SHAKERS MEMORY LANE: Did you recognise the Gigg Lane class of 1958/59?

Once again, we will be sifting through our archive of pictures to showcase players and teams from the past and inviting readers to help us reminisce by emailing in their recollections of those featured.

Before then, we decided to revisit a picture of the 1958/59 Bury team first featured in Memory Lane on Thursday, March 16.

A host of readers got in touch with a correct line-up for the team shot, which was actually taken in March 1959, nearing the end of that season.

As has been pointed out in a number of the replies we received, the campaign was somewhat unremarkable, with Bury finishing 10th in the old Division Three.

But the building blocks were being put in place for the 1961 title-winning team – a side that so many of you hold dear to your hearts to this day.

Here is a selection of the emails readers sent in in response to the picture:

APART from Don Watson I cannot identify any players.

I am dying to know the names of all the players and the season. I was a regular in the Boys' Stand in the fifties having been born in 1942.

Tony Mosedale

THE picture was taken during the 1958/59 season and the players are, from left to right, back row – Tommy Neill, Brian Turner, Frank Adams, Brian Eastham, Eddie Robertson, John McGrath. Front row – Jimmy Munro, Don Watson, Bill Holden, John `Willie` Parker, Jim Lovie.

The manager at the time was Dave Russell and the season was fairly unremarkable, with the Shakers finishing 10th in the old Third Division (now League One), taking 48 points from 46 games, it being two points for a win back in those days.

There were, however, three highlights to the season, the first being a 6-1 home win against local rivals Rochdale on October 4, 1958.

Secondly, the Shakers enjoyed a 5-0 home win against Doncaster Rovers on New Year's Day, 1959.

The third and most memorable highlight of the season was an FA Cup third-round home tie against Arsenal on January 10, 1959.

The all-ticket game watched by a crowd of 29,880 was played on a blanket of snow.

The Shakers gave a good account of themselves, only to be beaten 1-0 by a David Herd headed goal from a cross by right-winger Danny Clapton.

Bury could have won this game but the result was a valiant effort, considering that the Arsenal team contained seven internationals and they were lying joint second in the old First Division (now the Premier League).

Five of the players shown in the photograph went on to play in the 1960/61 Third Division championship-winning team – Frank Adams, Eddie Robertson, Brian Turner, Don Watson and Bill Holden.

John McGrath also played in the same team up until February, 1961, when he was transferred to Newcastle United with Bob Stokoe coming to Gigg Lane as part of the deal.

My standout memories of the players in the photograph would have to be as follows:

Don Watson played centre-forward during the 1960 /61 championship-winning season. Towards the end of the season Bury were on track to score 100 goals for the first time in their history. When they had scored 99 everyone was looking forward to seeing a spectacular 100th goal. When it came, scored at Gigg Lane by Don Watson, it was little more than a toe poke over the line from about a yard, but it will still go down in the memory of all Bury supporters who saw it that day.

At the end of that same season Bury had an evening away game at Bradford City. The Shakers had massive support as victory would ensure promotion. The result was a 1-0 win for the Shakers but the standout memory of the game was seeing inside-right Bill Holden hitting a volley from near the half-way line into the Bradford net for the winning goal. Bill Holden was an extremely gifted player who had played in the old First Division with Burnley and Sunderland, also winning an England B cap along the way. He was a tall man with an amazing deft touch and unquestionable skill, no doubt honed at Castle Hill School in Bolton, which he attended as a young boy, following in the footsteps of former England internationals Tommy Lawton and Sir Nat Lofthouse.

Mention must be given to John McGrath, who was probably one of the Shakers' best ever centre-halves. Big and strong yet with great ball control, John played 148 games for the Shakers before leaving Gigg Lane.

My final memory would have to be of inside-left John Willie Parker, who played for Bury from 1956 to 1959, scoring a creditable 43 goals in 82 games. He was another player who joined Bury with First Division experience having played 167 games for Everton, scoring 82 goals, and was their leading scorer for four seasons in a row in the early 1950s.

I fondly remember John Willie scoring four goals for the Shakers under floodlights at Gigg Lane in September, 1957, when Bury overwhelmed Tranmere Rovers 8-2.

Stuart Howker

I THINK this week's photo is towards the end of the 1968/59 season, which was the first season I visited Gigg Lane and started to support Bury. i.e.

The players are, back, from left, Tommy Neill, Brian Turner, Frank Adams, Brian Eastham, Eddie Robertson and John McGrath, front Jimmy Munro, Don Watson, Bill Holden, John-Willie Parker, Jimmy Lovie.

Gordon Atherton and Bobby Conroy are notable absentees from the photo. They, together with Turner, Adams, Robertson, McGrath, Watson and Holden formed the nucleus of the 1960/61 Third Division championship side.

The other three key players from 1960/61 – Bill Calder, Allan Jackson and Johnny Hubbard – arrived in the summer of 1959.

Brian Eastham became more of a regular in the Second Division from 1961 to 1967.

Bob Mather

I HAVE been supporting Bury since 1953, my dad played in the Bury silver band that used to supply the pre-match and half-time entertainment for the crowds.

I was only six (born in 1947), so I used to arrive with the band and get in for nothing.

I remember Cecil Law (South African left-winger) scoring a hat-trick on his wedding day, probably the 1954 season.

Tommy Daniels was my favourite player at the time.

The team in the picture should be something like: back row Tommy Neill (past captain of Great Lever and Farnworth golf club, I played golf with Tommy and his son Andy, they were both very good golfers), Brian Turner (also a good golfer at Bury GC), Frank Adams, I don't recognise the next player, Eddie Robertson (used to work for Bury Corporation as a flagger along with my late dad), and Big John McGrath; front row, possibly Brian Gallagher, Don Watson (terrific centre-forward), Bill Holden, I think this guy may be John-Willie Parker, and I don't know the player at the end, but he is wearing Manchester United socks, is that a clue?

Thanks for the memories, I am (was) 70 in June and still a Shaker, but I live in Wigan and don't get to attend many matches these days.

Great photos keep them coming.

Bob Ashworth

The players in the team of the 1950s are as follows: Back row, left to right, Tommy Neill, Brian Turner, Frank Adams, Brian Eastham, Eddie Robertson, John McGrath, Front row, left to right, Frank Munroe, Don Watson, Bill Holden, John Willie Parker, Jimmy Lovie.

Note: Turner, Adams, Watson, McGrath, Robertson and Holden all played in the promotion-winning team of 1960/61, which I think was the best Bury team I have seen in my 65 years of watching Bury FC.

Bob Hunter

HERE goes with the 1950s team, which I think is probably 1958/59.

Those players asterisked were still around in 1961 and were members of the team crowned champions of the Third Division.

Back row, left to right, Tommy Neill (signed from Bolton Wanderers), Brian Turner (one of the club's greatest ever servants)*, Frank Adams (goalkeeper)*, don't recognise, Eddie Robertson (signed from Linlithgow Rose)*, John McGrath (sold to Newcastle United in the deal that brought the great Bob Stokoe to Gigg Lane)*, front row, left to right, not sure but would guess at Norman Lockhart, Don Watson*, Bill Holden (scored the goal at Valley Parade, Bradford, that clinched promotion)*, John-Willie Parker (signed from Everton), Jimmy Lovie.

David Morris

Other readers to correctly guess the season and full line-up include Derek Callow, Ian McPherson, Stuart Taylor,