SKIPPER DANNS LETS RIP AS BURY GRIEVES

ANGRY Bury skipper Neil Danns has accused owner Steve Dale of destroying lives with the club’s expulsion from the EFL.

Danns led the club to promotion from League Two last season and has been training with the Shakers’ skeleton squad under boss Paul Wilkinson at Carrington, hoping they would finally be allowed to play. He claims Dale is to blame for the mess after buying the club for £1 in December. Asked if he had a message for Dale, Danns said: “I would say look what you’ve done. This should never have happened.

“If you thought you could not move this club forward in a positive way you should never have taken over because you’ve literally destroyed lives, because that’s what this football club meant to so many fans. “When you see the devastation of the fans I just think I have to say something. It’s unbelievable. I still can’t believe it.”

Dale wants the EFL to rescind their expulsion order and says previous owner Stewart Day is to blame for the crisis because of the debts he ran up. He says prospective buyers C&N Sporting Risk were put off by the high interest rates on the mortgage on their Gigg Lane stadium.

“The loan on the stadium was taken out two years ago, way before my time,” Dale said. “What I’m getting tired of is me being blamed for it.”

Danns, 36, says the players are still stunned by the bombshell news on Tuesday night that the club has been kicked out of the EFL when they thought they would be playing Doncaster at home on Saturday.

“We were just preparing every single week as though the next game was going to be on,” he said.

“For it to happen so suddenly, it’s still really unbelievable.” Former Bury defender Tom Kennedy says the club’s expulsion devastating blow for the town.

Kennedy has Bury in his blood. His dad Keith is a Shakers legend who played 475 games for the club in the 1970s and early ‘80s.

He was born in the town and made his debut for the club aged 17, going on to play 161 games in two spells.

“We’re not talking about some business here with some employees, we’re talking about the town and it’s so much bigger than just a business going bust,” said the former defender, who is the nephew of Liverpool legend Alan Kennedy.

“People live and breathe this football club, so it’s a massive, massive shock for me to wake up this morning and see that Bury have been kicked out of the Football League, which is something I never thought I’d see in my lifetime.”

Kennedy, 34, always believed someone would come forward to buy the club from Dale.

“I never believed for one second, even in the direst times of Steve Dale, it would happen,” he said.

“Because there were interested parties, there was hope and I never thought it would come to this.” is a