Bury FC

On This Day...12th September

12th September appears to be a popular day for the Shakers, with 31 games played over the years on this day.

The first recorded game was in 1885, the very first season of the club existence and a 4-3 victory over Wigan at Gigg Lane. Goals from Lonsdale, Platt and two unknowns. Skipper Lonsdale has the honour of becoming the clubs very first goal-scorer after he scored in the 8th minute of this game. Gate receipts for this game, which was also the clubs very first home game, came in at £1 16s and 7d – meaning that less than 100 paying customers were in attendance.

In 1903, First Division Bury played Nottingham Forest at Gigg Lane in a league game. This was Bury's first home game of the new season and the FA Cup winners were in fine mood as goals from Charlie Sagar and Henderson helped the Shakers secure a 2-2 draw with 9,000 supporters in attendance.

If Charlie Sagar played today, then surely, we would be watching one of the greats. His profile from back in the days reads as follows: -

Charlie Sagar has usually played at inside-left, but he is now in the centre. He is the only tall man of the forwards at Bury, for he stands almost 6 foot and is very much of the greyhound type of build. He is very fast, clever on the ball and has a capital shot.

Born in Daisy Hill, Charlie was raised in Turton, the village in which, it is said, that Association Football originated in England. He first played for Edgeworth Rovers at the age of 15, a season with Turton St Annes followed and in his first match he helped his new team to an 18-2 win against Turton Lads Club, the majority of the goals coming from Sagar's foot.

He swiftly graduated to Lancashire Combination Football with Turton, and after scoring twice for the village team in a 3-2 win against Bury Reserves at Gigg Lane, the Bury officials spent little time in negotiating for his services.

Honours fell thick and fast onto the clever, skilful and young centre forward, who was capped twice by England, scoring on his international debut versus Ireland on 17th March 1900. He represented the Football League on four occasions and was twice an FA Cup winner with Bury, in 1900 when Southampton were beaten 4-0 and in 1903 when he scored the second goal in the record 6-0 win against Derby County.

Charlie Sagar left Gigg Lane to join Manchester United, scoring a brilliant hat-trick on his debut and assisted United to win promotion into the First Division in his first season. He was, however, troubled by a knee injury that restricted him to only 20 league appearances during the campaign. Sadly, the condition deteriorated even further, leading to his release from Old Trafford in May 1907. He later set up a business in Manchester and died in Bolton on 4th December 1919, aged 41.

In 1914, just as War was breaking out across Europe, the Shakers travelled to Blackpool's Bloomfield Road, and returned home triumphant with a 4-3 win thanks to goals from John Parkinson, John McKnight, Edward Connor and a Bob Perry penalty. 4,000 supporters were at the game.

The Shakers made the same journey some 36 years later, though this time in the North West War League during World War Two. This time it wasn't as successful, with a humiliating 9-1 defeat with the only Bury goal coming from George Davies who was making a guest appearance for the club.

On 12th September 1961, Brighton & Hove Albion arrived at Gigg Lane in the League Cup. An Allan Jackson Hat Trick, plus a brace from Tony Bartley saw the Shakers progress to the next round with a 5-1 win.

Just a few years ago in 2015, Bury visited Bramall Lane for a League One encounter with Sheffield United. Goals from Tom Pope, Joe Riley and Leon Clarke (Pictured above) saw the Shakers romp home with a 3-1 victory in front of 20,708 supporters.

The last recorded game on this date was last season, when Josh Laurent and Jermaine Beckford goals were not enough to secure the points as Bury went down to a 3-2 defeat at Fleetwood Town.

The full record for 12th September is: -