Two weeks to save Shakers

That's the ominous warning from joint chairmen and chief executives John Smith and Fred Mason who have spelled out the grim truth about the 117-year-old club.

Financial troubles are piling up every day, with the proposed takeover of the club by the Mansport Developments consortium seemingly doomed and creditors demanding repayment of a £1 million mortgage. A court case opens on March 4.

Now Mr Smith and Mr Mason are calling on people in the town to support the next two games at Gigg Lane, against Cambridge United and AFC Bournemouth the following Saturday.

"We are trapped in a one-way alley with bullets flying all around us," said Mr Smith.

"This isn't scaremongering, this is the truth. We have two weeks to save the Shakers. The match against Bournemouth on February 23 could be the last at Gigg Lane.

"We are asking for local people to rally round because this could be their final chance to watch professional football in this town. The mortgage hearing is coming up and if the decision of the court goes against us it will be curtains. "We are currently playing football courtesy of the Professional Footballers Association and people like the Bury Times readers who have contributed to the Save Our Shakers fund."

The mortgage was taken out as a short-term measure last year to get the Shakers through a cash flow problem in anticipation of an early takeover of the club.

But the mortgage company was subsequently dissolved after breaking Law Society rules and the creditors, the Russell Cooke Trust, now have a claim on the Gigg Lane ground.

Mansport Developments, formed early in 2001, have not been able to arrange a replacement mortgage despite being the "preferred bidders" for the shares of disgraced former Bury FC owner Hugh Eaves.

Continuing delays in the takeover, and their reluctance to discuss the matter with the club or the press, is currently fuelling speculation among fans that their bid is in serious trouble.

And that's more bad news for the directors who are left trying to balance the books on average gates of less than 3,500.

"We have to generate £250,000 to pay the wages for the next ten weeks and then we need £200,000 to get us through a summer with no income. Then there is the money we have borrowed from the Professional Footballers Association to find," added a worried Mr Smith.

"A lot of people have made money in this town. Are they prepared to watch the local football club die?"

Mr Mason added: "The club is a gem if anyone wanted to buy it. We have a nucleus of good young players, an impressive stadium and we hardly have a massive off-the-field staff bleeding the club. In fact we are down to the bare bones.

"People say this isn't a football town but it is. The problem is that too many of them are going to watch Manchester United, City, Blackburn, Bolton and even Burnley.

"But with no Premiership games this weekend we will hopefully get the financial lift a big crowd can give us."

In other towns the local authority has come to their club's aid with Oldham Council helping them buy their stadium and Morecambe giving the Nationwide Conference club a £500,000 handout.

But exploratory talks between Bury FC and Bury Metro Council officials failed to secure any financial help.

"A town without a league football club dies," added Mr Smith. "No-one talks about Barrow, Gateshead and Accrington any more and it's imperative that doesn't happen to Bury. All we can hope is that people in our town feel the same way!"

Shakers mnager Andy Preece warned that it would be a tragedy if the club was to die just as things were looking bright on the playing front.

"The six players we have signed over the past few days show just what a good thing we have down at Gigg Lane," he said. "But there's no doubt about it, the club is in a very precarious position and cannot survive on the 2,500 fans we get."