Bury have never been able to fully recapture the success of their early years in the Football League, when they played in English football's upper echelons and won two FA Cups in three years.

The Shakers' most recent success came in the 1990s, when manager Stan Ternent guided the Lancashire side to back-to-back promotions and a place in football's second tier for the first time since 1969.

Bury FC were founded in 1885 after a meeting between two local chapel football teams and shortly afterwards they started playing at a pitch in Gigg Lane, which has remained their home ever since.

Bury joined the Football League Division Two in 1894 and, after winning the title in their first season, the Division One side went on to become FA Cup winners in 1900 and 1903.

The Shakers remained in the top flight until 1912, when they were relegated to Division Two. They were back in the top tier from 1924 to 1929 – 1926 saw their highest-ever League position of fourth – before relegation to Division Two, where they stayed until being placed in Division Three North in 1957.

Then, apart from two spells in Division Two in the 1960s and two seasons in the second tier in the late 1990s, the Shakers have spent the rest of their history in the League's bottom two divisions.

In the 1960s the Lancashire side's first spell in Division Two followed a Division Three title win in 1961, while their next stay in the second tier came after finishing as runners-up in the Third Division in 1968, Bobby Owen's 23 goals contributing to the Shakers' success.

However, by 1971 Bury found themselves in the League's basement division for the first time in their history.

After losing in the play-offs in 1993 and 1995, Bury went on to achieve successive promotions under Ternent. In 1996 the Shakers moved up from the bottom tier to Division Two by finishing third, while the following season they won the Division Two title after being unbeaten at home and registering a club record-equalling 84 points.

The Gigg Lane side were relegated in 1999 and 2002, ending up on the bottom rung of the Football League's ladder again, but after flirting with relegation to the Conference in 2006-07, Bury's fortunes have gradually improved.