CHAIRMAN Stewart Day admits he bided his time to get the right man for the Shakers hotseat, but now hopes this week’s appointment of David Flitcroft will bring the fans flooding back to the JD Stadium.

Flitcroft’s first match in charge is a real six-pointer at home to fellow League Two strugglers Northampton Town today.

There is plenty at stake, with 20th-placed Bury assured of moving at least four points clear of the drop zone with victory or slumping below their opponents and possibly into the relegation places with defeat.

And Day is hopeful Shakers supporters will turn out in force to cheer on their new man and reverse a trend of spiralling gates, which have fallen from 4,337 against Chesterfield on the opening day to 1,998 against Hartlepool in the last match at the JD.

“By making the right managerial appointment, and I believe 120 per cent that we have made the right managerial appointment, I just hope the fans appreciate that and come down here,” he said.

“We have tried to make things affordable and we are trying to go places.

“It isn’t going to be an overnight success – there is a plan and a strategy of what we are trying to achieve here – but we want them to come down in their numbers and start supporting what we are doing.”

Bury fans turned on the previous manager, Kevin Blackwell, angered not just by a downturn in results but also by his side’s style of direct football.

The dark mood lifted somewhat under caretaker boss Ronnie Jepson, Blackwell’s former assistant, but despite improving results and well-received loan signings like Danny Nardiello, the grumbles continued to bubble under in the dwindling number of fans on the terraces.

Jepson refused to condemn the doubters, saying they paid their money so had every right to moan.

But Flitcroft rubbished that argument and vowed to inspire a more positive mood in the JD Stadium for Saturday’s match, and beyond.

He said: “I heard that statement, that ‘fans pay their money so are allowed to moan’ and I thought ‘no’.

“We are trying to build a club where the fans are engaged by the players out there and the players are engaged by the fans’ support and respect the fans’ support.

“So come and pay your money and enjoy what you watch, enjoy the product and enjoy watching the team work hard, enjoy watching them attack with a flair and creativity and vision, enjoy watching them defend for their lives.

“That’s what the vision should be. I want supporters to pay their money, enjoy it and be part of it.”

Flitcroft confirmed he has a full squad of fit players to choose from as he bids to put out a team to make the Bury fans’s proud today, with right-back Shaun Beeley recovering from a knee injury.