Alan Knill is hoping to celebrate his first anniversary as Bury boss with a second manager of the month award.

Despite the curse that famously follows receiving the prize, it would be a fitting recognition of the remarkable turnaround in the Shakers’ fortunes since Knill took over 12 months’ ago.

“In a year we’ve gone from third bottom to third top, so it would be difficult to top that,” said the 44-year-old.

When the former Chesterfield assistant took over from Chris Casper on February 5, 2008, Bury had not won in 13 league games and appeared to be in freefall towards the Conference.

The former Shakers defender, who enjoyed a four-year spell at Gigg Lane between 1989 and 1993, took charge of his first game against Stockport and, despite a 3-2 home defeat, the signs were already there of better things to come.

The next game saw the Shakers beat a strong Bradford City side 2-1 at Valley Parade and the revolution had begun.

Bury finished the season in 13th place with 59 points – 34 of which came in the 19 games after Knill took charge.

The remarkable transformation has continued this season. Having been no lower than 10th and unbeaten in the league until mid-October, Bury are now flying high in third.

Knill said: “I was fortunate that when I arrived here we had a group of quality players who bought right away into what I wanted to do here.”

Despite the praise, Knill remains focused on the task ahead. He added: “It’s not over for us. We’ve got three months of hard work left if we want this season to really be a success.”