THE latest multi-million pound bid for Bury Football Club has been officially recognised by the High Court.

As exclusively reported in the Bury Times a Leeds-based consortium lodged three cheques totalling £15 million with the High Court as a show of faith.

The group, made up of eight millionaires one of which is a Bury FC season ticket holder, heard this week that their interest in former Shakers supremo Hugh Eaves' majority shareholding has been officially put on hold.

The High Court, Queens Bench Division, ruled that until the preferred bidders have completed their lawful transactions the second bid will be held on file.

The decision should clear the way for the consortium in the box seat, the Manchester-based Mansport group believed to include Turkish businessman Alex Tarsus, to conclude a deal.

But the good news for the football club is that should anything go awry with the Mansport deal, for whatever reason, there is another group waiting in the wings to step in.

The drawn out takeover saga has been a financial nightmare for Shakers officials with the club still unsold after 2 years on the market.

The club's financial situation was further complicated with a question-mark over the security of a £1 million mortgage on the ground, taken up with a firm of Sheffield solicitors which was later struck off for infringing Law Society regulations.

The current fiscal position of the club is very critical, so much so that it is undermining manager Andy Preece's attempts to lift the Shakers out of relegation trouble.

Injuries and suspensions have decimated the first team squad over the past few weeks and the Bury boss is desperate to bring in new faces on loan but unable to do so because of the financial situation.

Long-suffering Shakers supporters will now be hoping Mansport can conclude their business with alacrity, lift the uncertainty that has been hanging over the Gigg Lane for the past few years, and take the club on to a secure and successful future.