Bury have criticised the EFL following their expulsion from the league.
The Shakers membership was revoked on Tuesday night following the collapse of a takeover and after the club had failed to show they could pay their debts.
However, the club say there has been an ‘extreme lack of communication’ from the EFL and insist the decision to kick them out of the league was taken despite a credible new bidder being made aware to them before Tuesday’s deadline.
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It had been hoped that C&N Sporting Risk, a sports analytics company, would rescue Bury but the London-based firm pulled out of the deal 90 minutes before the EFL’s 5pm deadline, citing concerns over the club’s confusing debt structure.
Owner Steve Dale then claimed he had received three new bids for the club, prompting fans, politicians and pundits to call for more time to explore these options. But shortly after 11pm, the league revealed its verdict.
The statement in full
“Everyone connected with Bury Football Club were shocked, and disappointed with the EFL’s decision to expel this wonderful, historic, community driven Club from the Football league. This decision was taken despite a credible new bidder being made aware to them before Tuesday’s 5pm deadline.
Given this, all staff, players and no doubt fans of Bury Football Club are utterly devastated that despite the new bid to buy the Club, the EFL have informed us that they will not be rescinding their decision.
This is something we are struggling to comprehend as the new bidder has proven significant funds to the EFL, funds to allow them to takeover, run and secure the long-term future of Bury Football Club. Everyone at the Club believed that such the capabilities of the potential new owner, this would’ve started a brand new era for the Club, seeing it go from strength to strength.
The extreme lack of communication from the EFL has left all involved with Bury Football Club astonished and in dismay.
As a Club, we are still pursuing other options, based on the outcome of where the EFL place us. Again, we would like to reiterate that the lack of communication from the EFL has been nothing short of dismal throughout this process.
Thank you to all the supporters for staying patient with us while we try to provide you with updates as frequently as possible.
All of us here at Bury Football Club have been thoroughly overwhelmed with the floods of support we have received from other football clubs, ex-players, fans of other football clubs and everyone else in the industry. We are truly grateful for all your thoughtful messages, proving once again the brilliance of the football family.”
Bury are the first club to drop out of the Football League for off-field reasons since Maidstone United went into liquidation in 1992.
The club are one of England’s oldest football clubs, having been formed in 1885, and have been members of the Football League for 125 years.
League One will now comprise of 23 teams for the remainder of the season, with only three teams to be relegated.
Fellow League One club Bolton faced the same fate as Bury, but their future was secured by Football Ventures to end any fears of liquidation.
Paul Appleton, the man involved with the takeover said the deal was ‘the most complicated he had ever worked on’.
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