Worked in Bury until very recently and drove post Gigg Lane every now and again. Not that you can really see it from the A56, mind. Sad day for all involved. They were still posting average attendances of 3,500+ last season, so it's not like there was a level of disconnect between the club and community that eventually let everything drift into rocky waters. I'm sure a phoenix club will be formed over the next few months that'll start from the 9th tier or something, but they're yet another victim of serious financial mismanagement that went totally unchecked until it was too late. Things like this don't just happen overnight; in future there has to be somebody at EFL or in the government keeping an eye on this at all times. The wage bill of the entire Championship was at 106% of all revenues during last season, so I imagine the situation in League One is much worse. Bury aren't the first and they certainly won't be the last.
Bury fans club AFC start a new life in NWCL
- Thread starter urban genie
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Manchester33
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Day was the previous owner, who never should have been allowed to own a football club. He racked up ridiculous debts and the club entered a dire position. He then sold the club to Dale for £1. Dale is a professional asset stripper, he's liquidated over 40 companies under his possession. He specialises in entering Company Voluntary Agreements (CVAs) which reduce the debt to an agreed % by the clubs creditors. His son in law 'bought' some of the debt (approximately £7m) recently for £70k (1% of the total value) which gave him the crucial vote to enter Bury into a CVA of 25% repayment (at the expense of the hardworking companies who Bury owed money too). He's now seeking a quarter of that total debt (1.75m) so he will make over £1.5m profit from this.
You can read about it here:
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/aug/23/bury-company-debt-cva-steve-dale-daughter
If I was Stephen Dale I'd be watching over my shoulder from now on.
The Light Was Yellow Sir
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Whilst not true in this case, having a quarter of the leagues promoted isn’t as crazy as it sounds. In an attempt to stay in the top division and fend off the spectre of relegation, managers are being sacked, ridiculous transfer decisions are being made and short-termism is the order of the day. The fear of going down and it taking a decade to get back is also a driver of this behaviour. By the time winter ends there are huge numbers of clubs out of both cups, safe from relegation andwith no chance of the title (or top 4).
Now, if you relegated 6 (or 10), the game would be alive till the end of the season, the stigma of relegation wouldn’t be quite the same. The chances of getting back up would be greatly enhanced, and the opportunities for more clubs getting their snouts into the Premier League trough is self evident.
If they had relegated the bottom half, over the last 5 years, the following clubs would have been promoted at some point.
Bolton, Charlton, Forest, Ipswich, Derby, Wednesday, Birmingham, Brentford, Leeds, Preston, Millwall and Bristol City.
Rochdale, Bradford, Gillingham, S****horpe, Coventry, Peterborough and Fleetwood would have had a go in the Championship, possibly one season away from the PL.
EDIT. A machine won’t let me type in the name of an English town, it puts asterisks in it instead. The world really has gone mad.......
Metal Biker
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What happens with League Two?
I think its the same, three down and an extra promoted from Nat. League, if its still called that?!
BrianW
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FFP is bollocks and fails to save clubs from bankruptcy.
As has been pointed out, the three lower tiers are riddled with debt. There are basically two kinds of owners. Those who love their club (and OK maybe the cool feeling of being rich enough) and are willing to effectively subsidise a losing business out of their own pockets in the hope it will eventually come good. And then there are asset-strippers who think - ooh, here is something I can make money out of one way or another, even if it means folding the club, because basically I don't give a shit, it's all about money and me.
In a way, this mirrors the way our society and capitalism have developed since 1980. You have ruthless twats who have no loyalty to anything or anyone except themselves, and do what it takes to make themselves rich. And if you object you are called "jealous" or "envious" or you are accused of the "politics of envy".
Well, bollocks to it. I want to live in a world where people make money by producing goods and services that people want, not by asset-stripping, shorting the pound, and all the rest of the fiddling, backstairs bullshit that is ruining this once-proud nation.
As has been pointed out, the three lower tiers are riddled with debt. There are basically two kinds of owners. Those who love their club (and OK maybe the cool feeling of being rich enough) and are willing to effectively subsidise a losing business out of their own pockets in the hope it will eventually come good. And then there are asset-strippers who think - ooh, here is something I can make money out of one way or another, even if it means folding the club, because basically I don't give a shit, it's all about money and me.
In a way, this mirrors the way our society and capitalism have developed since 1980. You have ruthless twats who have no loyalty to anything or anyone except themselves, and do what it takes to make themselves rich. And if you object you are called "jealous" or "envious" or you are accused of the "politics of envy".
Well, bollocks to it. I want to live in a world where people make money by producing goods and services that people want, not by asset-stripping, shorting the pound, and all the rest of the fiddling, backstairs bullshit that is ruining this once-proud nation.
bobbyowenquiff
Well-Known Member
That's what rival fans say about City. Nothing wrong with building a new club from scratch with proper investment. No doubt if these new clubs are still there in 50 years they will have created their own history. The absurd EFL FFP rules mean it is easier to start at the bottom with a non-league club than to invest in an established club like Bury. I don't know much about Salford (apart from the TV show) but Fylde and Fleetwood are doing fantastic things in their local community and much more than the "fit and proper" Oystons did for Blackpool.
bobbyowenquiff
Well-Known Member
What has happened at Bury is essentially what used to be known as "Long-firm fraud." Buy a business for £1, borrow loads of stuff and buy equipment on tick without payiing for it, then 12 months later liquidate and close down with all the money in cash or off-shore accounts. I wouldn't describe it as a business strategy and would be suprised if Greater Manchester Police are not all over this.