Good Morning Folks,
Firstly let me introduce myself. I am a long-suffering Bury supporter who has just seen Bury AFC wipe the floor with Northwich Victoria 6-1 at Wincham Park in the ninth tier of English football. The attendance was dire, with what appeared to be 150 NVFC at best in a total crowd of 574. A sorry state for what was once a proud non-league club, and Northwich’s premier outfit. This also comes days after a humiliating 4-1 defeat for 1874 to Witton Albion in the 8th tier.
As some may be aware, there are some striking (and some not so) resemblances between the Northwich situation and the current Bury situation, whereby fans are at loggerheads owing to numerous disagreements over the years.
At Bury, quite simply the messy and still undead corpse of Bury FC has caused rifts within the historical fanbase, with some disagreeing with the formation of AFC prior to the death of BFC (sound familiar?) despite the fact that BFC now exist only on a piece of paper. We have two distinct fan groups, who appear diametrically opposed, Bury FC Supporters Society (BFCSS) and Shakers Community Society (SCS).
I am aware the situation at Northwich was in some respects different, I believe due to dissatisfaction over the running of NVFC and the numerous administrations since around 2004? But I believe there was an initial belief that NVFC would fold fairly soon afterwards, with a desire for fan-ownership rather than poor ownership, hence the creation of 1874. Clearly NVFC didn’t fold, hence a similar scenario is observed to that of Bury AFC and Bury FC (although BFC is truly a corpse).
To see Bury FC’s historical fanbase of around 2,500 essentially get split into two has been heartbreaking, arguably more so than the initial expulsion from the Football League (which in my opinion was deserved). Perhaps some 1874 fans are able to resonate with this feeling to a degree? With this split comes the abuse and harsh words exchanged between what is now essentially two Bury factions, one with a ground (Gigg Lane - BFCSS) and one with a team (Bury AFC - SCS).
As you can guess, the main similarity between BFC and Northwich is that there are two sets of the same fans who cannot get along. I think most Bury fans; whichever side of the fence you sit on, agree that two clubs would be disastrous for a small town like Bury (pop. circa 80,000, but absorbed into Manchester suburbia).
Northwich is not a large town, but is not too dissimilar in size to Bury, and is arguably much better placed in terms of retaining a captive audience than the likes of Bury and Altrincham, due to being further out of reach of Manchester’s footballing gravitational pull.
How can it be then that the current top dogs in the Northwich football scene only pull in on average c. 250 fans? Do you, as I do with Bury AFC, not ponder what could have been, if fans had pulled together instead of pointing fingers at each other or finding fault?
Bury AFC currently play in Radcliffe, on the outskirts of Bury, just as you do at Barnton. Playing out of town has significant limitations and I long for a return to Gigg Lane, as I’m sure many of you do to Drill Field. If Bury had two clubs, both would achieve attendances of around 1,000 each in the lower reaches of non-league until both slowly diminished and died.
Northwich Victoria are now fan-owned, as are 1874… there are 50,000 people within the Northwich built-up area. Surely given the respective positions of both clubs it is time to consider a coming together with a view to galvanise the town into getting behind a united Northwich effort? A crowd yesterday of 800+ for 1874 shows there is an appetite for football in the town. I am not sure what the appetite would be like from Witton’s perspective but much like Bury’s unfolding situation, having two clubs of essentially the same supporter base seems counter intuitive to overall growth.
From the outside looking in, NVFC and 1874 appear to be in a much more advanced phase of a situation which Bury are just entering. But with a sizeable captive audience in Northwich and both NVFC and 1874 competing for support - and not exactly ripping up trees on the pitch, surely both fan-owned clubs can find common ground and open discussions for re-unification?
I am happy to be corrected and educated on the suggestions and points raised. I know how complex these sorts of scenarios can be, the twists and turns of lies and deceit following Bury’s expulsion could fill a book!
Firstly let me introduce myself. I am a long-suffering Bury supporter who has just seen Bury AFC wipe the floor with Northwich Victoria 6-1 at Wincham Park in the ninth tier of English football. The attendance was dire, with what appeared to be 150 NVFC at best in a total crowd of 574. A sorry state for what was once a proud non-league club, and Northwich’s premier outfit. This also comes days after a humiliating 4-1 defeat for 1874 to Witton Albion in the 8th tier.
As some may be aware, there are some striking (and some not so) resemblances between the Northwich situation and the current Bury situation, whereby fans are at loggerheads owing to numerous disagreements over the years.
At Bury, quite simply the messy and still undead corpse of Bury FC has caused rifts within the historical fanbase, with some disagreeing with the formation of AFC prior to the death of BFC (sound familiar?) despite the fact that BFC now exist only on a piece of paper. We have two distinct fan groups, who appear diametrically opposed, Bury FC Supporters Society (BFCSS) and Shakers Community Society (SCS).
I am aware the situation at Northwich was in some respects different, I believe due to dissatisfaction over the running of NVFC and the numerous administrations since around 2004? But I believe there was an initial belief that NVFC would fold fairly soon afterwards, with a desire for fan-ownership rather than poor ownership, hence the creation of 1874. Clearly NVFC didn’t fold, hence a similar scenario is observed to that of Bury AFC and Bury FC (although BFC is truly a corpse).
To see Bury FC’s historical fanbase of around 2,500 essentially get split into two has been heartbreaking, arguably more so than the initial expulsion from the Football League (which in my opinion was deserved). Perhaps some 1874 fans are able to resonate with this feeling to a degree? With this split comes the abuse and harsh words exchanged between what is now essentially two Bury factions, one with a ground (Gigg Lane - BFCSS) and one with a team (Bury AFC - SCS).
As you can guess, the main similarity between BFC and Northwich is that there are two sets of the same fans who cannot get along. I think most Bury fans; whichever side of the fence you sit on, agree that two clubs would be disastrous for a small town like Bury (pop. circa 80,000, but absorbed into Manchester suburbia).
Northwich is not a large town, but is not too dissimilar in size to Bury, and is arguably much better placed in terms of retaining a captive audience than the likes of Bury and Altrincham, due to being further out of reach of Manchester’s footballing gravitational pull.
How can it be then that the current top dogs in the Northwich football scene only pull in on average c. 250 fans? Do you, as I do with Bury AFC, not ponder what could have been, if fans had pulled together instead of pointing fingers at each other or finding fault?
Bury AFC currently play in Radcliffe, on the outskirts of Bury, just as you do at Barnton. Playing out of town has significant limitations and I long for a return to Gigg Lane, as I’m sure many of you do to Drill Field. If Bury had two clubs, both would achieve attendances of around 1,000 each in the lower reaches of non-league until both slowly diminished and died.
Northwich Victoria are now fan-owned, as are 1874… there are 50,000 people within the Northwich built-up area. Surely given the respective positions of both clubs it is time to consider a coming together with a view to galvanise the town into getting behind a united Northwich effort? A crowd yesterday of 800+ for 1874 shows there is an appetite for football in the town. I am not sure what the appetite would be like from Witton’s perspective but much like Bury’s unfolding situation, having two clubs of essentially the same supporter base seems counter intuitive to overall growth.
From the outside looking in, NVFC and 1874 appear to be in a much more advanced phase of a situation which Bury are just entering. But with a sizeable captive audience in Northwich and both NVFC and 1874 competing for support - and not exactly ripping up trees on the pitch, surely both fan-owned clubs can find common ground and open discussions for re-unification?
I am happy to be corrected and educated on the suggestions and points raised. I know how complex these sorts of scenarios can be, the twists and turns of lies and deceit following Bury’s expulsion could fill a book!
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