Bury gave away free season tickets to the first 100 kids who attended the phoenix club's open training session at Gigg Lane.
They could have given away hundreds more. The Shakers are back in business, and for those of us who were shocked when they went bust four years ago, it feels as if an apple has been put back on the tree. Their pre-season friendly at Macclesfield, which the Silkmen's director of football Robbie Savage has cheerfully dubbed the Reborn Cup, will give Bury fans a reminder that starting over in the North West Counties League isn't a penitentiary – it's a launch pad.
Both clubs suffered extinction within 13 months of each other, but a combination of fan power and well-directed investment brought them back from the grave.
And Shakers manager Andy Welsh admits he is going to “feel like a kid on Christmas Eve" the night before his side's opening league game against Glossop North End in a fortnight.
Robbie Savage helped to revive Macclesfield (James Gill/Getty Images)Welsh won the golden ticket out of 750 applicants when Bury AFC – a fan-owned offshoot club who agreed a groundshare with Radcliffe four miles away – kept a team playing under the Shakers banner. And when common sense prevailed, bringing the team back to its spiritual home at Gigg Lane in a merger of assets and playing squad, the former Sunderland midfielder remained in charge.
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Retrospectively, and according to the record books, Welsh has been Bury's manager for three years already, but to all intents this is a brave new dawn breaking the night.
He said: “I played half a dozen games on loan at Macclesfield about 20 years ago and hats off to Robbie Savage and (owner) Rob Smethurst for getting the community engaged again and giving the fans their club back. In just a couple of years they have got an academy up and running, a full scholarship programme and the place is geared for success.
“We have some assets and funding which will hopefully allow us to build something similar, and a pre-season friendly at Macclesfield will be a good test for us on the pitch – and a chance to pick their brains behind the scenes.”
Bury are back in business and looking to rise again (Getty Images)Welsh's finest hour as a player was winning promotion to the Premier League with the Black Cats in 2005 and finding himself trying to contain Cristiano Ronaldo's windmill of stepovers when Manchester United came calling at the Stadium of Light.
He promises a manifesto of attacking football to keep the turnstiles clicking merrily eight divisions down the ladder.
“We will play on the front foot with high energy and tempo,” said 40-year-old Welsh. “The fans have waited four years to watch their team back at Gigg Lane, so I'm not going to keep them waiting another 12 months to see a forward pass while we move the ball sideways and backwards.
"We might get it wrong sometimes, as players at this level do, but the supporters didn't let their club die and in return my players will have a never-say-die approach.
“This is the start of a journey, and we have the privilege of leading Bury back to where in belongs – in the Football League. Now that a community has got its club back, we want to give them hope at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon. It won't be easy, because coming here is going to be everyone's cup final and it might be frustrating at times.
“Everyone will have to play their part if we are going to climb back up through the leagues, but the word is spreading: Bury are back at Gigg Lane and we mean business.”
Welsh is promising a vibrant, attack-minded Bury sideWelsh had been a helpless bystander when the Shakers disappeared off the radar, branding the events which led to Bury's expulsion from the Football League in August 2019 “disgraceful.”
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He said: “I remember looking on and wondering, 'How can this be happening to a club that's been in existence for 134 years? How can so much history be allowed to just vanish?' The club is now being run by the supporters so it's in good hands, but no other country has a pyramid system like ours and there needs to be more support at the bottom end.
“Football is in a perilous position if we keep spending money that isn't there. There have been some historic clubs going under and it's the fans who keep bringing them back from the dead.
“There needs to be a greater understanding of how football clubs are run. Ambition does not mean going out and spending more than you can earn – it's about making the most of what you've got.”
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