WHEN the inevitable succession of back slapping end-of-season awards nights roll back into the football calendar, one lowly North Manchester club may just get a rare mention writes Chris Hall

Bury have hardly been the talk of the gala dinner circuit in recent times. Their fall from Division One mid-table mediocrity in 1998 quickly accelerated from concerning to petrifying in the space of four years.

In that time the Shakers have crashed through the trapdoors of two divisions, lost a team busload of star players and come within a whisker of disappearing forever after a nightmare time in administration.

Both as a player and now manager, Andy Preece has shouldered the burden of Gigg Lane's darkest hour and has emerged through the other side of a lengthy tunnel with a rejuvenated and vibrant squad, who now sit menacingly in fifth place in Division Three.

Such a remarkable phoenix from the flames recovery, if it can be sustained, would surely warrant a Manager of the Year Award for the inspirational cash-strapped boss.

But even that would pale in significance compared to the value of his Bury Football Club School of Hard Knocks education.

"Last season was a desperate time, with what happened on and off the field," reflected Preece.

"Our first team coach Billy Ayre died and my wife's mother also passed away and the club was in so much trouble.

"I just told myself that this was as bad is it's ever going to get and it will be a real learning curve for me. You have to try and take something positive from it.

"What has happened to me at this club is going to stand me in great stead throughout my career - however long that is.

"People tell me they would hate to have my job but I think it's fantastic. I couldn't have learned more at any other club than I have here. I get involved with a lot of things other managers don't have to and that can only make me improve as a manager."

Preece is first to admit that his development in the managerial arena is being held back by his hesitation to hang up his boots.

But the sprightly 35-year-old, with 132 career goals to his name, is enjoying something of an Indian summer of late, shaking off two years of persistent injury troubles to bag four goals in the last month and inspire Bury's rise into the play-off berths. And he claims his hunger for goals is as sharp as ever.

"You probably should feel at this age that you've achieved everything you can as a player," he said.

"But I like to think I can get to 150 goals and hopefully the younger players can pick up a few things off me on the park instead of just on the training ground.

"My aim in the longer term is to manage at the highest level and I will have a lot more to offer when I don't have to concentrate on playing as well.

"I just want some success now. You could say that, after losing as many players as we did, keeping us in Division Two the first year was an achievement.

"But that relegation is still at the top of my CV and I want to achieve something to eclipse that."