Bury FC Latest ...

[SwalePie]

James Frith MP
@JamesFrith

"There’s still a huge amount to do. The EFL need to extend the deadline then work with the practicalities facing this. Funds, agreement, due diligence and peace of mind are all still to be done. Huge step forward Dale saying he’s sold, in reality its not over line yet. #UTS"


Local MP James Frith's Twitter is a good place to find out whats really going on up-to-the-minute re. Bury, for those not aware...

https://twitter.com/JamesFrith/with_replies?

[ncfcog]

This could be the same buyers Dale mentioned earlier today. Hope it works out for them.

[Woodsetts_Pie]

When is a deadline not a deadline?

[ncfcog]

Everybody's now talking about the EFL as if it's a separate autonomous entity, but presumably nobody at EFL towers could change the rules without a majority of the 72 agreeing to it. Isn't it ultimately the chairmen of the clubs that dictate the EFL rules?

Sorry UTM, missed this yesterday. Yes there are some club representatives on the board along with independent board members and member clubs do get a vote on changes. My point though was more about the current structure and governance of the EFL and it’s obligation towards the safeguarding of its members and the communities those members have a direct impact on.

I’m probably simplifying matters and I certainly don’t have the answers but there has to be something put in place that can highlight and intervene in situations experienced by clubs like Notts, Bury etc before it gets to the point of no return?

[Chicken Balti Pie]

When is a deadline not a deadline?

I think Bury might be screwed looking at what has been said. The EFL gave a clear deadline of Midnight and they have basically a deal in principle. The MP who is helping has said that they still need to do due diligence and sort out funding. That is the key issue the EFL want sorting out, and that has apparently not been sorted out yet.

[sidders]

This is like Brexit in that so much could have been done while people just sat on their arses. Manana pasado manana.

[cher1]

I'm not sure what the EFL can actually do to prevent these scenarios from happening again. Each football club is a business in its own right after all. We could go on about fit and proper person checks but in reality the intentions of asset strippers (as one example) may not be clear at the outset.

Also if you look at our last two owners, both took us further into debt, both didn't pay tax bills and both had winding up orders. Yet both passed a fit and proper person test.

FFP (or SCMP in our old division) isn't working clearly, there appear to be ways round the restrictions. I can't see a wage cap ever coming back in, those days have gone. Even in Tommy Lawton's time at Notts that was being circumvented. There'll be many more years of worry about off fields issues for supporters up and down the country.

Back on the subject of Bury, hopefully the EFL statement later will confirm that they will be given the time needed to get the deal over the line. Supposed the only issue is if Dale backs out.

[Masson4]

Well, after a tense last day before their deadline it appears that Bury FC might have their lifeline. Not completely out of the woods but they're still alive and kicking. I hope all goes well for them, we all understand only too well some of the feelings their fans must have been having. Perhaps the stand-out story for me was one where a Bury fan talked about his late brother's ashes having been scattered on the pitch in the past and how he was preparing to say his final goodbye to him. Stories like these really bring it home to you how football clubs can be the ties that bind us.

It's remarkable how football clubs so often - somehow - manage to survive these dire situations nearly always. I think there's often a thought in that situation that 'someone will come from somewhere' and survival will result. I personally had a dire feeling growing about Notts this time round though and thought that any good fortune had maybe finally exhausted itself. It makes me understand that the Reedtz brothers appearing in the way they did and resurrecting the club in a matter of days was something of a minor miracle. I will always think this, no matter the long term outcome. They'll remain in my gratitude.

[jackal2]

It's remarkable how football clubs so often - somehow - manage to survive these dire situations nearly always. I think there's often a thought in that situation that 'someone will come from somewhere' and survival will result. I personally had a dire feeling growing about Notts this time round though and thought that any good fortune had maybe finally exhausted itself. It makes me understand that the Reedtz brothers appearing in the way they did and resurrecting the club in a matter of days was something of a minor miracle. I will always think this, no matter the long term outcome. They'll remain in my gratitude.

Totally agree.

As time goes on, if the team is having a rough time, some fans in their growing desire for (more) change tend to begin to build a narrative to play down or minimise what owners have done to save the club, because fans think there will always be another would-be owner in the wings waiting to do the same, but this should never be taken for granted.

Ray Trew and Alan Hardy both saved the club initially as well, and I was inclined never to minimise or forget that, however much things went wrong later. I believe both started out their tenures with genuine intentions, but when things started to go wrong some fans turned on them, and then they increasingly turned on those fans, which is when Trew and Hardy started to make more decisions that weren't in the best interests of the club but primarily about protecting themselves, reputationally and financially. The glaring weakness for both Trew and Hardy was ego and pride, which always comes before a fall. They wanted to be centre of attention and enjoyed the adulation of being the club's saviour, and when that 'dream' faded, they reacted emotionally and made bad decisions.

The Reedtz brothers' motivations seem entirely different. After one low key press conference when they took over, we've barely heard from them since, and yet they've quietly sorted out the club's problems. It's clearly not all about them in their eyes, but more about raising the profile of Football Radar, conducting an analytics experiment in a real football environment, and yes, apparently about a pure love of the game. That's my reading of them so far anyway. Whatever happens in the future, the bottom line (or to be precise, the first line) is that they did come to our rescue, and we should always be grateful for that.

[pravda_plc]

There will always be buyers for any football club - if the price is acceptable to the buyer. So a quid will probably be what your average chancer/shyster will be prepared to pay.

To find a buyer who is a genuine football person, without some sinister agenda, who is prepared to service a club's debts - the 'Black Hole' if you will - is a totally different proposition.

I do sincerely hope Bury FC get out of this dreadful mess but you have to ask why the EFL did not impose their deadline much, much earlier. The whole football world knew that the club were in catastrophic debt and that Dale had no intention of selling without his payoff - very like the Alan Hardy scenario.

The EFL talk constantly about the integrity of the league, about clubs being able to fulfill their fixtures and stay solvent etc etc. The EFL knew exactly when this league season would start. They knew exactly when the first league fixture would occur. They should have issued their deadline at the beginning of the close season, so that the Dales and Hardys of the football world knew exactly what would happen if they didn't sell in the required time frame.

Assuming that Bury do survive, IMO they have been relegated without kicking a ball. They have no players to speak of, no pre-season preparation and a huge backlog of fixtures.

I wish them all the best, whatever today's outcome...