Bury Football Club have never been able to recapture the success of their early years in the Football League, when they played in the top flight and won the FA Cup twice in three years.
Bury FC were founded in 1885 after a meeting between two local chapel football teams and shortly after they began playing at their current home, Gigg Lane.
They joined the Football League Division Two in 1894 and, after winning the title in their first season, went on to become FA Cup winners twice in the early 1900s.
The Shakers remained in the top flight until 1912, when they were relegated to Division Two, but they were back in Division One between 1924 and 1929, gaining their best ever league position of fourth in 1926.
Bury were relegated once more in the mid-1950s and since 1960, apart from two seasons in the second tier, they have remained in the bottom two divisions.
By 1971, the club were in the Football League basement for the first time in their history and their only success in recent years came in the mid-1990s when Bury won promotion under manager Stan Ternent, and the following season they took the Division Two title after registering a record-equalling points tally of 84.
The Gigg Lane outfit were relegated in 1999 and again two years later, but they came agonisingly close to a return to the third tier in the 2008-2009 season under manager Alan Knill.
Bury missed out on automatic promotion by a single goal before losing on penalties to Shrewsbury Town in the play-off semi finals.
