Bury the hatchet

Sanny Rudravajhala is over Bury's play-off agony and looking forward to more good times at Gigg Lane.

Penalty pain will provide this season's platform

Last season's play-off bid ended in penalty agony, but a rejuvenated Sanny Rudravajhala is over it - and looking forward to another successful season...

My mate referred to the Manchester Road End as the "Bishop End" the other day. I didn't have any suitable rebuttal for him, although I'm pretty sure a stand has never been named after an infamous penalty miss. The new Wembley could have been turned into an octagon if that had been the case! Indeed, that performance against Shrewsbury Town in the play-off semi (live on Sky Sports of course!) is still pretty fresh in the memory. Arrrrggghhh! Just thinking about it again is frustrating. If football was ever fixed then clearly the director of that match was a Rochdale fan, revelling in our inability to hold an aggregate lead past 89 minutes, which had included an earlier penalty miss from Phil Jevons, followed by being unable to beat 10 men in extra time, and then of course, losing on penalties. I'm sure Messrs Pearce, Waddle, Southgate, Ince, Batty, Beckham, Vassell, Gerrard and Carragher had a familiar feeling in their stomach if they were watching (how long is that list?!!). Anyway, spleen vented, and with the benefit of a couple of months to get over it, it's easy to look at the whole experience positively without a spin-doctor in sight. Before Alan Knill came in as manager, we were woeful. A typical, poor League Two side, lurching from dire to disastrous and battling in vain to get ourselves relegated.

Combative

Last season was by far and away a revelation. Missing out on automatic promotion by a single goal is a far cry from being anchored to the basement division and this season indeed is leading to reasonably high expectations. Knill has managed to keep the core of the side together, specifically the combative Player of the Season, Stephen Dawson, and added quality players like Ryan Lowe who managed 18 goals in a relegated Chester side last season. Indeed, players who have signed have mentioned that they've seen Bury on TV and saw that we play good, positive football - so perhaps all the pain may be worth it, and we can march steadily up the league. A bad start would be unthinkable off the pitch too really. We averaged 2,600 in 07/08 and then 3,340 in 08/09.

Promising

Yes, some of the 7,000 at the Accy Stanley game appeared only to be there so they could run on the pitch - I mean what sort of idiot mother runs on the pitch with a toddler, surrounded by scallies and police dogs?! But those aside, there were a lot of stay-aways who came back and a good start could turn some of these into regulars. Add to that our Supporters' Trust, Forever Bury, which has seen junior membership rise from 28 to 300, and this season looks promising indeed. It's our 125th anniversary, the squad is strong, the drums are as loud as ever and the cheerleaders are now national champions! Bring on Dale, Shrewsbury and anyone else in this league. We've nothing to fear and we'll happily dump WBA out of the cup too! How will Bury get the numbers back to Gigg Lane? Will they recover from their penalty heartbreak? Join in the FanZone debate by filling in the feedback form below...