A BIG name was in town this week as Bury supporters took a step nearer to returning to their famous Gigg Lane home.

Former Tottenham, Liverpool, and England striker Peter Crouch was at the ground during filming for the second series of Save Our Beautiful Game.

The 6ft 7in former striker said that what happened to the Shakers should serve as a warning and never be allowed to happen at any other football clubs.

Last weekend volunteers began repairs at the ground, which has not had fans inside it since 2019 when the club was expelled from the Football League.

The first series of Peter’s TV show focused on his role helping Dulwich Hamlet, a lower lower league side in financial difficulty.

He said: “I am working with Dulwich Hamlets, a lower league club in London.

“I just wanted to try and understand the plight of lower league clubs.

“What happened to Bury should not happen to any football club.

“We just need to have fit and proper tests.

“We need to understand what people’s intentions are when they buy a club.

“If this was a building it would be protected.”

He said of the local community: “It is their life to come to this stadium and it has been ripped aware from people that love it by people who do not care for it.”

He said he had visited the nearby Stanley social club and fish and chip shop to see the impact of losing the club.

The club was expelled from the Football League in 2019, however the UK Government gave levelling up funds to supporters groups to buy up the ground.

Plans are in the pipeline to transform the 12,500 seater ground into an asset for the whole community, with a 3G pitch and community gym, classrooms and health facilities.

The aim is to return to football in the 2022-23 season.

Math Pick, from Est 1885, which has worked with the Bury FC Supporters Society to re-purchase the ground, said it would be amazing to reform and have fans back.

He said: “It is absolutely fantastic but there is lots of hard work to do.

“Football is about so much more, we follow what is going on on the pitch, but it is also the people you meet and the community.

“The club supports the community and the community supports the club.

“It will be amazing to have fans back, for the town and for the fan base.”

David Ottley, the former club chaplain, first attended a game at the age of seven.

The team beat Swindon 6-1 on that occasion, helped in part by the opposing goalkeeper dislocating his shoulder and them not being able to bring on a replacement.

Mr Ottley would be 37 the next time he saw the team score six goals.

He said: “I’m a Bury fan, I was first brought here when I was seven and I thought it was really big.

“It is really emotional to be here.

“It would be lovely to see a Bury team play here again.”

He added that he hoped the “the different groups” involved around Bury “all work together, that is what is needed.”

“Bury united will succeed.”