The Bury summer signing uberthread. WARNING - Contains tinpot material

[GFC4EVA]

Let's hope there is a positive outcome today and they can start the season soon

 

[Franchisor]

I'm still 100% certain that Bury won't be kicked out of the football league this weekend and the deadline will be extended until minimum next week, maybe even longer.

Too much weight against the EFL now - Andy Burnham (Mayor of Greater Manchester), the Minister for Sport and also the club's local MP as well as several other prominent people have written to the EFL asking them to at the very least extend the deadline.

I don't agree with it though, this has gone on far too long and this deadline should be the final one. The EFL themselves have said they'll only extend if Dale proves he is in "serious, deep talks" with a buyer. He won't be, but they'll still extend it.

 

[Buxton Vale]

I think that the EFL may be ready to make an example of a club to justify their own position, and cover their shortcomings with the fit and proper test. It may be that today is Bury's last chance.

If this is the case, then serious questions need asking about the EFL's ability to organise football at this level.

 

[Boletus Edulis]

This feels like it is becoming an umpire’s light meter in cricket. Where they take the light reading and that is the benchmark for whether to go off or not later in the game. There are several other teams likely to be in a similar situation in a year or two, and they would cry foul if they don’t get the same number of games as Bury.

 

[Boletus Edulis]

That is a stunning request from Dale on the radio. We don’t need the money but if Bury fans would have a whip round for £2.7 million that would be fine and dandy thanks very much.

I can see no option than losing your golden share, starting again and hoping that Dale does not get to keep the ground.

 

[shoddycollins]

Sounds like that to me (I'm no financial expert, mind).

Seems daft to me that it's illegal to force a business into liquidation yet it's perfectly legal for someone to be able to sit back and wait for it to go in to liquidation and show no signs of trying to rescue it.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1164797520230244354

All smoke and mirrors with shell companies and subsidiaries I think. The official records probably show Steve Dale doing all he can to save Bury. 'spoke to a representative from our largest creditor this morning, SD holdings limited, about an offer to repay the debt, unfortunately the representative, one Mr Dale was adamant that he would only accept payment in full.'

 

[#Beebot]

The number of Premier League fans who know fuck all about the situation demanding that United and City "help out" Bury is infuriating. Do your bloody research.

 

[valefan16]

That is a stunning request from Dale on the radio. We don’t need the money but if Bury fans would have a whip round for £2.7 million that would be fine and dandy thanks very much.

I can see no option than losing your golden share, starting again and hoping that Dale does not get to keep the ground.

Smurf offered to sell us if the fans had a whip round for a few million!

 

[Marked Ox]

They could in the short term but will come under increasing pressure if time drags along with the stadium site remaining unused and planning applications for alternative uses being batted away. With your situation it was always a realistic possibility that AFCW would acquire the land, an application would be recieved for a football stadium and one would be built. If Gigg Lane ends up in the hands of property developers they will be more than happy to just sit on the land for decades if needs be until the council caves.

It's called land-banking and it's something developers have done ever since the planning system became a thing. Buy up land you would like to build housing on, profitable prime locations that aren't currently allocated for housing; also buy up land the council would like to see housing built on, usually not as profitable since it's already allocated for housing and therefore more expensive, but don't build any housing.

Now the balance of power is in your favour, nobody else can build housing in the area because you own all the land required to do it. There might be a couple of other developers but they're doing the same thing as you. The council come under pressure from local people who need housing and from central government to meet housing targets. Central government starts to penalise the council financially and eventually a majority of the planning committee caves and lets the developer build where they want, or the developer wins an appeal by arguing the council's holding out for a football stadium is unrealistic.

I can imagine a similar situation would have unfolded at Plough Lane if it were in the hands of a property developer who weren't willing to sell it to you.

Oxford City Council are successfully refusing the Developer's repeated attempts at plans for a housing estate (around 10 years, maybe longer but could be wrong) on the Oxford Stadium site (Greyhounds/Speedway) that they deliberately rundown then stopped the greyhounds using even though it was profitable. The Greyhound Association had already barred the Speedway from using it before selling it to the Developers.

Even though Oxford has a pressing need for housing but limited space, the City Council have held firm/consistent in saying it is for sport (more specifically Greyhound and Speedway racing) and registered it as a "community asset". And the Council are exploring a compulsory purchase of the site but nothing has been made public since saying they were looking at it.

 

[#Beebot]

The club must not be bought on Dale's terms. If that means groundsharing in non-league then so be it.

 

[Pompey_Squinny]

The number of Premier League fans who know fuck all about the situation demanding that United and City "help out" Bury is infuriating. Do your bloody research.

Unfortunately it is usually only the fans of clubs that have been through this that really understand. Never thought supporting my club would involve the need to understand administration rules, CVAs, football and non football creditors, insolvency and all the many ways of splitting parts of your club.

 

[WhiteRussian]

The number of Premier League fans who know fuck all about the situation demanding that United and City "help out" Bury is infuriating. Do your bloody research.

It's different worlds. United fans moaning because they only forked out 180 million or whatever on players. Bury needing 2.7 mill to buy off a soul sucking parasite.

Yes, United or City could easily buy them with loose change from down the back of the sofa but should they? Is it better to become United B and survive or fail and see an asset stripper make money from their demise and meaning a phoenix club?

I don't know.

 

[Ciderup]

I can see no option than losing your golden share, starting again and hoping that Dale does not get to keep the ground.

I saw a report online stating that there's a covenant on the land Gigg lane stands on saying it has to be used for recreation. If he's after the land, surely that would stop him building on it? Then again, it didn't stop the rovers from trying to build a supermarket on their ground.

Good luck Bury, be it as you are or as a 'phoenix' club.
Sad times.

 

[B.F.C.]

Don't know what Steve Dale is expecting us to collect by midnight?
I wouldn't give the odious 2hat the steam off my piss, I'd rather we go pop.

 

[Dave-Vale]

Let's be honest if bury and Bolton come out of this some how.. Lesson's will not be learnt and it will happen again to some other club.
There are too many Shithouse owners looking at clubs as a cash cow.
Its the same in business. Companies going under every single day.
Thr efl cannot vet them all.
However this dick smurf or whatever he is called sounds a right bell end and should be avoided.

If he is allowed to purchase Bury then it shows exactly how awful the EFL’s due diligence really is.

Hoping that Mr Dale does the right thing and sells up so Bury survive. Time is pushing on, though.

Any word what’s happening, Bury fans?

 

[#Beebot]

I really wish the media would do some serious research on this. The journalist here challenges him on a couple of things but these are largely fluff pieces.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1164902634198843394

 

[Marked Ox]

I saw a report online stating that there's a covenant on the land Gigg lane stands on saying it has to be used for recreation. If he's after the land, surely that would stop him building on it? Then again, it didn't stop the rovers from trying to build a supermarket on their ground.

Good luck Bury, be it as you are or as a 'phoenix' club.
Sad times.

The Manor Ground used to have a covenant but this was solved by the covenant effectively switching to the Kassam Stadium.

 

[gijsbert_bos]

The Manor Ground used to have a covenant but this was solved by the covenant effectively switching to the Kassam Stadium.

Councils tend to be open to lifting a covenant like that if there's a guarantee that a replacement stadium will be built, and then the covenant is transferred, as you say. Sincil Bank has a covenant tahg says it must be for sporting/recreation use only (I think a condition of the council selling the ground back to us after they bought it to help us out). Suggestion is that if we want to move the covenant could be lifted to allow us to sell the land for development, providing we have a new home.

I think it's highly unlikely such a covenant could be removed without a replacement ground being in place. Then again, councils can be awful.

 

[gainsparkshrew]

Slight problem is that Bury owe the Council over £100k in unpaid council tax/rates.
Therefore it's highly unlikely that the council are going to approve the removal of the covenant and for houses to be built on Gigg Lane

 

[Dave-Vale]

The latest EFL statement doesn’t sound like they’re going to be extending the deadline any further than tonight.

 

[iWomble]

I think it's highly unlikely such a covenant could be removed without a replacement ground being in place. Then again, councils can be awful.

There was a covenant on Plough Lane which the council allowed Sam Hammam to buy out for £800K on the basis of nothing but fine words about building a new stadium. He then sold the land to Safeway for £8 million having shifted us to Selhurst Park.

 

[Brad-Owl]

Very little movement according to sky, I'm surprised they've given em till midnight.

Unless some multi millionaire springs out with 2.7m or whatever it is the end is nigh.

Even if they did you can expect Dale to run off with money.

 

[Pablosammy]

It'll be interesting to see what business can be concluded on a Friday evening after months of deadlock. It's either brinksmanship from Dale or it ain't happening.

 

[Kenneth E End]

I'm afraid the end is nigh. I massively sympathise, of course, with Bury supporters. A team formed in the same year as us in 1885 ending before our very eyes.

This needs to be a harsh lesson though. Teams in the level above are racking up huge levels of debt - close to £1bn. Teams chasing the dream of the PL and then teams in L1 chasing the relative dreams of the Championship. It has to stop.

My own club has been through this situation many times, but we now have an ownership of genuine supporters who are doing it properly. We were lucky. Many clubs, especially in the Championship, are not being run like this. It is making it uncompetitive for everyone else - overspending is cheating.

It's not what you want to hear, but the EFL cannot do anything about overspending. And frankly Bury FC have gone through the same cycle every 3-4 years. There needs to be harsher punishments - points deductions (or declined relegation) if certain financial guarantees or benchmarks are not met.

If an additional £2m was given to every team in L1 or L2, they would just spend even more and get into the same scenario.

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

Even if Bury are taken over by the deadline, I'm pretty confident they'll end up in non league by 2021. The entire football club has been stripped of personnel. I doubt they'll attract an owner with a bottomless pit of cash so running their club accordingly and signing an entire team of players rejected by other League 1 and 2 clubs could see them still remain in a precarious state even if they're to be taken over.

 

[Brad-Owl]

BREAKING: Sky Sports understands that Bury FC owner Steve Dale has rejected another bid for the club. Reporters tell us that he no longer has interest in selling the club as he believes he can’t find the suitable man to run this beautiful club. More to follow... #buryfc

 

[GodsGift]

It's not what you want to hear, but the EFL cannot do anything about overspending.

They could have banned Steve Dale from taking over the club though, which they would have been in their rights to do seeing as 43 of his 51 previous companies have been liquidated.

That might have helped...

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

They could have banned Steve Dale from taking over the club though, which they would have been in their rights to do seeing as 43 of his 51 previous companies have been liquidated.

That might have helped...

They were going bust mid-season and Shaun Harvey didn't want the negative publicity of that affecting the EFL brand.

Any member of this forum could've taken over that football club at that moment such was Harvey's desperation not to hurt the brand so much. That man has ruined English football in the 21st century in ways no other man could.

 

[Kenneth E End]

They could have banned Steve Dale from taking over the club though, which they would have been in their rights to do seeing as 43 of his 51 previous companies have been liquidated.

That might have helped...

Well to be honest, I was not aware of this. That is shocking if that is the case - are they all voluntary liquidations however? I’m a company director myself; if i involuntary liquidate a company twice I believe I am banned from being a director of one.

 

[SoutheySWFC]

Well to be honest, I was not aware of this. That is shocking if that is the case - are they all voluntary liquidations however? I’m a company director myself; if i involuntary liquidate a company twice I believe I am banned from being a director of one.

He asset strips them first and most are voluntary, it is like how he's owed money from Bury via another of his companies.

Plenty of ways around being struck off as well sadly.