• Dale must pay at least £2m or Bury could be liquidated• Owner says he intends to settle debts and save club
Bury’s owner, Steve Dale, has failed to provide any of the money he pledged last summer towards paying the club’s debts via a company voluntary arrangement (CVA), creditors have been informed. Dale has until 11 February to pay at least £2m which is owing, otherwise the CVA will be scrapped and the 135-year-old club, which was expelled by the EFL in August, looks likely to be liquidated.
A consortium of local businessmen, so far not named publicly, is reported to have been negotiating with Dale to buy the club with its debts to pay, in the hope that Bury may be able to start again in the National League next season. A group of supporters has also made strong progress with forming a phoenix club, Bury AFC, and have applied to join the North West Counties League, should efforts to keep the current club out of liquidation fail.