Bury v Grimsby Preview

The Opposition

Back in days of yore some things happened which were at the time fairly interesting and now have become totally irrelevant to the vast majority of society as neither involve Jordan, Peter or Jade Goody. To the rest of us we too couldn't careless but try to at least sound interested to give ourselves moral superiority and this is how it went down wig a wah wah! Founded in 1885 by Bury Wesleyans and Bury Unitarian Football Club, Bury Football Club was formed to the joys of the few and indifference of many. Hazzah! They too fell afoul of evil ITV Digital and their brilliant business plan resulting in their all too familiar cascade through the leagues like a beautiful tropical waterfall only to find big boulders at the bottom. So here they lie for a hundred years waiting for their Prince Charming to wake them from their slumber and take them to the third step in the football pyramid.

So cruel, so evil, so mean, so what? You think you had it tough care to swap? Losing out in the play-off semis to The Shrew with an equalizing goal in the 88 minute at home resulted in them losing 4-3 on penalties as well as been caught short by a solitary goal in their quest for automatic promotion on the last day is pretty rough but the season in fact wasn't that bad. They had an outstanding home record culminating in an equally impressive away one meant that The Shakers can look back with sympathetic eyes cause in the end it wasn't that bad really they won a lot which is always pleasant and the kit man bought a new car probably.

Could be the one I tell ya it could! As already mentioned they have a good squad one that even surpasses the one that preludes the present season or whatever. The league opener was a kick up the arse but as we know promotion and relegation isn't decided on the first match! No it’s decided in the two games after.

Craig Madden. Joining Bury in 1977 the man from Manchester spent just short of a decade wowing the Gigg Lane faithful in an amazing 5 years which has remained with those in the north west ever since. In 1981 to 82 Madden amassed an astounding 35 goals for the season resulting in Bury having a rather odd finish of 9th but with a 21+ goal difference far surpassing those around them. In 297 matches Madden was able to bag 129 goals to his collection before moving on to a rather disappointing season with West Brom before returning to the north west in Blackpool where his career petered out after a promising start before his playing career ended at Fleetwood in the early 90’s.

Hopefully bright clubs such as Bury are in an awkward position the lure of the 2 Manchester clubs on their doorstep as well as in the midst of one of the Premier League hotspots with Blackburn, Wigan, Bolton and now Burnley all vying for new fans and that’s even before taking into account the 2 team from Liverpool. AND! Both Oldham and Rochdale a mere 12 miles away it’s amazing how any small club can collect such a healthy fan base.

Bury have a few the cliché of Colin Kazim Richards is banded about by biennial ITV commentators leaving Bury fans to wonder why the hell wasn't he that good for use. As well Richards, scouse-a-gram Terry McDermott also donned the Bury shirt with ever present, impressive and large Neville Southall and wobbly legs Bruce Grobbelaar all very impressive.

Ryan Lowe. So many to pick from lucky Bury! Alas I thought copy and pasting Andy Bishop's blurb from last season would seem rather crude but not beneath me so to brighten up my day as Mock The Week run a horrid clip show let’s talk about Ryan Lowe. Ryan Lowe is in no way related to school friend and chipped tooth cricketer Oliver Lowe of Grimsby who is sailing around the world on that big Hull and Humber clipper thing in the winter. In fact Ryan Lowe was born in Liverpool to parents Mr. and Mrs. Lowe probably the 30 year old joined Shrewsbury in 2000 spending 5 years at the Meadow scoring a lot of goals and keeping the locals happy by not getting into the argument about how to pronounce Shrewsbury. He joined Chester for his first little jaunt at their breeze box emporium of woe in 2005 spending a year getting bored and buggering off to Crewe where he impressed in Dario Gradi’s last year before been sent on loan to Stockport. He returned to Chester where he and Ellison were pivotal in keeping us worried till Bournemouth and now finally he can have something to strive for after a fairly fruitful career I hope Lowe can enjoy sometime at Bury who look to be heading in the right direction.

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Head to Head

Grimsby just have the edge over Bury overall, but have done well in recent years winning 6 of the last 10 games between the sides.

P 69 W 28 D 16 L 25 F102 A 97

Head-to-Head (38th on The Opposition Ladder)

Last Meeting

Grimsby 1 Bury 2 (Sat 14th Feb 2009)

One of many days where Town led at half time only to blow it in the second half.

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Prediction

Random Fact

Bury will be styling chocolate and blue halves to commemorate their 125th year anniversary. The kit is not much unlike one of our very first ones where chocolate and blue quarters were I guess the new black. Any of you with mild curiosity may like to know our 125th anniversary was in 2003 when sod all happened to commemorate anything of any sort. Cause hey who cares it’s just Grimsby!