HOME GIGG ON AGENDA AMID PLANS OF MERGER
A SECOND vote on amalgamating Bury AFC and Bury FC will be held in May with hopes it will this time succeed and bring football to Gigg Lane by next season.
A vote in October failed to get the required majority to bring the two parties – Shakers Community Society and Bury Football Club Supporters Society (BFCSS) together and unlock £1.3m of available funding that’s conditional on a merger.
Bury AFC play in North West Counties League Premier having won promotion last year in their first full season.
Currently groundsharing at Radcliffe, their Shakers Community Society voted 94 per cent in favour of uniting back in October.
But BFCSS, who have purchased Gigg Lane and Bury FC’s assets, fell short of the 66% required to push the vote through.
Since then, they have seen an application to join the National League System rejected.
Now a second vote will be held with both sides urging members to vote in favour or see the funding offers disappear and the likelihood of football returning to Gigg Lane diminish.
A statement read: “If senior men’s football is to return to Gigg Lane in August this is now the only opportunity for that to happen. An immediate £1.3m rising to an estimated £2m+ of funding will be available but is entirely contingent on the amalgamation being approved.
“This will be lost if the vote fails again. Additionally, the government grant funding provided to purchase the Gigg Lane stadium is also at risk of clawback, as without an amalgamation there is no prospect of the funding conditions being met.”
It’s hoped that if the vote goes through then Bury FC, expelled by the EFL in 2019, can play under the same guise at Gigg Lane by next season.
“We have to vote for the amalgamation to survive,” the Shakers Community Society said.
“We can’t control the Bury FC Supporters’ Society vote but we are encouraged that the people we have been working with over recent months can now see that they are in a similar position, and also they need to vote for an amalgamation to secure Gigg Lane.
“We are confident we can make Gigg Lane work together, now and in the long term. We can unlock more funding and invest more into the stadium than it has had for decades.”
BFCSS are urging their members to “unify our broken fanbase” so “we can look forward to watching football at Gigg Lane next season”.
A statement continued: “For those of you who may now say “we are better on our own” from either society or group of supporters, let us be totally clear, there is no other scenario which gives us this level of financial support to secure the future of Bury FC.
“By voting in favour of this amalgamation you are unlocking further substantial grants and funding from other investors and sponsors who would then see this as an investable project. Who would refuse over £1,300,000 investment into their club with no strings attached?”