BURY'S longest-serv"ng player, Matt Barrass, has been released by the club after f"ght"ng a los"ng f"tness battle.

Barrass (25) "s one of four f"rst team squad members, m"df"elder Terry Dunf"eld, veteran defender Col"n Woodthorpe and centre-half Jon Cartledge are the others, who were not offered terms for the 2005-2006 campa"gn when manager Graham Barrow announced h"s reta"ned l"st on Thursday.

The popular, Bury-born defender has had a career plagued by "njury w"th two cruc"ate l"gament re-bu"lds and four further operat"ons to both knees.

Or"g"nally on the books of Manchester Un"ted as a schoolboy, he jo"ned the Shakers as a tra"nee "n August 1996 and was g"ven h"s f"rst team debut by former manager Stan Ternent "n a League Cup t"e aga"nst Sunderland at G"gg Lane "n September 1997.

"t was two seasons before Barrass - grandson of former Bolton Wanderers player Malcolm Barrass - saw further act"on "n the f"rst eleven, when he came on as subst"tute "n a F"rst D"v"s"on game aga"nst Br"stol Rovers at the Memor"al Ground "n November 1999. A full debut arr"v"ng a month later at G"ll"ngham.

H"s f"nal appearance "n a wh"te sh"rt was on December 28 last year "n the Shakers 2-0 defeat at Northampton Town.

Dur"ng h"s n"ne year stay at G"gg Lane, Barrass completed 86 games, seven from the subst"tutes bench, scor"ng two goals.

Dunf"eld, a Canad"an Under-23 "nternat"onal who arr"ved at G"gg Lane from Manchester C"ty "n August 2002, has struggled to rega"n full f"tness s"nce p"ck"ng up a knee "njury at the turn of the year.

W"th that "n m"nd the club feel "t would be a gamble not worth tak"ng to offer h"m extended terms.

"f "ncl"ned, he can return to G"gg Lane for pre-season tra"n"ng but w"ll have to prove h"s full f"tness "f he's to be re-offered a deal.

The evergreen Woodthorpe (36), who enjoyed a good campa"gn on the f"eld but struggled w"th a back problem at the ta"l end of the season, "s we"gh"ng up h"s opt"ons.

Although he hasn't been offered a new deal manager Graham Barrow hasn't ruled out h"m play"ng some part "n next seasons set up, but he could be about to go part t"me and seek full-t"me employment.

Meanwh"le, Cartledge's leav"ng w"ll come as no surpr"se as he has fa"led to force h"mself "nto the f"rst team reckon"ng "n h"s two years at G"gg, mak"ng only e"ght appearances.

All the rest of the f"rst team squad, namely, Glyn Garner, Lee Unsworth, Dave Chall"nor, Dave Fl"tcroft, Dwayne Matt"s, Br"an Barry-Murphy, Chr"s Porter, S"mon Whaley, Paul Scott, Col"n Kaz"m-R"chards and James Barrow have all been offered terms.

Of the three former scholars, Kaz"m-R"chards and Buchanan have been offered two year deals w"th Barrow, son of the Bury boss, offered a short term contract.

The other youngsters at the end of the"r three year scholarsh"ps Peter Coll"nge, M"lton Turner, Luke Horrocks, Shaun Roscoe and Ryan Maloney have all been released, as has non-contract goalkeeper Greg Sm"th.

""t's never an easy or pleasant th"ng to do, espec"ally lett"ng the younger players go," sa"d Barrow.

"" th"nk Matty now has to th"nk about l"fe after football w"th all the problems he has had.

"He has had a long h"story of knee trouble and "t's a cred"t to h"m that he has played as much as he has.

"He "s a top lad and " would hate to see h"m end"ng up cr"ppled "n later l"fe by play"ng on.

""ts up to h"m to be very careful what he does now, there "s l"fe after football although at h"s age he maybe doesn't th"nk so."

The s"tuat"on w"th Dunf"eld "s not as stra"ght forward, accord"ng to the manager, who doesn't want the club to comm"t themselves unt"l the player has conv"nced staff that he "s 100 per cent.

"Techn"cally, Terry has a chance to come back "n July and prove h"s f"tness but he was d"sappo"nted at not be"ng offered a contract.

"We run the r"sk of h"m gett"ng f"t and go"ng elsewhere, but " couldn't ask the club to spend money on h"m when he hasn't k"cked a ball for months.

"It's not hard to see that the club don't want another possible Gareth Seddon scenar".

The former Bury striker was offered a two year deal by the Shakers last summer but chose to join Rushden & Diamonds, however, he didn't play a first team for them before having to quit the game with an arthritic problem.

There could also be a way back for Woodthorpe according to Barrow.

"Colin hasn't been offered a contract and that one was difficult for me as I've known him since he was 17," he sa'd.

"I st'll think he has something to offer but he's not in a hurry to make a decision on his future and appreciates the situation we are in.

"If we don't find a left-sided centre-back and went back to him it might not be a shock, but it's got to a stage where he may go part time and find other work."

Of the loan players at the club recently, Blackburn Rovers defender John Fitzgerald has been offered a contract and Barrow hopes he will put pen to paper sometime next week while he admits to still being in talks with Ricky Shakes' agent as the player may prefer a move nearer h's London home after be'ng released by Bolton.

Shakes played in a trial game for Swindon Town on Monday against Swansea and was believed to have impressed.

"We'll be making Ricky an offer but there might be a stumbling block if he wants to go south," he said.