of freelances every year, and we haven't been able to do that for some time. that is why we're really excited with the season of work that we have started here in sheffield, the together season, has enabled us to at least start working with freelancers again so it's small steps, not huge, it's small steps to kind of get us open again and, you know, it's of enabling us to see a future and beyond march which, some weeks ago, if you asked me that you might have got a different opinion. now on bbc news, when bury football club collapsed last year, a group of locals made it their mission to bring football back to their town against massive odds. bury fc is one of the oldest clubs in english football. cheering. but in august 2019, it was expelled from the football league. we were heartbroken. bury till i die! just gutted. one group of fans decided to do something about it. i want my kids to be able to grow up

with a football club. come hell or high water, you know, it's the right thing to do. we would kick ourselves if we didn't. this is bury. with complete access for 12 months, we see what it really takes to build a football club. it's the most stressed i've ever been. it was a dream. you know, it's now becoming a reality. we are very impressed with the candidates. not getting paid anywhere near as much as the premiership players. everyone here is doing it for the love of it. with divisions in the fan base... and in a year where football has faced its biggest crisis... all uk football matches have been cancelled. we could have picked a better time to do this, couldn't we? the fight to bring football back to bury.

come on, bury! a group of bury fc fans have started a new club from scratch. they are local builders, marketers and engineers. with no experience of running a football club. people see it as being a serious thing. they don't see it as being, oh, this is just a group of 13 to 15 idiots. this is what i wanted, football, but it's never going to be bury fc. it's already divided. i don't know what's going on here, i'm waiting for this to all kick off massively. you've got to get behind it. there will be football in august, no matter what. bbc news, football postpones its professional programme. all uk football matches have been cancelled. i'm working out of my kids‘ bedrooms. next was management recruitment.

we can't control it. we willjust carry on doing what we're doing until we are told otherwise, really. i saw, on linkedln that you have updated your job status. needs must. you know, there's things you need today. i needed to put something out for where we get the best training equipment from the players and it was like, i was thinking, people are just going to think, this isjust some nobody who is asking for help with it. so i thought, yeah, i'll put the official title. it's been confirmed, they had elected the board, it was all sorted. it was great. we've put the badge out for a vote, we put the kits out for a vote to the members, we had a great uptake on that. we had over 500 members now, which is brilliant. with lockdown restrictions eased, bury afc have started securing sponsorship deals. and today, they are holding interviews for a manager. we had eight people that we interviewed and now we've got it down to the final three. it's a big decision for you to make.

yeah, it's massive. oh, it's massive. what happens if you get it wrong? then, sack the board. so, shortlist centre half. who are you thinking? where do you think you can take the role? how would you manage the expectations of those fans? you know, it is new to me as well, just fire in at any point. we'll go get him. see if he's ready. come on, sir. right, thank you for agreeing to come back and see as today. do you think you would be confident in having, you know, a team out for that first friendly and then working on it for the start of the season? what would you do differently if you are get this job?

in terms of you, then. ambitions. what are your ambitions? see you later. i think i know which one would be the one i would go with. i think we, sort of all agreed who it would be. i think it's the full package, isn't it? it's the right fit for now and the position that you are in. it's dead exciting. it is. so exciting. see if we can get a team for that first friendly. no pressure. yeah, no pressure lads. cool, cheers, guys. it has been a bit of an eye opener, really. the first time interviewing anybody since the days when i used to work at kfc. i would have been 21, i'm 33 now, so it's been about 12 years since i've done interviews. i know it's a bit different serving chicken and serving on a football club. but yeah, i feel good after that. this is happening. that is happening now. while bury afc are waiting to find out what league

they are accepted to, steve dale is pursuing a league place for bury fc as well. the club has no league placing. no infrastructure. he has no players, no manager, no staff. and we have not heard from him in months, apart from the odd article that goes out in the paper. bury fc still exists, still owned by the unpopular steve dale, but there is no prospect of any football being played by this club. last week, it was denied a place in the national league. bury fc league application was rejected. but bury afc have been accepted into the north west counties league, division one. we start off at the very bottom of the non—league pyramid. its the tenth tier of english football and seven steps below where bury fc were. but it is another step closer to getting football played again in the borough of bury. and today, bury afc are announcing their new manager.

just trying to make it professional, make it work with the brand because technically, we don't have an office at the minute. i've never had to pull them apart, i've only had to put them up. there we go. local news outlets are here to report the announcement. and they are getting a first glimpse of the away kit. away kit. wow. ready to go for the friendlies. this town is a hard—working town. that's what i will demand as a minimum from the players. first season, there is no doubt about it, we are up against it straightaway because we have a shorter period of time to build a squad.

adam is working on the press release. andy was someone... from the moment we met him. shone through. it's a great team. the fans can be proud. i don't write press releases very often, so. drafting something, researching the history, remembering where he played and what we want to say and the message we want to get out. i started it and it took ages, so, you know, i was up late doing that last night. it's hard work. we are at the sports centre and it is where we hired for the year for the training facilities for the team. it's a big pitch. it's spot on. the guys have done a tremendous job. now it's player recruitment for me. i have to look them in the eyes

and see if they have that hunger and desire to represent this football club. we are happy to trust andy with bringing in who he thinks will fit that mould. unbelievable work to get to this stage. it was a dream. you know, it's now becoming a reality. i've had messages saying, if you are currently stood with the manager, please can you say, welcome. almost a year ago, bury fc were expelled from the football league. i lost my team. back then, joy hart handcuffed herself to gigg lane, and she has decided to return. every day, ifeel the pain of losing bury football club. joy's father was a player and manager at the club for decades.

they named the south stand after my father. she's good. yeah. isn't she? oh, my goodness. it's awful. it really truly is like a death. and it still is, isn't it? we are still mourning. it doesn't go away, does it, the hurt? the pain and the anger. it doesn't go away. i have nothing against the phoenix club. nothing at all. i am a bury football club girl. there is only one bury football club. let me stress that. she doesn't want anything other than bury football club, which is fine. that's not a problem, i get that. there is a lot of fans that want bury football club at gigg lane. bury afc won't play at gigg lane, because the ground still belongs to steve dale. he shows no sign of selling bury

football club, and even if he did, the club comes with enormous debts. i said this numerous times to people, if we had the money to pay off the debt that was put forward by steve dale and stewart day, then we would have sorted it. but we physically can't, so we have had to look at other options. bury afc have agreed to share the ground of nearby radcliffe instead. the neuven stadium. manager andy has managed to put his team together in three weeks. i'm just checking the everton score. what is the score? they are down 1—0. are they? bury afc's new player recruits include two best friends. i'm liam mcdevitt, i'm 25 years

old and i'm a forward. and tony whitehead. i'm 24 and i'm a midfielder. you can't get rid of me, we live in the flat next door to each other, so i'm pretty much gate—crashing him and his girlfriend's plans all the time. we first met in ireland. i went to trial with his team. he moved to manchester and i kind of followed him, to be honest. as soon as i heard about the club that had formed, i got straight on contacting the club. it was a no—brainer to sign here. i don't see why bury shouldn't have a football club and we hold the pressure of that on our shoulders. of giving this town something to cheer on again. the day we signed, the welcome we got from people who support bury fc was just incredible. at the level that bury afc are at, most players get around £35 per game. a lot of us work really long hours and we still train twice or three times a week, play game on a saturday, a game on a tuesday. i have a girlfriend at home

and she has long days on her own. we are not getting paid anywhere near as much as the premiership players, so it is time consuming. nowhere near. at the end of the day, everyone is doing it here for the love of it and just to be a part of this project. so big! its massive, isn't it? so this is zachary, this is ben. so, zachary‘s six. ben is three. actually, i'm six and a half, almost seven. 0k, six and a half almost seven. these are my two little boys. zachary was stood in the yard at school, weren't you? and maxwell's daddy told you that your football club is dead, didn't he? he said my football team is never coming back. that was it, yourfootball team is never coming back, wasn't it? we've got to that point where we've actually created a football club. yeah, but can't we just start the game? tonight, bury afc will be playing their first friendly game at their new home.

i can't wait to see them play today. i wish the original club was still here, to be honest obviously but i'm just glad i can watch bury back in a football league, to be honest. this is what we wanted, but it's never going to be bury fc. it's a new era. it's already divided the town. there will be divides. definitely. but what are the divides about? because there is people who just don't want to come and watch bury afc the costs they still believe that there is life there. that's what i mean. it's because bury fc isn't dead. it's still there in... steve dale, yeah. can barely say the name. i know. this evening, we are live from the neuven stadium

at radcliffe against bury afc. radcliffe in their home blue kit. bury in theiraway maroon and gold kit. hits the post... chance here for radcliffe. the striker is through, keeper has come out quite far. the ball is to the left, chance here and it's a goal! radcliffe take the lead. give me a minute. a great save, but it's going to be a tackle. for radcliffe.

a lovely ball coming through and it's a great goal. a great play. and that's it, that's full—time. radcliffe beat bury afc 3—0. it felt good to be back. it just felt, to watch football that i cared about, just felt good. any football is good for me. we had fans behind the goal singing, we love you bury, come on bury and all that stuff. in that moment i thought, that's great. that was what i was hoping for when i got involved. it makes it worthwhile. all the hours that are going on behind the scenes, to have nights like tonight, you feel like this is worth it

and it's going to be good. a good show that. yeah. i will see you on saturday. the reality of it is that speaking to you guys three or four weeks ago, we didn't even have a team. idid. it was brilliant. i've got hairs on the back of my neck sticking up when you hear fans shouting that chant that we haven't heard for so long. what are the main emotions right now? tiredness. tired. we have done all this in ourspare time. for the last ten months, the new section of the bury fc website has been quiet. no official statements had been released since october 2019. but that all changed a few weeks ago. now, steve dale has released a number of statements.

that's fine because there is only one bury football club, but there is also bury afc. you can come out and put those statements out all he wants, that's fine. we will all read it, we will all have a chuckle at the things that are funny in it. he has been our best salesman for our memberships, to be fair. it's the day that bury afc had been working towards for months. it's a long road, isn't it? to get here. they now have well over 1000 members, sold over 1000 shirts. they have won some friendlies. and absolute thunderbolt! they have lost some friendlies, but today is the big one.

it's the first competitive game. my dad said it's the first time he's ever got up and actually thought about football for a long time. covid restrictions mean that only 45 bury fans have got tickets for the cup game, away at west didsbury and chorlton. it's nice to have all the fans here and everybody that wanted to participate and join in. you're on the healthy snack. well, lunchtime, isn't it i haven't eaten 48—hours. and for somebody who is my size, that's not very good. i have been busy getting moaned at left right and centre about different things. more stressed than i've ever been. the competition's one, but obviously the final at wembley. that's a long way away, but we've all got that in our heads. since we last met adam's sister in the stanley club, she has had a baby. we already have our bury afc shirt. it's different, but it's back. the football pyramid, the foundations of it, are in bits. and nobody is talking about it, because everybody is talking about the fact that gareth bale is coming back to spurs

like, bigger picture. starting to get people coming in. starting to fill up a little bit. i got a buzz on me nowjust watching them warming up. and seeing people and seeing what is going on. i think once we kick off and you can get behind the team, that is when football is back for me. does it feel like your team yet? it does because it's representing the town and it's the people. i have known chris for 15 or 16 years. it's nice seeing people you know taking it over. i've been going to bury with my dad and obviously i became a father injanuary when bury didn't exist and i thought, that's the one thing i wanted, this is herfirst football game as well so hopefully in the future, we can go together. ahead of the match, bury afc have a message for fans. to the people of bury, nobody would have foreseen the circumstances in which we now take to the field. with limited crowds and the world turned upside down. thousands of hours of input into creating this club. it is by the fans and it is for everyone. if hard work conquers all,

then we are already winning. you've urged us to bring football back to bury. at 3pm on saturday, we will have done just that. this fact alone makes is all extremely proud. it's a chance. it hits the post. cheering. almost a half chance. 45 minutes to go. see what happens.

if they can get a good counterattack there is an open goal to aim at. he's got the pace for it oh this is

brilliant. yes! he's because! what a goal! it's all going off! the fans celebrate together with the players. is it too late? there is the final whistle. west have done it. we are too nice. some of us are running round like they don't know what's going on. don't tell me that were

not working on stuff. it's the first game in the best thing about that is the only way is up. will get a penalty or a free kick, he's in the box. he could have got is a penalty. you know what's great about this, though? take a step back. we've been here today, the fans have been together chanting and singing, there has been shouting and it's brilliant to see everybody coming together again. the results might not always oui’ again. the results might not always our favour but we are doing this together and come hell or high water, this is the right thing to do and it's just going to water, this is the right thing to do and it'sjust going to be epic. what and it'sjust going to be epic. what an amazing thing to say that you have put a football club together, your help to build this journey and

hopefully in years to come we can look back and think, this has been brilliant. what a massive achievement. i'm not bothered that we have lost, which is rare. it's just after a year of having no foot ball just after a year of having no football to watch, it's just just after a year of having no football to watch, it'sjust nice to watch some. it's good to see the passion today and long may it continue. i'm proud and disappointed. but i think thatjust makes it real. you know, it is a real thing we have done. so i can happily go home, have my tea, have a beer. it was entertaining with how feisty it was, i'll give it that. how the fans were around, you know, some people giving abuse to pay as —— players. some people giving abuse to pay as — — players. there some people giving abuse to pay as —— players. there is one there. some people giving abuse to pay as -- players. there is one there. it wasn't me! i'm too tired! i'm going to get myself a massive pizza.

wright, google maps home. it's the penalty area! what a goal!

hello. a windy start to the weekend. a band of heavy rain, even some torrential bursts moving through england and wales as the day goes on. some very gusty winds, maybe in excess of 50 mph at times, too, whereas scotland and northern ireland with afternoon sunny spells. rain gradually clearing south—east england as we go through the night.

behind that still blustery, plenty of showers coming into the west, some clearer spells to the east, a few spots in north—east scotland into low single figures as we start the day tomorrow, and with low pressure close by to the north—west of the uk tomorrow it is the west that will see most of the showers, but southern england will see some too. some heavy, possibly thundery, a chance of hail as well. a few showers will trickle further east during the day but fewer showers and more in the way of sunshine for the east midlands, yorkshire, north—east england and eastern scotland. it's blustery wherever you are — these are average speeds, some gusts widely of 30 to a0 mph, maybe 50 in the western isles of scotland, and temperatures for some a notch down on today. bye— bye.

this is bbc news. i'm rebecca jones. the headlines at two: residents of south yorkshire face tighter restrictions as the region enters tier 3 rules — more than seven million people are now living under england's strictest covid alert level. police in gloucestershire begin border patrols to stop nonessential travel as wales begins its first full day of a "firebreak" lockdown. and dozens of businesses and community groups come forward to back footballer marcus rashford's campaign to feed disadvantaged children in england during the school holidays. headteachers in england say they're "bitterly disappointed" that the number of laptops they're given for deprived children has