Bury are facing expulsion from the English Football League after 125 years of continuous membership because of the collapse of a last‑minute proposed deal to buy the club. Bury’s owner, Steve Dale, had been given a firm deadline of 5pm BST on Tuesday, after a series of deadlines that were not met, to either provide proof he has the money to finance the club and its debts, or conclude a sale.
On Friday C&N Sporting Risk, a data and analytics company owned by Rory Campbell, a formerly technical scout and analyst at West Ham, and Henry Newman, a coach and former joint manager of Barnet, confirmed it was interested in buying Bury, and the EFL set the Tuesday deadline for the deal to be substantially concluded.
Shortly after 3pm on Tuesday, two hours before the deadline, Campbell and Newman announced they were unable to resolve issues relating to a mortgage on the Gigg Lane ground and “the overall financial state of the club”, and were not proceeding. Their statement explicitly made clear their problem was not because of the tight deadline but “reflective of the systemic failings of a football club over a number of years”.
The EFL board – six club representatives with the executive chair, Debbie Jevans, and the nonexecutive director Simon Bazalgette – then considered Bury’s position in a meeting conducted by conference call. Bury had been given a 14-day notice of expulsion from the EFL on 9 August, which was due to expire on Friday, until it was extended to Tuesday. Some Bury sources were making it clear that despite the groundswell of sympathy for a historic club and their supporters, a view was hardening that the club had failed to pay their way, winning promotion despite being unable to pay their players, and that the EFL board needed to assert its seriousness by sticking to so firm a deadline.
Dale bought the club for £1 in December from Stewart Day, who had maintained them since his own takeover in 2013 with borrowings from his property companies. A mortgage on Gigg Lane was taken out during Day’s tenure with a firm based in Crosby, Capital Bridging Finance Solutions, about which Dale publicly raised concerns after taking over, saying the loans were up to £3.7m. When the loans were made, 40% of the money did not go to Bury, but was instead paid to unnamed third parties as introduction fees.
Campbell and Newman are understood to been particularly concerned about that mortgage and were unable to reach an agreement with Capital for a reduced figure to pay off the £3.7m and release it.
Within weeks of Day selling the club, several of his property companies collapsed into administration, owing millions to lenders and investors. Dale, however, never satisfied the league that he had the necessary money to sustain the club, a requirement of EFL rules for new owners before a takeover or at the latest 10 days later. Throughout nine months in charge, Dale has never provided the league with the evidence of funding it has required.
In July he secured the passing of a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) which committed to paying £4m of creditors a quarter of what they were owed. That sum was increased by the inclusion of a £7m debt, said to have been loans from one of Day’s companies, Mederco, which is in administration. Two days before the creditors’ meeting to approve the CVA, a company, RCR Holdings, bought from the Mederco creditors any possible claim against Bury, for £70,000, although Mederco’s administrators, Leonard Curtis, said the extent of any loans was unclear and did not state that £7m had been loaned. RCR Holdings’ sole owner and director, Kris Richards, is Dale’s daughter’s partner, he confirmed to BBC Radio Manchester.
In their statement, Campbell and Newman said: “We set ourselves a list of key criteria regarding the CVA, the ground and the overall financial state of the club that had to be met in order for us to be satisfied that we have enough knowledge to proceed with the takeover. The complexities involved in each of these matters escalated and continue to do so.
Josh Halliday
(@JoshHalliday)Angry scenes now outside Gigg Lane where growing number of fans are gathering, some chanting “We want Dale out” pic.twitter.com/Bnheey7epG
“It is therefore with regret that we have decided not to proceed with the takeover of Bury FC. This decision has not been taken lightly. We fully understand the importance of the club to the community and it is with this in mind that we have informed the EFL of our decision at the earliest possible opportunity.”
Thanking the Bury North MP James Frith, who they said had “worked tirelessly” to help find a solution, and Jevans, Campbell and Newman said: “Despite previously stating we would have liked an extra 24 hours to conclude the deal, actually our position is not a condition of the strict timeline they have put in place, but reflective of the systemic failings of a football club over a number of years.”