Bury five days from oblivion

ENGLISH football’s ability to sustain 92 professional league clubs is one of its unique appeals – but that’s under threat like never before.

Just ask supporters of League One crisis clubs Bolton Wanderers and Bury.

Before this weekend, the clubs’ combined points tally was stuck stubbornly at minus-23 points.

In five days’ time Bury could be expelled from the EFL without kicking a ball of the new campaign.

Last week, Ivan Lewis, the MP for Bury South, called on Manchester giants United and City to help save a neighbour with 134 years of history.

Bury’s owner Steve Dale (below) has been unable to provide the financial assurances that the Football League need to allow them to even start the season.

Ian Harrop, a former Bury director and now a spokesman for the Forever Bury group, said: “We achieved promotion from League Two last season but anyone could have told you the bubble was going to burst any time.

“Dale supposedly bought the club for a pound. He had no history of football.

“It’s nothing to do with the club’s history, it’s nothing to do with supporters, it’s about making a buck. It’s a tragedy for a club of our stature and history.”

Bury have until Friday to provide the EFL with the financial assurances required to continue. At Bolton it’s a similar tale of woe.

Alan Houghton, the chairman of the Bolton Wanderers Supporters’ Association, said: “The bottom line is that we’ve been running insolvent for 20 years but Eddie Davies [the club’s former owner, who died last September] bankrolled us.

“It’s horrendous what’s happening. It’s not just the players who haven’t been getting paid, it’s the staff too. We have young players staying with host families and they weren’t getting paid either.”

Rob Wilson, football finance expert at Sheffield Hallam University, said: “When you have so many clubs each reliant on one single owner, it’s an accident waiting to happen.”