LANCASHIRE Spinners welcome Manchester Magic to Castle Leisure Centre this weekend in their opening home fixture of the new season.

They face their local rivals on Saturday in the group stages of the National Basketball League Trophy – a pre-season tournament – ahead of the official start of the Division One campaign, which begins on October 7.

The Spinners have a new coach in Anthony Purcell, a former Manchester Giants player, and an entirely new senior team following a summer of upheaval behind the scenes.

It was touch-and-go whether top-flight basketball would return to Bury after the club was forced to finish last season’s campaign playing at Myerscough College, near Preston.

But a handful of volunteers, including Lee Siddall and Steve Wheatley, whose sons play for the under-14s team, and u14s coach Guy Roles, clubbed together to set up a new management committee. And after working hard to start again from scratch, they expect to have a minimum of 10 senior players registered in time for their Trophy fixture on Saturday.

“The most important thing for us now is to raise awareness ahead of our opening game,” said Wheatley, who runs his own brand and marketing company and has taken charge of putting the club on a more sound financial footing.

“We want people to know that we are back and to come along again to show their support for the team in what is always one of the biggest home draws of the season.”

An understrength Spinners side, which included a mix of senior and under-18s players, were beaten 104-72 at Derby Trailblazers on Saturday in their opening Pool One match of the National Trophy.

It would take a similar scoreline in their favour against the Magic on Saturday (tip-off 5.45pm) to book a place in the knockout rounds, but the main focus is now on supplementing the senior squad further ahead of next month’s first league game, which is also at Derby Trailblazers.

“Without dedicated leadership there was a real prospect the team would fold during the summer,” said Wheatley.

“The outlook was very bleak and the financial position was perilous.

“But the Spinners have always enjoyed strong local support and backing – it’s a real community club.

“And it was from these ranks that survival of the men’s team has been driven.”

The Spinners were left reeling by the departure of general manager Ken Masser last autumn.

He was never replaced and while previous head coach Neal Hopkins picked up the pieces, he claimed there was no help from within the club to organise match days at the town leisure centre.

Hopkins took the decision to switch the final matches of the campaign to the club’s then training base at Myerscough College.

They narrowly avoided relegation, but the head coach stepped down in the summer and all the players left with him.

Wheatley added: “What many people don’t realise is the club has 11 different junior and women’s teams, but in essence they were each running in isolation.

“Ken ran the club as a one-man band, so when he left there was a real void.

“It’s fair to say Neal was left on his own and it was clear there needed to be a management committee to pull everything together.

“We have that now, and hopefully each team can now play a more important role, with players feeding up through the structure and into the first team. On top of that, my role will be to ensure the club has different revenue streams in place so it is not solely reliant on one or two main sponsors.

“Our hope is if we can build on the club’s reputation and local following, and exploit the goodwill that exists for the Spinners, we have a real opportunity to turn things around.”