Eight years have passed since Bury last played in the FA Cup first round. Since then, the Shakers have been promoted to League One, expelled from the EFL, folded, re-formed and re-emerged. This afternoon they welcome Harrogate Town to Gigg Lane in front of the TV cameras for a fourth qualifying round tie.
A near-miss in 2019
Midfielder George Glendon only arrived at Bury in the summer, joining from Radcliffe Borough, but was close to arriving in 2019 having agreed a deal just a matter of days before the club was expelled from the Football League amid a collapsed takeover and a financial crisis.
"The week Bury went bust I was training all week with them and was meant to play on the Saturday at Doncaster away and went home and told my dad I was signing for them, then I was watching Sky Sports when it came up that they had folded," said Glendon, speaking to the Manchester Evening News this week.
'Massive for the club'
Glendon, who was a highly-rated prospect at Manchester City as a youngster and went on to forge a career with Fleetwood Town and Carlisle United, is fully aware of what a moment the cup clash with Harrogate, who are flying high in the National League having been relegated from League Two last season, is.
"It's massive for us," he said. "We have done really well in the cup so far, we're doing well in the league but for the fans and everyone involved in the club it will be a good occasion on Saturday and hopefully we can cause an upset."
"It's massive for the club for what they have been through and hopefully everyone associated with the club can have a special day on Saturday. If we can cause an upset and get through to the first round proper then it will be a belting day for everyone."
Prize money and promotion push
Bury's main aim is promotion from the Northern Premier League, two leagues below Harrogate and the seventh tier of English football, but the cup clash offers a huge opportunity as well as a bumper pay day with the winners earning £9,375 from the prizefund. The Shakers also pocket cash as a result of the game being shown live on BBC Sport, while they will be guaranteed another £15,800 in prizemoney even if they lose in the next round.
It will be a memorable day at Gigg Lane regardless of the result, with a bumper crowd expected for the lunchtime kick off. For Glendon, it is the latest staging post in a career that began at City, where he captained the Under-21 squad and made the bench for the first time on more than one occasion, including a Champions League night against Bayern Munich in 2014 when City won 3-2 thanks to a Sergio Aguero hat-trick.
From City's academy to Gigg Lane
"It was the best times of my life," said Glendon, reflecting on his 16-year spell progressing through the ranks at City. "All the places we got to see, all the friends made for life, the opportunity it gave me in football and in life."
Glendon was close to making the breakthrough into the first team set-up but the scale of success at City and the sheer talent in front of him in the pecking order made it an impossible task as the Blues transformed themselves into a footballing powerhouse.
"I was there for a long time and saw a lot of changes," said local lad Glendon, who arrived as a five-year-old. "We used to train at Platt Lane and there would be one physio and one kit man and one of everything and then suddenly at the CFA there were loads! I have seen a lot of change and all for the good."
"The first time I went up to train with them, especially as a City fan, I was just looking at them all thinking 'I have just watched you at the weekend and now I am training with you,' so it was a massive thing."
"I don't think I took it for granted but we never really stood there and thought 'look at what we are doing now.' It was amazing training with those players, I learnt so much."
"Every time I went to train people like Joe Hart, Micah Richards, James Milner they looked after you. Someone who surprised me a lot was Samir Nasri who would after the youngsters every time they went up. It made you feel a bit more at ease."
Glendon was a boyhood blue and still has a season ticket at the Etihad with his brother. Indeed he is planning on hotfooting it from Bury to Manchester on Saturday afternoon to watch Enzo Maresca's side take on Ipswich in the Premier League.
"I might miss the first 15-20 minutes but that's the plan," he said. He could arrive at the Etihad just two wins from facing his former employers in the FA Cup third round. Glendon and everyone at Bury will be dreaming of a sprinkle of cup magic today.
