Off Topic Dead and Buryed

[flandersmackem]

Incredibly sad. Football clubs are the heart and soul of a town, followed and supported by generations. Its a normally a focal point for a community especially in smaller towns. That said, its a business like any other business. I'm sure over the last month or two a few business have gone bust in the town of Bury that probably employs more that the football club. It sticks in my throat that a 20 minute drive west of Bury...one weeks wages of the Man Utd first eleven would probably be enough to save this club. But as has been said on Sky, Bury's demise is a result of years of mismanagement. Hopefully they start again like Darlington and come back bigger and stronger.

 

[Riever]

If ever there was a scene that emphasises the gap between the fans and the owners it was that one yesterday of those fans cleaning the seats at Gigg Lane to try and get the ground ready to play on Saturday. The owners (and there have been several in this case) have b*llocksed this up pure and simple and they walk away without a care whilst the fans are devastated.

Hopefully they can set themselves up in the non-league next season and get going again. For various white knights to walk away as they have then the finances must have been a complete basket case - as an absolute minimum the EFL should ban anybody involved in the ownership of Bury from ever being involved in the ownership of any football club ever again and not just a 6 year ban as they have done with Bassini who tried to take over Bolton.

 

[Nordic]

If ever there was a scene that emphasises the gap between the fans and the owners it was that one yesterday of those fans cleaning the seats at Gigg Lane to try and get the ground ready to play on Saturday. The owners (and there have been several in this case) have b*llocksed this up pure and simple and they walk away without a care whilst the fans are devastated.

Hopefully they can set themselves up in the non-league next season and get going again. For various white knights to walk away as they have then the finances must have been a complete basket case - as an absolute minimum the EFL should ban anybody involved in the ownership of Bury from ever being involved in the ownership of any football club ever again and not just a 6 year ban as they have done with Bassini who tried to take over Bolton.

What a ****er this bloke is. Ban him for life

 

[Sidthemackem]

It really is.

The blame can’t be put on the clubs at the top though, it’s a cop out.

These clubs were dragged down by individuals, there’s clear failings in these supposed ‘fit and proper’ tests that the EFL need to be made accountable for, how can they sign off a fella with no money buying an already debt riddled club for a quid?

I fear for Bolton. They’ve been given a 14 day extension but let’s not hide from it, they were rumoured be be £100million in debt even in the Premier League. They’ve gone from car crash to car crash of ownerships. They’ve never had the support to fill holes either, I can’t see how they can be made viable, I hope I’m wrong cos it’s a proper famous old club.

EFL peddling that ‘this hasn’t happened for many years’ is blanket bullshit. Teams have fell out of the league and folded. Some have recovered or been reborn but just cos they did it after losing league status doesn’t exonerate the EFL.

Chester happened, Darlo happened. Scarborough happened.

Notts County was last minute, Biry gone, Gateshead relegated due to financials.

You can’t have folk buying clubs for a quid. You can’t have a governing body allowing this. The EFL don’t come out of this with any credit, they have extended Bolton cos they are ****ting themselves not because there’s a queue of buyers.

We could have went, Pompey were on the brink, Luton survives by sheer and utter bloody mindedness and determination and deserve immense credit.

There’s a black hole opening up here and I’d speculate that league clubs start being ‘replaced’ by Premier League reserve sides so the EFL can milk a few quid.

It’s not Sky’s fault, not the FA’s fault who market a magnificent Premier League. It’s the responsibility of the folk who are supposed to govern these clubs. New owners should be forced to deposit a guarantee that covers the clubs season, not having them kick off with **** all.

Notts County could have stayed in the league, Barnet. You could have a domino effect because the EFL have had their heads firmly in the sand.

It’s a sad, sad day and I hope the people of Bury get a Phoenix club and come back over time.

Agree wholeheartedly on the EFL fit and proper test, but l still partly blame the top clubs. TV money and rich owners let them hoover up any player that shows an ounce of talent and then treat lower league clubs as training squads to send them to for practice. That has fostered a prevailing attitude that smaller clubs are just there to make up the numbers while virtually the whole media focus is on the Prem. If a small club bites the dust, does your average Chelsea fan give a ****?

 

[The Norton Cat]

Agree wholeheartedly on the EFL fit and proper test, but l still partly blame the top clubs. TV money and rich owners let them hoover up any player that shows an ounce of talent and then treat lower league clubs as training squads to send them to for practice. That has fostered a prevailing attitude that smaller clubs are just there to make up the numbers while virtually the whole media focus is on the Prem. If a small club bites the dust, does your average Chelsea fan give a ****?

I think anyone who truly loves football would care about the demise of any league club, in the manner that Bury have gone.
The list of clubs that have played in the Football League since it was established but have dropped out or no longer exist is a long one. To some extent it is a matter of survival of the fittest, as it is in any business. When you look at some of the clubs who are making rapid progress up the football pyramid, you have to question how it can have gone so wrong at Bury though. Forest Green are a good example. Anyone ever been to Nailsworth? It beggars belief that a town that size can sustain a Football League club but Bury can't. Similar might be said about Billericay Town and Concord Rangers and Fylde who all may well be knocking on the EFL's door in the next few years.
Another interesting one is Salford City. I believe that the Nevilles had links to Bury FC but are bankrolling a club who are essentially competing directly with Bury in terms of geographical location.
We shouldn't be losing clubs like Bury but clubs have to be protected somehow from careless owners.

 

[cumbrianmackem]

Well that's us with no fixture on 21st December and if Bolton follow we'll have no fixture on Boxing Day, so we could have an enforced mini winter break that nobody wanted in these circumstances.
Feel for the fans, but just how badly run these two clubs have been is coming out of the woodwork now and the EFL don't come out of this with any credit at all.

 

[clockstander]

What I don't get is, why do these people buy these clubs? They must know the financials before they go into it, so what are they possibly expecting to get out without putting up any funds? Presumably they won't get anything from "asset stripping" as anything the liquidators make will have to be used to pay off debts?

I assume the asset stripping starts the moment these crooks are given carte-blanche to do so by the EFL. long before liquidators are involved

 

[Gordon Armstrong]

The following has been reported by the Daily Fail 2 hours ago . . . .

Bury F.C. live to fight another day as a winding-up petition regarding an unpaid tax bill is dismissed on their ELEVENTH visit to the High Court.

A judge has dismissed a bid to wind up Bury Football Club.
Judge Sally Barber analysed Bury's case at an Insolvency and Companies Court hearing in London on Wednesday (today) after being told that the club had tax debts.

A lawyer representing HM Revenue and Customs, which had made an application to wind up, told the judge that a debt had been paid.

No details about the amount that Bury, who were founded in 1885, had owed was given at the hearing.

Bury won promotion to Sky Bet League One at the end of the 2018-19 season, but English Football League officials expelled the club in August after bosses failed to show that they could pay debts.

Could this be true, and if so, what happens next

 

[marcusblackcat]

Strange turn of events - so they've been expelled from the football league, but have managed to avoid being wound up (unlike some of our posters)

So does that mean they come back to where they were? Football is a law unto itself so normal rules never apply! Would be interesting if they appeal against that expulsion successfully and come back into our division - then everyone has to find room for the extra game!!

 

[Nads]

The talk is that in theory the original club could be salvaged, and could apply higher up the pyramid than a ‘Phoenix club’.

It seems unrealistic, to retain the shell of the old club someone would ha e to take on the debts as is, if the club goes into liquidation then it cannot continue in its current form.

If that buyer was out there, I’d imagine they’d be found before it got to this stage.

Most likely they start at the bottom rung as a new club, 5 or 6 leagues away from the EFL. It’s been done successfully numerous times, Bury is a football town and they will support a new club.

Chester, Halifax, Darlington, many more have gone along this road. In the long term a clean slate is probably the best way forward for them.

They need the right people in charge from the off, they should get as far as the conference with relative ease as they will have good income from support.

The stadium will need work I’d imagine it was a hell hole when we were there and that was maybe 12 years ago.

 

[FulwellBri]

This is a salutary lesson about the dangers of allowing chancers to take over a football club.
These people never had any of their
own money to invest and took out loans to get control. Once the money was paid in they did one. I'm sure they embarked upon a charm offensive when they took over and it was swallowed hook line and sinker.
Disturbing when you think our owners gave credibility to that cockroach campbell who has cast his greedy eyes at Falkirk, us and now Chesterfield.
The game is rife with wide boys sadly. It seems we are paying the price for allowing another one to get his feet firmly behind the desk at our club

 

[Sheep Farmer]

This is a salutary lesson about the dangers of allowing chancers to take over a football club.
These people never had any of their
own money to invest and took out loans to get control. Once the money was paid in they did one. I'm sure they embarked upon a charm offensive when they took over and it was swallowed hook line and sinker.
Disturbing when you think our owners gave credibility to that cockroach campbell who has cast his greedy eyes at Falkirk, us and now Chesterfield.
The game is rife with wide boys sadly. It seems we are paying the price for allowing another one to get his feet firmly behind the desk at our club

Who's 'we' paleface? Donald might(or might not) be a wide boy and fans might be paying the price, but I'm unsure about how we are culpable in the process.

 

[Blond Bombshell]

Incredibly sad. Football clubs are the heart and soul of a town, followed and supported by generations. Its a normally a focal point for a community especially in smaller towns. That said, its a business like any other business. I'm sure over the last month or two a few business have gone bust in the town of Bury that probably employs more that the football club. It sticks in my throat that a 20 minute drive west of Bury...one weeks wages of the Man Utd first eleven would probably be enough to save this club. But as has been said on Sky, Bury's demise is a result of years of mismanagement. Hopefully they start again like Darlington and come back bigger and stronger.

Mismanagement... Oh dear, hopefully we don't follow suit