Gary Neville has spoken of his shock at the passing of Bury, describing the team just as”rotten” about the inside after their expulsion in the Football League.
Neville has links with the club. He was born in the town, his father was associated with the club for many years and his mom works there as a secretary.
Now among those area owners of Salford City – that have risen up through non-League to League Two in the past five years – Neville has advised Bury’s lovers to take secure and control the future of their team, also reckons that although the situation may seem catastrophic today, there could nevertheless be light at the end of the tunnel.
“It is an absolute shocker, I am speechless,” that the Sky Sports pundit said on The Gary Neville Podcast. “There is not anything you or anybody can do.
“I clearly know a whole lot about it. My mother is still the secretary of the club, she’s immersed in there and is still going in each and every day to attempt to figure out what’s happening, and I’m in a situation whereby I’m conflicted in the feeling that I know everything that is going on.
“My father, who is not with us , rescued that club on several occasions over many years. He was the chairman of this SOS Shakers fund that essentially held the rights into other things and the ground.
“But I think the previous three or four years what’s essentially happened is there has been no one there to track what’s happened to the golf club. There has been no one there to prevent the over-investment that has happened and management.
“In the end it was simply impossible for everyone to get into the club not understanding what the liabilities were not understanding what they have been signing up to. This was an inevitability that I felt came for weeks and months that no one could stop. When an apple is that you also and rotten do not know what is really inside , no one is going to have that liability.
“I know the EFL have obtained criticism, the man who bought the club for a pound has received criticism and the prior owners have obtained criticism, but my predominant thinking is one of only complete shock about how it’s happened.”
However, while his shock has been admitted by Neville at Bury death, the Manchester United defender remains hopeful the club could rise again.
“I’m a positive person by nature and I find that with the council assistance, in regard to retaining the ground, using a bunch of fans that are equally as hardened and resilient as they are, I do believe that Bury can be a more powerful club and rise back throughout the leagues and be back in the EFL in five or six years.
“Bury may have some wonderful fun along the way. We have been down in non-League for five years or the last four. I come back to Premier League football but I’ve also observed the Evo-Stik North, the Evo-Stik Premier League, the National League North and the National League at the last five seasons, nearly every week or every other week, also I have had the time of my life watching soccer.
“I really feel like I have gone back to my roots , seeing fans have a beverage on the side of the pitch and discuss games with one another. This camaraderie that’s not there for Bury, their lovers won’t be sense that this early but that will come their way and they’ll truly feel that way again.
“They need to go and set up a new team themselves and own their own club. There is this notion that somebody else can come in and put it up, however my honest advice would be just to go to it and do it yourselves, get someone in who knows how to work through those leagues and essentially just go for it, because the fans are still there.
“There are two, three or even four million people who will passionately encourage that club and there are a whole lot of people inside it who will do the job to get them from their shadow, and it has been a dark week. It’s been a battle in the past couple of months, however I believe there will be light at its end.
“Myself, my brother and my sister were close to it daily as we’re talking to my mom and she is still in there just expecting some miracle could occur, however it was not going to come, which was the fact of it. Even the [owner ] kept going to the radio all the time to lift expects but there wasn’t any hope, no one would touch it. It was inside that is rotten and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.
“After we took on Salford five years ago we went to see AFC Wimbledon, FC United, Morecambe, AFC Fylde, Fleetwood and others. Teams who have been at the North West Counties leagues, there are tons of clubs like who have done this trip up through the leagues. Stockport and Wrexham are large clubs that are back at this moment at the National League.
“Everybody will open their doors and give the advice as they did to us. Each and every club that we went to see gave us every piece of information that they could to encourage us and that is going to be the exact same with the Bury fans that are trying to set the club up.
“Finally they will become the Bury Football Club of the future and one that will get back into the Football League. And it’ll be a club everyone in town will be proud of ”
Portsmouth are another team that went through turmoil in the past ten years, but survived going into government and being relegated three days in four seasons to re-emerge as a community-owned club. This season Sky Sports’ Adam Bate talked to Ashley Brown, who had been chairman of the Portsmouth Supporters’ Trust.
“The fans went through 18 months or longer where they weren’t sure whether there was even going to become a team for them to support later on,” explained Brown. “The team was quite near liquidation on a number of events. I think some folks do not realise how near. As someone heavily involved in the procedure who spoke to the secretary, I understand that it had been only hours away from disappearing.
“There were some very low points and I remember one particular occasion where if it wasn’t for a range of fans who invested in our acquisition scheme, to stump up and underwrite some continuing costs for your administrator, then it could have been liquidated. This has been a point that is particularly low.
“We went into a high court battle with the previous owners to make sure that we could conserve Fratton Park. We jumped through countless hoops with the governing body the secretary and assorted authorities just to get to a position where we could bid to save the club. Therefore there were many points that are low.
“However there were a substantial number of high points also, especially when we eventually won and the fans managed to conserve the club. With football fans is the fact that until it’s really bad, what happens it’s tough to have them combined behind an outcome. But with this one pulled, was through administrations ahead, also Portsmouth, individuals quickly got behind us.
“The public spirit was enormous and many enthusiasts played a role in making sure that this terrific club survived. It wasn’t just a couple of people it was many people. And not just financially. It’s terrifying when you get into the bones of exactly what certain people were permitted to eliminate and exactly that which occurred at Portsmouth. By individuals that are certain, I mean owners and executives.
“The first couple of years once the club has been owned by the fans it had been quite difficult on the area. The club needed to rebuild and that included each the side. It is a fantastic turnaround for your football club.
“It might have been just nine years ago we were at the Premier League and also runners-up at the FA Cup final but the pain and the treatment of this club since it plummeted through the leagues in that nine years had been dreadful. When it was taken by the supporters over, it was the bare bones of this football team. But now I am very optimistic about the future.”
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