Username
Password
15th : Bury are the dark-horses.
By Nathan Jackson July 24 2008
Bury FC are one of the dark-horses for promotion to League One. Although I am predicting them to finish 15th, I still think that if Knill can get it right then they have a great chance of surprising many people in the division, but will Bury also be able to keep hold of Andy Bishop?

WHO ARE BURY?

WHO IS ALAN KNILL?

WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?

LAST SEASON'S VIDEO 

Bury FC are one of those sides that will have a decent squad but never really do anything with it. They've had at least two or three Chamionship class players in their side each season since being relegated to this division 6 calendar years ago. However, no manager has ever really been able to get the best out of Bury since Andy Preece took them to the Playoffs in 2002/3.

Whether it was Chris "I'm better than everyone" Casper, Barrow or Chris Brass for a very brief time, no-one has been able to replicate Preece's success, but that might be about to change with a manager who has won more than half of his games in charge of the Shakers.

Knill took over at Gigg Lane on February 4th this year, managing the Shakers for the final 19 games of the 2007/8 season, winning 10 of those games and securing a nice, safe, medicority for the club. Whether Knill can take that into this season is a different matter though. He had a similar record at the start of his permanent life at Rotherham United, only to capitulate.

Whether history repeats itself is anyone's guess, but Knill has certainly gone about bringing in decent players to Bury, namely Efe Sodje. He has also managed, at the time of writing,to hold on to Andy Bishop and if Bury are to have any chance of the playoffs then he is their only hope.

One thing that may hinder Bury's progress is the lack of atmosphere at Bury. Usually promotion chasing teams have an excellent atmosphere, some of the recent clubs to win promotion such as Peterborough United, Bristol Rovers and Walsall break that rule, but in general it does help if your home fans create an atmosphere. This will be my seventh visit to Gigg Lane and it will probably be the seventh time in a row where the home fans will be completely silent.

I think Bury are going to be one of the potential dark horses for promotion. I'd be surprised if they did it but I think they have a better chance of doing it than the next few teams that I'm going to predict, it will all depend on if Bury can keep Bishop.

Bookmark or share this story with:

Goto Thread: Previous•Next
Goto: Forum List•Message List•New Topic•Search•Log In
Goto Thread: Previous•Next
Goto: Forum List•Message List•Log In

Goto: Forum List•Message List•Search•Log In
Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.
We record all IP addresses on the Sportnetwork message boards which may be required by the authorities in case of defamatory or abusive comment. We seek to monitor the Message Boards at regular intervals. We do not associate Sportnetwork with any of the comments and do not take responsibility for any statements or opinions expressed on the Message Boards. If you have any cause for concern over any material posted here please let us know as soon as possible by e-mailing abuse@sportnetwork.net