‘MY LIFE HERE IS FANTASTIC'

Plymouth stability boosts boss after sad end to his Bury reign

- Chris Dunlavy

ASK Ryan Lowe what he likes about Plymouth Argyle and it’s clear that managing a Bury side on the cusp of collapse has left lasting scars.

“I’m not going to lie,” says the 41-year-old Scouser, who guided the Shakers to promotion from League Two last season amidst a financial meltdown that would eventually see the Greater Manchester minnows expelled from the Football League.

“It’s things like knowing your wages will be going in the bank at the end of the month. Not having to worry about bailiffs turning up at the training ground. Or the water being turned off.

“At some clubs - not just Bury - you spend as much time dealing with all the crap as you do on training players. Stadium issues. Bills. Interference. Being told who you can and can’t pick.

“All any manager wants is to be left alone with his team to do the football stuff, and that’s what I’ve got here. It’s been fantastic.”

Plymouth rode to Lowe’s rescue in June, just as it was becoming apparent that Steve Dale, the Bury owner, could neither locate a buyer nor fund the club. Two months later, having failed to fulfil a single League One fixture, the Shakers’ 125year tenure in the EFL was over.

“It was incredibly sad what happened at Bury,” adds Lowe, who scored 72 goals in 189 games for the club as a player. “It was a real shame after last season, and to see the club go under was heartbreaking. But you have to move on, don’t you?”

For Lowe, that has proved easier than it otherwise might. Partly it’s the idyllic Devon locale that his young family - currently based in the north west - enjoy every other weekend.