Alan Knill moving and shaking with Bury

He may have only been in charge of Bury since February 2008, but Alan Knill has seemingly attained God-like status among Bury supporters already. And it’s not at all hard to see why.

He has performed a miraculous transformation of a club that has been at the lowest point of its history, and given the Shakers light at the end of the tunnel.

Bury figure quite prominently in football trivia. They’re the club with the record winning margin in an FA Cup Final, over a century ago. They’re the club that produced Colin Bell. And they’re the club where Jill Neville, mother of Gary and Phil, works as Club Secretary.

The club’s history has been littered with ups and downs.

Having not graced the top flight since 1929, the 50s and 60s saw Bury move between the Second and Third divisions and rarely threatening to return to the First. From the 70s onwards, it was the elevator between the Third and Fourth divisions, occasionally threatening to reach the Second.

In the mid-90s under the management of Stan Ternent, the dream was realised: consecutive promotions meant that in 1997 Bury graced the second tier of English football for the first time since 1969.

And they confounded critics by staying up, after which Ternent was replaced by Neil Warnock. And this is where the dream turned into a nightmare, for relegation followed, and a very steep and nasty decline would set in.

Relegation to the bottom tier in 2002 coincided with the ITV Digital collapse, bringing financial hardship to many clubs.

The severity and acuteness of this was felt worst at Bury, who for a time were the club in gravest danger of extinction. Fortunately this did not happen- for much-publicised fundraising efforts kept the club alive.

However, on the field it was diminishing returns in the bottom tier- and for consecutive seasons, barely avoiding dropping out of League football altogether. This was, undoubtedly, the lowest point in the club’s long history.

When Alan Knill took over in February 2008, Bury were facing yet another struggle against relegation. They had knocked Norwich out of the FA Cup, but Chris Casper had been given the boot.

The transformation was remarkable: 10 wins in the remaining 18 games lifted Bury to a respectable 13th in the table. Considering the downward momentum that had gripped the club in the previous eight years and especially their stay in the bottom tier, this was no mean feat.

Bury started this season by winning the first three games, and they’ve remained in and around the top four throughout this season. The worst they’ll do is the play-offs, but automatic promotion remains a distinct possibility.

Alan Knill instilled new vigour into a side that contains such capable players as Efe Sodje, Brian Barry-Murphy, Stephen Dawson and Andy Bishop. There’s Barry-Murphy’s left foot in midfield and Bishop’s not inconsiderable guile up front.

But what Knill has forged is a side that plays some of the most attractive football seen at this level, along with fellow promotion contenders Rochdale and Exeter City.

They are a side that pass and move in a manner associated with much higher level teams. They are showing that it is possible to succeed at this level by playing the passing game.

But it’s not without its drawbacks – for if their key strikers are absent or misfiring, possession will mean nothing without meaningful penetration. Knill has also sought to bring a competitive edge to the fourth tier by virtue of sports science and nutrition.

Bury have been promoted out of this Division three times before- 1974, 1985 and 1996. But if they manage it in 2009, it will be the most miraculous of such promotions thus far.

Whatever the outcome, there is finally light at the end of the tunnel after years of purgatory.

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