On a warm August evening in 2019, the gates of Gigg Lane stayed locked. Supporters gathered outside with banners and tears, waiting for news they already feared: after 134 years, Bury FC was no longer a Football League club. At 11pm the statement came from the EFL – Bury were out. Expelled. Gone. For the first time since Maidstone United in 1992, an English league side had been struck from the records. For the fans in white and blue, it was less an announcement than a funeral.
A proud Lancashire institution
Bury were not just another lower-league minnow. Founded in 1885, the club twice lifted the FA Cup, famously thrashing Derby County 6–0 in 1903 – a record scoreline that still stands. Generations of Lancastrians grew up under the shadow of Gigg Lane’s floodlights. For them, Bury was more than football. It was family, tradition, and the rhythm of Saturday afternoons.
How the rot set in
But history counts for little when the numbers don’t add up. Under chairman Stewart Day, the Shakers lived far beyond their means. Ambition was bought with high-interest loans, secured against Gigg Lane itself. When the house of cards began to tremble, Day walked away, selling the club for just £1 in December 2018. The buyer, property developer Steve Dale, admitted he’d never even heard of Bury FC before taking ownership.[3]
Dale inherited a mess. Staff went unpaid, tax bills piled up, and players were left wondering if they’d ever see their wages again. By July 2019, the only lifeline was a Company Voluntary Arrangement – essentially a deal with creditors. It came at a price: a 12-point deduction before a ball had even been kicked.[6]
The EFL plays hardball
The league suspended fixture after fixture as deadlines passed. Fans protested outside the stadium and the council chambers, accusing Dale of sleepwalking the club into oblivion. For weeks, administrators and would-be buyers circled. At one point, C&N Sporting Risk appeared ready to step in, only to pull out at the eleventh hour, citing concerns about hidden debts.[4]
When the final deadline expired on August 27, the EFL pulled the plug. Bury’s expulsion wasn’t just a bureaucratic act – it was a death sentence. League One would carry on with 23 clubs. For Bury, there was nothing left but the silence of locked gates.
Collateral damage
The victims weren’t just the supporters. Caterers, cleaners, stewards, and local businesses all lost income. Players who had just won promotion were left without a club. For the town of Bury, the loss was cultural vandalism. Supporters painted “R.I.P. Bury FC” on walls near Gigg Lane. Rival fans mourned in solidarity – Bolton, just down the road, had narrowly avoided the same fate days earlier.[2]
Phoenix from the ashes
But football never truly dies if the supporters refuse to let it. Within months, a new club was born: Bury AFC, built from scratch by fans and run by a volunteer board. They started at the very bottom, the 10th tier of English football, ground-sharing with Radcliffe FC. The crowds were small, the facilities modest, but the heart was huge.[9]
Meanwhile, the fight for Gigg Lane continued. With government and council backing, supporters secured £1.45m to buy the ground back for the community.[10][11] In 2023, a historic vote merged Bury AFC with the remnants of the old club. Football returned to Gigg Lane at last – proof that while institutions can be stripped from the league table, they live on in people’s hearts.[12]
The bigger picture
Bury’s story is tragic, but it is not unique. It is the product of a broken system where ambition is bankrolled by loans, where ownership tests are paper-thin, and where the EFL’s hands are often tied until it’s too late. The government’s Fan-Led Review in 2021 cited Bury as Exhibit A in the case for a new independent regulator. By 2025, legislation was finally in motion.[14][15]
Conclusion
Bury FC’s collapse was not inevitable. It was the direct consequence of weak oversight, reckless ownership, and a football economy that tolerates fantasy finance until the moment of implosion. Yet out of that wreckage came resilience. The sight of supporters back at Gigg Lane, singing for their club once more, is a reminder that in English football, the people in the stands matter more than the names in the boardroom. Bury may have been killed by mismanagement – but it was resurrected by love.
Sources
- Bury Council: Support to Forever Bury report (2019)
- Sky Sports: “Bury expelled from Football League” (2019)
- The Independent: Steve Dale’s £1 takeover (2019)
- The Guardian: Takeover collapse report (2019)
- BBC Sport: “Bury given 12-point deduction after CVA” (2019)
- Football Supporters’ Association: “Bury AFC prepare for a new life” (2020)
- Gov.uk: £1m to buy Gigg Lane (2021)
- Bury Council: Council investment in Gigg Lane (2022)
- ITV News: Merger and return to Gigg Lane (2023)
- Gov.uk: Football Governance Bill factsheet (2025)
- Reuters: Independent Regulator reforms (2025)