Bury FC staff and fans are buzzing with excitement as the club gets ready for its first league match in four years today, Saturday.

Bury face Glossop North End at Gigg Lane at 3pm to kick off its season in the North West Counties League.

The club, which was expelled from the Football League in 2019, is preparing to welcome fans back to Gigg Lane this weekend for the first time since a successful merger vote saw it merge with Bury AFC.

Having previously been placed into administration, fans bought back Gigg Lane in February 2021 and since then volunteers have been renovating the ground.

The club has already sold around 4,000 tickets for Saturday’s game which follows two pre-season friendlies hosted at Gigg Lane against Bradford City FC and Preston North End.

Its first outing, at Thackey AFC earlier this month saw them secure a 3-0 victory.

READ MORE: Lloyds Bank warns all football fans amid ticket scams

Tom Pickup, who volunteers with Bury FC’s media team, said the standard of football is already high and excitement is continuing to build among fans.

He said: “There’s massive excitement, we haven’t played a competitive game at Gigg Lane since May 2019.

"We’ve had some really nice friendlies but when there’s actually something to play for it’s on another level.

“I hope we get lots of new fans, some who may not have watched AFC but some who won’t have watched any football since 2019.

“The standard of football has been excellent in the pre-season games so far and manager Andy Welsh has got a very good squad so we will be one of the favourites if not the favourites to win the league."

Although work to renovate Gigg Lane is ongoing, Tom says the stadium is looking better than ever thanks to the hard work and dedication of volunteers who have cleaned every seat at the 12,000-capacity venue.

He said: “Since we bought back the stadium in February last year loads and loads of people have helped to get the stadium back up and running.

“Loads of work has been done to get it up to scratch, the pitch has been completely done again, the pitch now is looking terrific.

“There’s always loads of jobs to do but I think it looks better now than it ever did before 2019."

READ MORE: Shakers boss Welsh wants to make Gigg Lane a fortress

The council has confirmed that both the East and South stands will be fully open, giving the ground a capacity of more than 6,000. The capacity of the main stand has been increased to 650.

The Manchester Road stand will remain closed for now but will be adorned with banners made by Bury fans from the town and beyond.

Tom added: “Part of the journey is respecting the opposition, enjoying going to a new ground but also enjoying being back at Gigg Lane hopefully to see old friends and new friends and just breathing it all in."

He also urged people to make sure they’ve got a ticket to the game to purchase a season ticket.

Tom said: “The excitement is building and we cannot wait for the match."