Goal here Dean West believes Bury's relegation from Division One spells the end of an era at Gigg Lane.? The midfielder, whose second half winner against Port Vale was not enough to keep the Shakers up, has ? described the club's meteoric rise? through the divisions as "unprecedented" and has doubts whether the side will be ready to bounce straight back up next season.? He said: "The genuine supporters realise that we have done tremendously well for the club of this size.? We haven't spent much money on transfers and no other club with these kind of resources will ever get where we got. ? I don't think it will ever be achieved again.? It will be very hard for Bury to bounce straight back up because the momentum has gone and it looks like the club is going to lose some of its star players.? Hopefully, if they get plenty of money for them and spend it wisely then they might do it."
Whilst not faulting the effort of both players and management, West has pin-pointed a massive shake-up in personnel as the main reason for Bury's decline.? "It is always going to be difficult if you change a team that won two successive promotions and survived its first season in Division One," he said.? "A new manager came in and brought a few players in and it seemed to be working for the first few weeks of the season.? "But you can't get a side together straight away.? We haven't got a big squad and once we got a few injuries we struggled.? The lads have tried their best but it hasn't been good enough."? Despite the offer of a much improved contract to stay at Gigg Lane, West's future is almost certainly at wealthier Turf Moor where former boss Stan Ternent is keen to secure his services.? Although remaining tight lipped about the move, the out-of-contract 26 year old has definitely played his last game for the shakers.
And he will not let the blow of relegation spoil what, for him, has been a personnel triumph this campaign.? "I am just glad to be playing football after so long out of the game," he added, referring to a nightmare 14 months of groin injuries. ? "They weren't serious injuries, but enough to keep me sidelined which was hard to take.? It was just one thing after another and I was thrilled to get back on the pitch this season.? I came back at Barnsley and, even though it was only a few seconds, it was a great feeling.? I have tried my best in every game and really enjoyed myself."? The highlight of the year for West was manager Neil Warnock's decision to move him from full back into midfield - a switch which has brought him three league goals this term.? "When I moved up into midfield I started to score a few goals.? That wasn't a new position for me and I enjoyed the chance to attack a bit more and help out the full back as well," he said.? "It all ended with the goal in the last game against Port Vale.? At the time I scored I didn't know the score from Loftus Road, where we needed Crystal Palace to hold QPR.? I ran to the bench and asked if we were in with a chance and they told me it was 3-0 to QPR.? That took all the shine off what, in the end, was a winning goal.? You could tell from the atmosphere that things were not going for us and the Port Vale fans were singing QPR songs.? Once we knew that score it was very hard to lift ourselves.? It was like ? a walk in the park really.? If we had win by five, six, seven or eight, it still wouldn't have mattered."
He pondered: "If it hadn't been decided on goals scored then Port Vale would have gone down instead of us, but the rules changed in the last couple of years - they moved the goal posts!"? Unfortunately for West, he has scored goals at both ends of the field.? His own goal at Swindon in January, three minutes from time, cancelled out what looked like being a winner from Adrian Littlejohn.? He refuses to dwell on the fact that, had it not been for the cruel own goal, the Shakers would still be up. ? "I have not thought about the own goal against Swindon once - and I don't intend to!" he said.