Restructuring and a New Home
These were heady days but with the seventies came the onslaught of professionalism and the club struggled to maintain its winning ways. After claiming the Manchester Amateur Cup in 1972, the trophy cabinet remained bare as Heys negotiated the gradual restructuring of semi-professional football, moving from the Cheshire County League in to the newly formed North West Counties League in 1982.

Ground grading problems saw the club drop in to the Manchester Football League in 1986 but the club went on to gain its first trophy for over a decade when the First Division title was claimed in 1988.

1991 saw Heys relocated by Bury Council off their Grimshaws home on Heys Road for a new base at Sandgate Road, just over the border in Whitefield.

After relegation in 1996, the club bounced back with the Manchester League double of First Division Championship and Murray Shield built on the back of a record 19 league wins from the start of the season.