WHEN are Bury supporters going to wake up and see where their club is heading? Can any Bury fan still doubt that the future of Bury FC is going to be as a feeder club for Manchester United plc?

The last decade has involved ever closer ties developing between the two clubs and, while many Bury fans want to believe that this is just a financial arrangement with Manchester United simply helping out a smaller club, the truth is that it is becoming more apparent with every season that Bury FC is losing its identity.

There has been the indignity of having to share your ground with a local rival; several attempts by the club's board to get Bury supporters to wear a red away shirt; and even trying to sell Manchester Utd merchandise in the Bury FC club shop. Many Bury supporters attributed these developments to the influence of Neville Neville, a former member of the board and a self-confessed Manchester United fan, but since the departure of Mr Neville this clearly cannot still be the case. The attempts to merge the two clubs are still happening. For example, the re-seeding of the Gigg Lane pitch in the summer, paid for, I believe, by United, and the arranging of a friendly, a United PR exercise to show that the "big boys" care about clubs like Bury. What a pity they didn't think about the smaller clubs when they formed the Premier League, carved up the sponsorship money for their own benefit, and left clubs like Bury to fend for themselves.

Even the prospect of new owners doesn't offer hope for a change of course.

The attempt by Mr Tarsus's consortium to approach ex-Red George Best is still more evidence of where Bury FC is heading. While the fact that George Best once played for Manchester United isn't in itself a problem, it is when you stop and think what possible advantage there is in having a player who has never had any association with Bury sitting on the club board. If I was a cynic I would say it was a way of allowing the new owners of Bury FC to gain influence at Manchester United!

Incidentally, if they want an ex-Manchester United and Northern Ireland international to sit on the board, I suggest they ask Sammy McIlroy, a man all Bury fans would approve of.

If the price of a new owner is closer ties with Manchester United then Bury supporters should tell Mr Tarsus and his consortium to take their money and stick it where the mice won't get it.

And before any Bury fans suggest that without Mr Tarsus and his friends purchasing Hugh Eaves' shares Bury FC will fold, I have a solution so revolutionary that the Bury FC board obviously couldn't grasp it. It is to sell the shares to the one group of people who really care about the history, tradition and future of Bury Football Club: the fans!

SALFORD SHAKER