The BIMTech Podcast

Episode 11 | More Than Football: Bury FC, Family, and Community

• BIMTech Media • Season 2 • Episode 11

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In this episode of The BIMTech Podcast, we’re live from the stands at Gigg Lane with lifelong Bury FC supporter and vlogger, Michael Cartmell. Michael shares his personal connection to the ground, including how matchdays help him feel close to his late father, and why the club’s revival means so much to the community.

We talk about Bury’s history, the resilience of its supporters, and the role of local backing, including BIMTech’s sponsorship, in keeping the spirit of The Shakers alive. It’s a conversation about football, family, and the power of community.

Right. So, today we've brought the podcast out on the road. We're at Gigg Lane at the home of Bury FC. Aka the shakers. And I'm joined today by Michael Cartmell. Yeah. Who's a lifelong Bury fan, also has his own vlog about Bury FC. And I've been told if you need to know anything about Bury FC, he's the guy who can fill you in. That’s pushing it a bit that, that's pushing it a bit. Well. You’d have been better off with me brother actually. But he'll be drunk somewhere, so... Yeah. We'll give that a miss then....Maybe not Maybe an after the match interview. Maybe after the match. Yeah. No so, anyway, thanks for agreeing to do this. My pleasure Although I don't know how much of it you agreed to do and how much of it you were forced into it. But either way, you're here now anyway, so. So we'll crack on with it. So basically, because as a company, BIMTech Engineering, we've got involved with sponsoring Bury FC when they've started coming back into the leagues again. And as part of it, we have a bit of a social media presence and that, and people who’ll be following us, though, as a business won't understand who Bury FC is. They'll probably see a lot that... I publish a lot saying I’ve been to matches been here, been there, whatever. But they won't understand who Bury FC is, any of the history behind it. One of the things I always tend to tell everybody when I tell about Bury FC is we’ve won two FA Cups. Absolutely. And it’s things like that. So I just wanted to speak to you a little bit today about sort of start off and get a bit about the history of the club itself, then talk a little bit about yourself, how you got into supporting the club and everything. But we'll just kick off with I mean, the club was established in 1885, and then there was the first league that was... first English Soccer League, was it 1888 or 1889? Yeah somewhere around there. And then there was the first second Division was created in 1891 or 92. And then I think the year after that Bury joined that second division. As a professional... And so that was the first time they got into professional football. So this is what I say about I mean, we're talking 130 years ago or whatever. So they've been around a long time Bury haven’t they? Yeah. And you've got to remember that there wasn't the transport infrastructure then, that there is now. There was no television. We were decades away from that being invented. The car was a relatively new thing. Telephones. Not many people had them. So football was pretty much all there was. Yeah. So they would get good grounds. And that's why people moan about the parking arrangements now. But these were built inside an area where people live so they could walk to the ground. That's why you've got issues like you do. But that said, I would never want this ground to move, you know like the big clubs have. You can't do that here. Yeah. Because as you've just pointed out, this is historic. Yeah, well... There's a spirit about this place. Because I've seen something. I read something and I'm probably wrong here, but it was... Was it the Earl of somewhere or something? That’s right yeah. Earl of Derby. Was it something like that? That sounds about right. Yeah I saw something like that, that he was a guy who... If it Wasn't, he won't complain. No probably not. He's not going to sue us. He's not going to sue us. If he's still going that would be impressive. Yeah. So I mean that’s kind of where the club started from. And then I know they went up in the leagues and they did... I mean the leagues have changed recently. So when we talk about this, when we talk about League One, we're talking about what is the Premiership now. Yeah it’s the equivalent of the first Division, equivalent of the Premiership. So it was the top tier. They actually got up into the top tier and they were there for about 17 years or something was it? It was quite a period of time. Again, a lot to do with that is the fact there was nothing else to do. And there weren’t as many professional sides. You imagine, this is a massive draw. You work all week. This is Saturday. Yeah. Football is your Saturday. Everyone lives for the Saturday, don't they? I think more so then than now. And Bury, I don't know if you know this, but Bury we're always traditionally a late kickoff.

Always 3:

15 if you ever watch, you know when they do the football results.

Bury’s a late kickoff because it was 3:

15. Is that because are Bury people a bit lazy?

Can't get here for 3:

00? It was something to do with the pub. Oh was it?! That’s what my Dad told me. He said it’s so they could get them all out the pubs. And with being a big mill town. A lot of them work Saturday morning. You didn't have that five day week. And think, oh, I'm knackered! They worked five hard five and a half days. So then it was a rush to get home, maybe get changed and then quick scoop and then off to the match. So they got...

It was 3:

15 here forever. Yeah. Forever. Suppose it gives you a bit of an advantage... well, We haven't got the social media then that you have now. You wouldn’t know what's going on at other grounds would you? They used to put codes up at half time. And you had a code on the back of your program, so the letter A would refer to a certain match, so A would be 2-1 So then you'd look at your code and you could work out who was doing what. But that was about as good as you can get. But now you can be complaining about the match while you're watching it. Yeah. And then, one of the things I just mentioned there a minute ago was that people don't realize Bury won the FA Cup twice. Twice. And they even hold a record don't they of winning it? Well, it’s... I don’t know whether it's been matched or beaten has it? City beat Wigan 6-0 didn’t they. In the FA Cup final. But we went through every round without conceding a goal. Yeah I seen that. Yeah. And then won it 6-0 and apparently that statement over there at the back of the south stand We are the shakers, where that comes from is apparently, and it's lost a bit in the mists of time this. But most people go with the view that the chairman was asked for a quote from the newspapers, and he says, we're really going to shake them up. He said, in fact, we are the shakers. And that's where that started. Yeah. So there's a quote that's well over a hundred years old. Yeah. It’s lasted hasn’t it? Yeah. I mean, possibly people will be watching this wouldn’t have heard that before. But you go round Bury and you talk about Bury Football Club. You talk about the shakers. Everybody knows them as the shakers. Yeah. Yeah. So it's a long standing, sort of nickname for the club. I mean, this thing just absolutely drips history. I mean, it's changed from when I was a kid. It's evolved. But, you could bring somebody back from a hundred years and stand them out there. And they'd know where they were. They would know where they were. Quite apart from the fact it's got Bury FC everywhere. But just take that out the equation. They’d know that, they’d feel that. Yeah. I mean we spoke when we were talking earlier about getting involved in football. I mentioned that my dad started bringing me when I was just four. Yeah. Getting towards five, and, we lived down Ratcliffe Road. And if you don't know where that is, it’s where the old paintworks Macpherson's used to be. Me Dad worked there, so we had one of the houses across the road. So we'd walk up Ratcliffe Road to Gigg Lane. Me Dad walked to every football match. Never drove, even when he had a car, we walked. So for a little lad, that's a long way. Yeah. But fair enough, we’re walking to the match. But it was a bit of a bugger when we were playing Charlton away on a Tuesday night. Come on Dad, Bloody hell. But seriously, it's a rights of passage thing. Yeah. It's a tradition isn’t it then, for you it’s your family tradition. Yeah. Do you still do it now? Walk to the match? Yeah. More often than not. More often than not. Occasionally I'll get a bit lazy and I'll get a lift down, but more often than not, that's part of it. I'll set off and I walk to the game. I don't come here first. We go in the Stanley Social Club first. Just off Parkhills Road. Very reasonably priced beers. You might as well get your plug in. Very reasonably priced. Cracking host. You might get a free pint when you go next. Not off Dave no. Diamond Dave and Dishy Dev, your hosts. You need to go on a Saturday afternoon. So we start off there, then I'll walk across to the ground and it's becoming. It's getting a bigger thing. I was there on Saturday. There was hardly anywhere to sit. You know, people are just enjoying the camaraderie. And so many youngsters coming now. I bring my Granddaughter. My daughter was here. I've got nephews here, cousins here. A lot of my family were here on Saturday, and that's getting bigger and bigger. And I think it is for other families as well. Yeah, it is. You do get that feel when you're here on a Saturday that it's got quite a family environment around it. It's very much starting that way now. Yeah. And I mentioned earlier about my Dad sadly passing away the year before we started back. Yeah. And I also, if I'm all right to go on about this a little bit. Yeah, course you are. When my dad passed away, it was sudden. Even though he was like late 80s, he could walk 3 or 4 miles to go and get his lunch, you know, carry his shopping home. He was a fit man. So when he died, it was just like, wow, just rocked everybody's world. Yeah. And, I couldn't believe he’d gone. And I was looking for him in a, not physical sense, but a spiritual sense all the time. Doing things I used to do with my Dad. Like I’d go where we went for pint, I’d come out of work and drive three hours to go and sit on a beach where he took me when I was little lad. Didn't nothing happen. And then Bury start back here. And I walked through that turnstile and as soon as I heard that click, I'm right back over there with me Dad. Wow! Sat on his shoulders as a little lad. And, I play walking football here. And every Friday when I play, I go over there and I have a minute just standing looking where my dad was. And to play football in this stadium, even walking football is such a thrill. Well I mean, you're doing something that now Bury are climbing the leagues up. I saw it last season and first game of the season on Saturday. You see it when these other teams come here. It's like them going to Wembley, isn't it? When you look at the size of Bury compared to the league they’re in because of the financial difficulties, which we'll talk about in a minute. But you see all these clubs come here and some of the players look a bit shell shocked who come out and then others trying to show off a little bit, showboat because, it’s their big appearance at a big club. You’ll get them score a goal and then they'll run off, the opposition, they'll run off to A block and make them have it. You know, I scored here at Gigg Lane. Yeah, there is an element of that. In my vlog I always try and enthuse people to make as much noise as you can before the game starts. The reason being, I want the noise to travel from A block because they're the engine room... Yeah....of the atmosphere here. With the drum going. Just a fantastic bunch of people. So get the noise coming across this pitch, traveling down that tunnel and into that opposition dressing room, that drum and all the rest of it. And you want them that are a bit unsettled to be even more so by the time they're running out, because you take every advantage you can. Well that's it, yeah.. Don’t you? You take every advantage you can. Yeah. You know, like making the showers cold and turning the hot taps off. Yeah. So yes, it's a massive thing. And you can see some players crumble, some rise to it. Yeah. It does stand out that. Yeah. But I just mentioned there as well. Just talk a little bit about the financial side and not so much the financial side. But what actually happened with Bury when they got kicked out. What, the demise of it? Yeah. It's just, I mean, I don't know if you want to mention names or anything anyway, I don't know legally whether you can but the previous ownership, just before it went, I heard a lot of bad things about them. And I don't know whether it was their fault. It wasn't their fault. But I just think it was maybe a bigger animal than they thought when they took it over. I think there's a massive element of that. There's a lot of hatred for the man that took it over and completely finished it off. Yeah. It was decades before that the rot had started. I used to sit in the stands with my mate, and I looked at him and I said, you know what? This thing is built on sand. There's nothing underpinning it at all. It wouldn't take much of a wind for it to go. Right, and what was that down to? Was that down to lack of supporters, people losing interest, or? Too much money going out the door. Right. It's unsustainable. That's what I've said to a few people now, how far back, how high do we want to go? And do you think that was the club gambling that if we pump the money in, we'll get up the leagues and we’ll claw it back that way. I mean there's an element of that, I mean who was it, David O'Leary that finished Leeds off, they’re on their way back now. But, I think he spent, and it's peanuts now, I think he spent £80,000,000 in 1 season. Which was a phenomenal amount of money. That was a gamble on trying to get into the Champions League. That's what he was aiming for, if he could get into the Champions League he’d get it back in spades. But it never come off. And we all know what happened to Leeds. And Leeds is a well supported club isn't it? We need more support than what we get. There's a lot of people said to me, you know what? I always look out for the score. And I'm glad they're doing well. And I might start going again. Well, I’d say to you, Come on then. Yeah. Get down here. Come and watch it. I know you'll enjoy it. It's a habit, Saturday afternoon to get somebody out of that armchair and down to the football. It's a neat trick, but once you do it and they get in the habit and they find that they're enjoying the football, they're enjoying the camaraderie. Yeah. You know. I mean, the other good thing for people who want something sociably to do on a Saturday even, at the minute because they're not in the professional leagues, you can actually take your beer out onto the terrace with you. You can. And that's something you can't do a professional game now. So you can sit, you can have a beer, have a pie and watch the match can’t you? Yeah, that's right. And one of the things for me is I see it all the time. You can imagine at home, there's, usually blokes. I'm not being sexist. But it’s usually blokes with a young family and he’ll say to the missus. Right. I'm off. Going to me mates, we’re having a few beers at the pub. No you’re not, you bloody looking after them. No, no. Now he’s saying, right I'm off to football. I'm taking the kids. And you see the kids here with like a lemonade or something. And Dad’s coming past with a tray of Guinness and they're having a ball. Yeah. They're watching football. They're out with the kids and they're having a beer. Yeah. And they’re going home and they’re a hero for having the kids all afternoon. It is. It's a social event and that's great way of summing it up that what you’ve just said, it’s a social event. It’s a lot more than just a football game. It is. Yeah. And like you say, you feel like because they are on the rise again, you feel like you're part of a community trying to get them back to where they should be. And it does give you a little bit of pride being here and being part of it. Oh, there's no doubt, we all feel the same. There's a group, I would come here to football for decades and I'd sit in the stand or stand when you could and I might know 2 or 3 people around me. We'll have a chat. We'll talk about the football. Football finishes. You go home. Yeah. Right, now I walk in here. I'm saying hello to this person and that. And we all know one another. It isn't just me. Everybody's talking to one another. Everybody. I mean, they have loads of things that go on after football. They'll meet up for parties. They go to each other’s birthdays. They have days out. Yeah. It's just become a massive community thing and it's growing apace. And anybody that's got nothing to do, or even if you've got something to do, can it and come here. Yeah. You'll love it. Like you say, I mean, I was going to say, I mean, if you want it to, it can just take a couple of hours out or your Saturday. Yes. But, like you're saying, if you want to make it into a day, it's very easy to do that as well. Yeah. You can get somewhere, get anywhere around here. I mean, not that I’m here to plug other people and everything, but I know the Swan and Cemetery across the road that if you take your season ticket in the summer before a game, they give you 10% of the drinks or something. I think they do somewhat like that anyway, I believe. Listen, if I've got this wrong, I apologize. But I do believe that if you take your season ticket in on a Sunday, you can get 25% off your Sunday lunch. And I am told it's phenomenal. I haven't taken it up myself yet. I will be doing, but, not just for the 25% off. It's just to sample the beautiful food. Yeah, yeah. But, honestly, it's that kind of thing. Well, that's what I mean. It's like a community. Everyone's trying to get involved aren’t they, with the club and support it. And like I say, them just doing that, making that offer, just to try and I mean, I'm not saying someone will go and buy season ticket because they want to get 25% off the Sunday lunch every day, but it's just something extra. It is something extra that you get, and there's a lot of little things like that you get down here at Bury. But, just going back to the football. I've obviously had a lot of discussions with fellow supporters and we were playing at a place called Litherland REMYCA, which is the worst ground on the planet. They're in the middle of a running track, so they're about 13 miles away. You need James Webb Telescope to see what's going on. And it was lashing it down that night. And somebody said, oh God. He said, look how far we've fallen. And I said, you know what? I've never enjoyed my football more and I absolutely don't care. Yeah. I said, this, I said, is a joy. What me Dad would say about these, he’d say, you know what Michael? They’re proper footballers. Think about it. They go to work, then they come here and play. You mentioned yourself how good the performances are. Yeah. Right, add that in now. Add the fact that they've got full time jobs. Yeah. And put that in there and the dedication that you require to work, train and then turn that on, twice a week because that's where we're at start of the season. You add that in there and it's phenomenal. It is. This is a professional non-league outfit, if that makes any sense. I know what you mean. The way they train. It feels that way doesn’t it? Yeah. Everything, everything is prepared. Just talk about that. What I know at the moment. Well, when they joined forces with Bury AFC to get a position in a league. Yeah they had to merge. And they got a position then because I think Bury AFC had been in tier ten hadn't they? Yeah. Playing at Ratcliffe. And they got promoted to team nine Yeah. And that's when they joined up back again with Bury FC. Yeah. So I mean the benefit of that for both sides was Bury FC got a position in a league. Yeah. And Bury AFC got the name back of Bury FC. They got the ground back. They got the history back. And everything that goes with Bury. So it kind of seemed like it was a natural thing to happen. I know there were some people who were a little bit against it. They still are. There's still people that won't come here. There's still people that won't talk to this person or that person. Me being me, I have no idea who the runners and riders are. So I talk to everybody and I absolutely love everybody that's here. I've not come across anybody yet that I don't like, whether they’re AFC or Bury. I didn't go to AFC, my friend Aiden I go to football with he did. He bought a season ticket and he kept saying to me, come on, come on. And I went, No, no, it's not for me. If it's not at Gigg Lane, I can't watch it. What an idiot I was. Because the people that set up that Phoenix club, just to make sure there was football in Bury for Bury. Yeah. Are wonderful people. I've met most of them. They did a cracking job and I regret not getting involved. I understand others, because I didn't go did I. So I was a bit that way, wasn't it? I think there was people who were still fighting for Bury FC. They didn't want to see it as anything else. They wanted it to be Bury FC and they wanted it to be at Gigg Lane like you're saying there. And I think that's where the division come in. Of course it is yeah. And for some people it’s still there. And it will last for a generation till we're no longer here. And the new generation come through. And that's sad because there are people missing out now like I missed out. I definitely missed out at AFC and I wish I had got involved. But here we are. We won the league in front of nearly 9000. I know last season that was phenomenal. All the media are here. We've got Sky, the BBC are here. Ian Haslam from up North, he’s here. Radio people are here. And I said to one of the volunteers, I said, there you go. They were AFC, vindicated. Absolutely vindicated. Because whatever you say now, you've won the league in front of a phenomenal, unheard of crowd for non-league football. They keep breaking records don't they? With the crowds for non-league. It’s just, the stars have aligned. You're back here. You're playing in blue and white at Bury, you’re Bury football club with your two little stars above your badge for your FA Cup wins. You've got it all, you've got it all. So it's now time to say. Do you know what? Let's just move on. But you have to... On the other side of that, you've got to say if you cut the DNA of Bury, AFC’s in there, it has to be because that's how it evolved back to where we are. Yeah. We never went. They were just asleep. But it needed AFC with a defibrillator that got it going. That’s genius that isn’t it? Yeah. Off the top of me head, genius. No they were a sleeping giant that needed AFC with a defibrillator to get them going again and God bless everybody that did that I mean some of them have took some real, you know what onlines like, online abuse. But they've took it and carried on and here we are. And it's thriving. Yeah. And look at this now these kiddies. Oh I know it’s great isn’t it. This is beyond their wildest dreams. Yeah. This could be future Bury football players this. I do believe that, you know, They’re looking all the time. Yeah. It's all good stuff. I mean, there's a young lad down there called, Matt Barton that runs a lot of this. What a cracking guy he is. The amount of time and effort that he puts into the youth football you've got, I could spend an hour just going through the names like Matt and Kasey and John, the two Johns, Alan Digall, Lin, Jenny. It just goes on, all the volunteers. You see they’re called volunteers. I don't think they should be. I think they should be called ambassadors. Because that's what they are, they’re ambassadors for this club. I get that. You know. And it's, Long may it continue. I hope it's here when my granddaughter, if she has children, she's brought them here. And she can say to them, I came here with your grandad. You know, because she'll feel that bond. Like I feel with my Dad. It's that it's a tingling thing every time I come, my Dad’s here. And I know he is. I can sense it in your voice. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh yeah. It's an emotion. You’re passion and everything about the club. And what's your prediction for this season then? I mean, we are one match in, and we’re one win. Yeah. Which is a great start. You couldn't really wish for anything more. No you can’t. So... I think we'll do it again. You think it’ll be back to back promotions. I think so. My view on is it will probably be better than we were last year. I think, what did we do last year? Did we lose three games? Was it about 109 points or something last season? It was a ridiculous amount of points. That was a record, but Lower Breck. I know. Pushed them all the way. One point off weren’t they? Yeah, and that was... To not win the league and you’re at 108 points or something. But I mean they went up through the playoffs. They did yeah and well done to them. And for what they've achieved. And you mentioned it. The standard of football is mind blowing. Yeah. No it is good. How many league's higher is it would you say in your opinion than what you were expecting. Oh I mean being totally honest. Yeah. I would say this is what I would expect in like the fourth tier. So the first professional league. Yes. That you get I would say that feels to me the standard of football that I'm watching. So we're talking two aren't we. League two. Yeah. I didn't want to say league two because people now you’ve got the Premiership the champions league. So I just thought I’d keep it to tiers. Just so anybody out there that’s hard of intelligence, let's do league two. Yeah. So in League Two they could hold their own. And not only hold their own, they could give a good account of themselves. I think it's a massive ask to get through to the first round of the FA Cup proper. That'll be nice. Oh, wow. Imagine that here if we draw a league team here in the first round and got through it. These are dreams. Well if that happened. The BBC are here they would have to do the draw in Starkies wouldn't they. Yeah. They'd have to. They would yeah. Yeah definitely. By rights the BBC should be here anyway for even this at this level. You know, this is a news story. Come on. Where are you? Yeah, and they need that support. Of course they do. Of course they do. I mean, what you're doing is brilliant. This all helps. Well hopefully it does and hopefully a lot of people see this and even if it gets 1 or 2 people down here on a Saturday, then I'll feel like we've done a little bit. You've achieved something because 1 or 2 brings 1 or 2. It's a numbers game. It's like I always say, bring a Buddy to Bury. Yeah. If I can bring two, you can bring two. Then they do the same again. You’re full in a couple of weeks. Yeah. I'll tell you what I'll do. Actually, if someone spots me here on a Saturday and comes up to me and says they've come because they’ve seen this podcast, I'll buy you a pint. Well you can't say fairer than that, and that, that could be an expensive afternoon out because I'll be looking for you. Or do I not count now? I’ll buy you a pint anyway. I think you’ve earnt it. So anyway, I'll going to wrap it up there. Okay. I just want to say thanks a lot for doing this. Thank you. Sir. It's been a pleasure. Thanks for coming. Oh, well, thanks for having us. And like I say, the passion that you talk with and everything is absolutely spot on. And I just want a quick shout out to Chris Watts as well for putting us in touch and organizing this. Thanks, Chris, much appreciate it. And that's us signed off for this last podcast. That all right for you? That was spot on that. Was it? Yeah that was great. I am just the plumber.