IT makes you wonder whether all the stress of finishing in mid-table was worth it, after the Shakers ended up getting promoted after all! writes Peter Collins

No more third division football for Bury, it's division two, or 'League Two' for the Gigg Lane outfit - and it was achieved without kicking a ball.

In yet another move by the Football League to raise its profile it has confirmed new names for its three divisions, after club chairmen approved plans at The League's summer meeting in Chester on Friday.

Representing the Shakers at that meeting was club president Fred Mason, who said: "The league has new sponsors in Coca Cola who wanted the first Division to be the 'Championship,' that meant that the second and third divisions stepped up to one and two.

"Coca Cola are putting £5 million each year into the Football League for three years and we're hoping there will be further spin-offs.

"Nationwide did a great job as sponsors but now they've moved on and its a bit of a coup to get a company like Coca Cola on board, it can only do us good

"Anything we can do to improve the profile of the league and every club in it, including Bury of course, we will look at."

The 2004/05 season will, therefore, see Divisions One, Two and Three being re-titled 'The Championship', 'League One' and 'League Two' respectively.

Football League Chairman Sir Brian Mawhinney said: 'The Championship' is a term steeped in the history of The Football League.

"Reclaiming it for our leading clubs will place a new enhanced emphasis on its status at the pinnacle of our competition.

"Not only is it a gateway to the Premiership, it is one of Europe's leading league competitions, in terms of the standard of football being played, the high quality of stadia and the numbers of supporters attending."

To reflect its new set of names, the League is also re-designing its logo.

The new naming strategy represents the first stage of a wider 're-branding' exercise that seeks to strengthen perceptions of The Football League and its competitions by emphasising both the quality of football on offer at League grounds and also the integral role football clubs play in their local communities.

Mawhinney said: "We will be making a series of equally significant announcements over the coming months. We want our games to become ever more attractive.

"We also want a commercial audience to be encouraged to re-evaluate its perception of the League."

He concluded: "In many towns and cities football clubs are the biggest single expression of community that exists, and it is my job and that of my 72 club counterparts to ensure that the next generation of football supporters grow up identifying with their local clubs.

"League football at all levels is a much-cherished part of this country's sporting heritage.

"It is our aim to ensure that young supporters grow up believing that football is a game they should go to watch and be able to afford regularly.

"They must not be allowed to think that it can be seen only on television played by footballers with a totally different lifestyle to their own."