Bury

Quoted from Malta_Mariner_90

I think it is more that they allowed Day and then Dale to have ownership of them in the first place. Bit like the Leyton O owner before they got rid of him in the conference. Day and Dale both have "interesting" track records in business which mainly seems to involve the businesses they purchase closing. Low and behold Bury go that way as well.

I agree with you that at some point there have to be consequences for financial mismanagement. Despite all the checks from the EFL etc. there is really no stopping any owner from pulling the plug if they are forced to. Look at Notts C for example they very nearly went pop this summer as well.

The classic example for me were Rushden & Diamonds (the original FGR), a rich mans toy who simply collapsed after a few years once the money stopped. In that case the EFL would have seen him as a reasonable owner, he built them a nice stadium, even left them around a million when he left. They cannot foresee all these scenarios.

What I guess is galling for fans of Bury is that there are probably just as badly run clubs up and down the country in the EFL but sadly for them the League have shown some back bone in terms of applying their own rules (i.e proof you can actually afford to complete the season ahead), they did their best in extending deadlines but it is clear that it was not going to be resolved any time soon.

Quoted from TheRonRaffertyFanClub

It is very easy to say Bury cheated. It is very easy to say we feel sorry for the fans not the owner. But those fans last year were happy to see the club promoted just as Hull fans were when Phil Brown was splashing enough to bankrupt the club and Leeds fans were when they were going bust on a Euro dream and ....

Quoted from Poojah

I speak entirely hypothetically here, but if we win promotion this season and then it transpires that we spent 200% of turnover on wages, is that the fault of the fans? Supporters are generally happy when all is good on the pitch, and unhappy when it’s not.

Quoted from RichMariner

This is interesting.

I do agree — none of us are going to complain about watching a successful side, especially if it earns promotion.

However, personally, I'd feel uncomfortable and nervous if it was made public that we were spending 200% of turnover on wages. The problem is, very few of us know exactly what we're spending at any one time.

If we spent 200% of turnover on wages, it's certainly not the fault of the fans, as Poojah says. That would be the recklessness of the board — but would we have the power to stop it? Would enough of us be bothered? I guess that's the question he's raised.

But as long as the club communicates with the fans in an honest way — and is prepared to share some financial figures — then we are at least given the chance to understand the board's position, i.e. 'We're getting a hammering from the fans because we're only mid-table but we're not prepared to throw money we haven't got at players who might not guarantee us success anyway.'

This is no lack of ambition, but I'd rather my club survive and play at this level while we build sensibly — even if it takes many years — rather than splash the cash on things we can't afford just to appease the section of fans that still thinks we should be 11th in the Championship playing glorious passing football.