Greg Donovan

Why Blue?

As a young, imported into Bury (ca. 5 years) Irishman, all the pressure on me, especially going to a Catholic Primary School (Our Lady of Grace, Prestwich), was to support MUFC. Almost inevitably, the rebel genes meant that was not to be, and me and the Father (GRHS) followed the local team at Gigg Lane. The first Christmas present I remember was a season ticket to see ‘the Shakers’ – ’twas when I first learned that to have a season ticket was a license to moan about the team. Me, Da and his friends enjoyed nothing more than to complain about the team, the game, the directors… over a pint of Guinness or Thwaites (or in my case, a sip of Guinness and a glass of lemonade) … I quickly learned that Bury season tickets had two sections: one to get into the main ground and the other to get into the Centre Stand. It wasn’t too long before I was only using the first part of my ticket. The great thing about Gigg Lane was that you could run around three-quarters of the ground so that you could be behind the ‘best’ goal for both halves. And of course drinking cups of Oxo at half time! The more puzzling thing for a little fella was that the only time the chanting really got exciting was when the home supporters split into ‘Celtic’ vs. ‘Rangers’ or ‘City’ vs. ‘United’! Well, as you might guess, supporting Bury was a bit like supporting City and indeed Ireland … not always predictable and certainly not always the ultimate in contentment! (Sorry abou’ the exclamation marks – it’s a great weakness of mine that only ‘Find and Replace’ can cure!)!

Suddenly, things began to change and I had a hero… the Shakers had a young right half (Jasus… are there any right halves left?) called Colin Bell … and they signed an old Burnley star, Ray Pointer. For a few amazing weeks Bury were scoring 4 and 5 and 6 goals a game Even the oul’ fella’ was finding it hard to complain! Ray Pointer was scoring them but for me it was all down to Colin Bell … even then I was practising the ‘Colin Bell’ running style for my school team… I probably looked an eejit but I thought I was pretty cool! Of course, in true Bury style, it wasn’t long before they sold Ray Pointer for a relatively small amount of money (to Portsmouth, I think). I wasn’t too worried as Colin was still there, but then… they sold Colin to Manchester City! Of course, I was sad that he had been sold, but go raibh mo agat, at least it wasn’t to the aptly nicknamed ‘Red Devils’. It took me all of a day or two to realise where my loyalties lay. Whilst I still went to Bury (well, I had a season ticket), my heart was transferred to City and the hero, and my pocket money to buyin’ the Pink after the game to see how the Blues had done… (whoops, I appear to have a weakness for three full stops as well – oh well, the cure is the same as for the exclamation marks!).

It was the beginning of the Mercer-Allison era, Division 2 was ours and I was hooked… CTID! It’s been a roller coaster of a ride since then, but once it’s in the heart, it’s in the heart – it’s not possible to change allegiance to club or lady now whatever they may or may not do to me … And as an eternal romantic and optimist – I believe in happy endings! Colin is back – so hopefully the rest will follow!

First printed in: MCIVTA Newsletter #428 on