CHRIS Brass’s broad grin was lost in the sea of smiling faces that flooded on to the Prenton Park pitch at the final whistle last weekend.

But it is hard to imagine any Bury fan, player or coach savouring the moment quite as much.

Circumstances ensured the assistant manager was never able to witness the thrilling moment Ryan Lowe scored at Chesterfield to seal Bury’s last promotion from League Two in the 2010/11 campaign.

Brass had hoped to be given the chance to lead the team after manager Alan Knill decided to take up a post at Championship side Scunthorpe with just eight games of the season remaining.

But he ended up sharing in the promotion via a phone call after following Knill out of the club.

And after being given the opportunity to return alongside current boss David Flitcroft, Brass admitted Saturday’s experience was everything he had dreamed about and more.

“We worked so hard and when I got the call to come back I felt I had unfinished business, I really did,” said Brass, after the Shakers won 1-0 at Tranmere on the final day of the season to secure a place in the top three.

“It really did hurt me that I didn’t see the job through the last time.

“You see the celebrations – this is what we wanted.

“All I said to Dave (on the final whistle) was ‘look, thanks for bringing me home’.”

It is understandable that a man who played almost 30 games for the Shakers before working as a coach at Gigg Lane for four years would develop such an affinity with the club.

But Brass admits to struggling to share the excitement of fans when they hark back to the 3-2 win at Chesterfield after leaving the glory behind to lead Scunthorpe to relegation.

“The lads rang me from the coach to celebrate,” he remembered.

“As much as you were chuffed to bits for them, it was hurting.

“We have gone to Scunthorpe to do a professional job but sadly it was on the back end of going down, so there was very mixed emotions.

“I was chuffed to bits for the club but it was something I always look at and think ‘what if’ and I hate that because I’m not a ‘what if’ person.

“But last Saturday’s experience was tremendous, it really was and I think everyone can see now what a special club Bury is.

“That’s why I came back. I had to come back.”

Irrespective of Brass’s decision to leave, that year’s promotion-winning team was quickly broken up, with fans’ hero Lowe sold to Sheffield Wednesday on August transfer deadline day, following a number of other star players out the door.

Back then the club had to sell, or could not afford to offer competitive wages, but this time the 39-year-old believes Bury are in a different position.

“It is a club that is on the up,” he said.

“The youth team has won the league, we’ve managed to do it on the final day.

“We have got an ambitious chairman.

“We got to 85 points and it would have been a travesty if we didn’t do it.

“We had to win and we did our bit.

“It’s fabulous.”