustrating because I know the interest is there from previous attendances.

“We had a gate of 6,200 for a night match against Rochdale which only included 1,800 away fans – and that was televised live on Sky.

“And we had 9,000 come to watch the game against Southend last season when we made it free for everybody.

“Financial Fair Play rules mean if we want to invest in the business, to make it grow and be sustainable at an even higher level, then we need attendances above 6,000.

”We can’t depend on away support to achieve that.”

While the club cannot throw open its doors for every match, Day says he and his team are working hard to make the cost of football at Bury affordable.

He added: “We offer a flexi ticket of 10 matches – for any category of game, at any time of the season – for £160, that’s £16 a game.

“We have three category A games coming up next month – against Wigan, Rochdale and Blackpool – which would normally be £22 a ticket.

“Fans using a flexi ticket would make a saving of £6 a game, so would effectively be getting a game for free!

“So the opportunity is there to watch good quality football at affordable prices and we want our fans to spread the word.”