Why did the board not respond to David Conn’s questions?

Glenn Thomas: “We did not respond to the journalist’s questions because this is a private company. A lot of the questions he was asking was information that would not be normally disclosed to anybody and certainly not put in the public domain.

“We try to treat this club as a professional business and I don’t know any other businesses that are questioned in that format about its day-to-day activities and its finances.

“He was asking basically how on earth the club was surviving and I don’t think that it was in the club’s best interests, especially when we are in a competitive world, to answer the questions because it would have put us on the back foot and, in effect, allowed our competitors an insight into what we are trying to achieve.

“By keeping things private, as a business, we feel very confident that it is going to grow.”

Why should fans not be concerned about the high interest loan?

GT: “As a business, we must strive to create income that is non-related to a game of football.

“The monies were, in effect, secured by one of the chairman’s other businesses for which he has invested in a project and that project has secured the loan. The loan is not being funded at all by Bury Football Club.

“There has been a separate, private agreement, which is not on public record, that activities taking place by the chairman’s companies have underpinned not only the loan and interest payments, but also that future profits from that transaction would go into Bury Football Club.

“Bury Football Club will be a partner and therefore entitled to an income from that project, and that income will help in effect create the club into a sustainable business rather than a business that keeps relying on an individual to put money in, which is what we have always said we don’t want it to be.”

Was the loan used to pay for players’ wages or fees?

GT: “No. All of the players’ negotiations have been done by both the manager and the chairman in such a way that the club have got some amazing players for...there is a lot of gossip out there that we are paying the highest wages in the league, that we are paying silly transfer fees – none of it is true.

“As a club we have been very smart. We have targeted the right players and the players have come on board to be part of something special.

“The majority of the players have taken pay cuts to come here and on the sense that they want to be part of something that is growing. Their aim as a team is promotion, and promotion again.

What level of risk has the club been exposed to with regards to the high interest loan/s?

GT: “None. Every business transaction has an element of risk. The risk has been minimised so much because the chairman’s other businesses have guaranteed all of the loans. One of the chairman’s companies, and I hope he doesn’t mind me saying this, but basically over the next two to two-and-a-half years the gross value will be £32million.

“That transaction has underpinned all of the club’s debts so the club has not been put to risk at all.

“But this needs to be very clear, the club has got to take some active risk in other business ventures in order to create revenue. If you don’t you cannot keep putting money into the club. It needs earned income to survive.”

If the club was not exposed to any risk when the high interest loan was taken out then how can it then reap the rewards or profit made in the transaction?

GT: “That does not necessarily go hand in hand, in the sense that it only became a partner for a small element of the transaction, so therefore it is not getting all of the profit.

“The chairman is a businessman, he is not daft. No matter how you look at it, a percentage of the profit is still a substantial amount of the money, but it is certainly not all the profit, just a percentage for the element of risk taken.

“Like any joint venture agreement, you pre-agree how much and what percentage of the profits are prior to the risks being taken.

“The risk is that the actual transaction that the monies are part of is secured by a 600 per cent guarantee. In other words, there is 600 per cent more collateral been provided for the loan than the loan itself. That’s how much protected it has been.”

Was any of that collateral related to the stadium?

GT: “No. If you read the paperwork, the only legal charge on Gigg Lane is to the chairman’s personal investment in the club, which has always been declared since day one.”

What is the chairman’s investment in the club?

GT: “His investment written into the accounts state that a credit facility of up to £2million was made available.

“Without giving figures, I can actually say that it is in excess of that. However, provisions have been put in place through other business ventures that more funding will be made available as and when is needed to make sure that we can deliver the business plan over the next three or four years.”

How much debt has been paid off and how much debt has the club got now?

GT: “I will have to answer that in an order that makes sense. When we took the club over it was projected by the previous board that £800,000 was needed to in effect pay off the debt and underwrite the cash flow of the club, including a £200,000 buffer as and when it was needed.

“When we took the club over we had to, in effect, not only clear an overdraft, which was not budgeted for – the overdraft was £250,000 effectively. That had to be cleared with the bank the same week we took over.

“The HMRC debt was, I can’t remember the exact figure but it was about £200,000.

“Those were just a starting point. That was week one.

“There were then other people that were owed monies, and obviously there was a shortfall on a monthly basis that the club needed.

“No matter how you looked at it, as a business, it did not take a rocket scientist to work out that no business can operate on 23 days a year of turnover, which is what a football club has, it has a minimum of 23 to 25 home games.

“That does not generate anywhere near sufficient funds to run the business, hence the reason we have had to totally overhaul the contracts.

“We inherited contracts that were far too expensive for the players.

“We inherited staff that we have had to pay compromise agreements on. Those alone have only come to termination literally now.

“We made some mistakes in the early days by signing players that in effect were not up to the standard of this club.

“We made those mistakes right, once again that cost money.

“The operating profits of the club was projected accurately, but accurately if you wanted to, in effect, be managed like a Conference side.

“In other words, the backroom facilities, the facilities of the club, the hosting of events – this club was on its knees.

“We have had to spend capital on improving the facilities, on improving the rooms, on not only improving the playing facilities but also everything to do with the players’ medical facilities and well-being.

“The players were not even being fed the right foods, the right drinks, the right tonics etc.

“All of that is an increased expense.

“We now are operating, in our opinion, like a Championship club because that is where we want to be.

“All of that is extra money - extra cashflow.

“So the money is not being wasted.

“We have actually reduced the players’ wage bill since we took over.

“We are making cuts left, right and centre in the right areas but we are also investing in the right areas to increase turnover.

“The comments that we have received from other clubs and people visiting the club is that the turnaround has been incredible and that it is now being run like a professional football club.

“There will be losses shown in these accounts and probably next year’s accounts as well because you cannot make a negative situation positive in a very short space of time.

“So by using the club as an asset and investing in other non-football related projects, that is how the football club will start to make a profit.

“We are not here to spend silly money on transfer fees, we are not here to spend silly money on players’ wages.

“It is calculated and it is within a budget that is affordable.

“And monies will be made available through the chairman’s other companies as and when they are needed.”

When will the shareholders be addressed on the financial figures?

GT: “We have got a meeting planned for January 29 when we will present to the shareholders the exact situation and how we intend to move forward.

“But I think it is fair to say at this point to all fans that this club needs to be redeveloped.

“The stadium facilities need to be improved and we do not want to hide it from anybody that if we could borrow £100milion tomorrow and make it into to the Premier League to compete with the big boys then we would be silly not to take the money.

“However, we have a vision, which is to improve the stadium to a Championship facility on and off the pitch.

“We are looking at the club as an asset and each independent unit within this football club will become a cost centre.

“The administration of it will be done to such a fine point that it will make money.”

What kind of investment facility do you intend to use to redevelop the club along those lines. Are you planning to use high interest loans again to do that?

GT: “No, not at all. The facilities that we are talking about, and the chairman is in London on regular visits at the minute, we are meeting with some very serious and professional investment institutions where they are looking at long-term funding at high street bank rates.

“The hardest thing to do in this world is to borrow money for a football club. If you put the word football club into a limited company’s title, nobody wants to lend it money.

“One previous director said to me that they had tried on numerous occasions to borrow money from the banks, offering houses as collateral, but they could never raise the money needed.

“What we have had to do is use the chairman’s other companies and other experiences to get very large investment institutions on the hook, which we have done. They represent other clubs around Europe to raise funds for them to develop their facilities.

“They have agreed to take us on as a client. We are a long way off from anything being agreed, but if they can deliver half of what they have suggested then Bury Football Club has got a very bright future because we will be able to increase the quality of the stadia, which will improve the income streams on non-match days.

Do you understand the concerns expressed by fans and shareholders about your business practices and how would you address those concerns?

GT: “I understand some of the fans’ concerns and we tried to address them at the AGM. The majority of Bury fans have been amazing. We make ourselves approachable. I believe we are very approachable.

“The majority of fans have been so supportive, saying ignore the minority and carry on. However, we want to make it very clear to all fans that this football club has tried to be run in many of the old fashioned ways but every two or three years the club always comes into financial mess.

“That is through no fault of anybody, it’s just you cannot run a football club by just running a football club.

“You have got to think outside the box. You have got to use your other skill sets. You have got to use your contacts around other businesses and other industries to bring people together and to use it as a hub – not just for football but attract other businesses and other industries and other income streams.

“I can understand from the fans’ point of views that they may not understand that but all that we are saying is the fact that unless we keep putting the money in that we are putting in then nobody else at the minute has ever come to the table and said ‘you are doing a rubbish job and we want your job’.

“If there are any fans out there that want to come and put a cheque in by all means they can. If they want to come up with ideas we will listen to all.”

Stewart Day: “In the past 18 months we have shown how the club has been transformed in that 18 month period - the facilities that have improved, we have sold out for matchday hospitality, the board room has changed, we have changed the corridors, we have even got Championship football clubs who have looked at our changing rooms and wanted to replicate those facilities.

“The things we have done to improve the facilities in the short term has shown where we wanted to go as a football club and the professionalism that we have portrayed.

“That goes all the way down to looking at the best away travel we can get for the players to give them the best chance to be successful.

“We have spent a lot of time and attention to detail to improve those facilities.

“Other clubs pay out extortionate amounts of rent out to play 23, 24 games a season. We don’t do that.

“We have never said that was what we would be trying to do. What we have tried to do is get this business going from strength to strength and make it more and more professional.

“In the time just before we took over in League One I believe there was a game on a Tuesday night against Stevenage when the attendance was 1,200 people.

“We are getting 4,500 in League Two in the last few home games, so the attendances have risen dramatically, people are coming back.

“The commercial team now beats a lot of other League One teams in commercial revenue that it is generating.

“We did the biggest deal in the club’s history with JD Sports and the stadium naming rights and also looked at then working with local businesses – business that didn’t want to work with Bury Football Club because of historical things that have maybe gone on over the last 10 years that have meant they have gone away from the club.

“They are now coming back to working with Bury Football Club and actually do some form of sponsorship with us.”

Why are you involved in Bury Football Club – what do you have to gain from it?

Day: “There are two things really. We are business people, so we want to be successful and operate it as a successful business.

“We want to try to create a business and get this business successful because it was failing and it is still failing now.

“One of the things that attracted us to Bury Football Club was because they owned the ground and the land that it was on. Not because we wanted to sell the ground and the land but there was development potential there to bring an income into the business.

“We thought we could turn the business around and, because we are involved in property and a number of other transactions that are non-property related as well, we had ideas on the ways we have been successful in other businesses and we thought we could implement them at a football club.

“I believe you can turn a profit, I believe you can make a football club profitable.

“That profit comes from third-party related income.”

Are there any other blueprints you hope to follow?

Day: “You look at a team like Swansea City. Swansea City were playing at the Vetch Field and going out of business.

“They have done an incredible job. They have got themselves into the Premier League, they have got a fantastic stadium and they play a brand of football that is admired throughout the country.”

Many of the teams that have grown from humble beginnings have had an outside benefactor. Do you have a benefactor helping you?

Day: “There is nobody from the outside helping us. You look at what Swansea did. Huw Jenkins has put money in to it but he has had other help from other directors that come into it and they have worked extremely hard in bringing in commercial revenue, bringing in hospitality and brought a professionalism to that football club.

“What Swansea has done is they have become ultra professional.”

GT: “By using our experiences and by our contacts within the world of property and finance then we can use those contacts to bring institutions here that will look at putting up substantial capital if the business model is right.

“And if it is right for Bury Football Club then we want to improve the facilities here but because we are property people we want to maximise the asset for the best of Bury Football Club and create revenue from that asset.”

Are you just using Bury to help prop up your own businesses?

Day: “The opposite, the other business are propping up Bury Football Club.”

Are you using the club as a way to bring in finances to help your own businesses?

Day: “No, because we have never needed to in the past.

“It is not a case of using it to help grow our own businesses. Will it help our other businesses? Certainly, the reason being because we are chairman and chief executive of a football club and it helps open up more doors across the country that you can ever imagine.

“When we go into speak with other people and you are the chairman of a football club – it has a kudos to it.

“Will that help our other businesses? It probably will do.

“We have been offered opportunities from our property businesses because we are involved in a football club.

“We have been offered opportunities through other people that we now know through other football clubs that we did not know before.

“They have come to us and they have said ‘I have got a piece of land here and I know you are involved in property – what do we do with it?’ and we are looking at a couple of joint ventures with a couple of companies now that are involved in other football clubs.

“Yes it will open up doors and that was another reason that we did decide to get involved in it.

“You look at certain high profile ex players or managers, they have gone into other business opportunities because of what they have done through football.

“It all works together, it works hand in hand. Opportunities will arise and a good businessman will try and make those opportunities grow and that is something that we have tried to do.”

GT: “To be fair though, it has worked maybe more in the other way where we have got our business contacts to come to Bury and offer services for free or take sponsorship deals because of the fact that we do business with them in the other world.”

Day: “You have got stand sponsors and other sponsors here that were not Bury Football Club fans. They are football fans but they were not Bury fans before and they have become involved because of the work we are doing with them in other businesses. So we have said ‘listen, you have got to do a sponsorship deal with the club if you want to work with us’.

“We use that as an angle so the club gets extra revenue.

“We are not looking at personal gain in that, we just want to make this football club profitable.

“No shareholder at this football club has ever had a dividend.

“What I would like to try to do in four or five years time is sit there and go ‘we have got a dividend here for everybody to have’.

“Obviously, as a shareholder of this business, we would get a dividend back.

“That is the aim – to try to turn this business into a profitable business. We don’t just want to do that by third-party revenue, we want to be profitable on the pitch as well.”

Fans are scared when they see stories about high interest rate loans. Is that something they can expect to see more of in future business transactions and can you explain the use of something like that in relation to the club?

Day: “There will be opportunities that arise and we will look at every opportunity that comes along on its own merit.

“We have been offered finance to fund players and I know a lot of other football clubs do use finance to fund player acquisitions. Even a lot of Premier League football clubs use finance to acquire certain players.

“They will pay levels of return on that player.

“We haven’t done that.

“If we are looking to bring capital into the club what we will be looking at is how it will benefit the club.”

It was an expensive interest rate, would you do it again?

GT: “That was taken out for a superb opportunity that came along and we didn’t want to miss it. If another opportunity came along that benefited the club and there was no risk then yes we would do it again.

Day: “There was only one loan at around 138 per cent, although that was not correct in the story as the calculation was completely wrong.

“The loans written about are all the same loan. We had to draw it down in stages, so the Cash4Assets was the first bits and pieces. It’s all the same company where they refinanced it and took the Cash4Assets out.

“It’s all been done through the lawyers. They have got a lawyer who they do a lot of lending on, not just to us. They do a lot of lending on to other people.

“The situation is that we have done something that was beneficial to making money for the club.”

GT: “It was a calculated business transaction.”

What have you got to say the people who question why you are at the club and what you are doing at the club? How does that make you feel?

Day: “I get frustrated and disappointed that people are trying to continually question me when we have been in here for 18 months and I think we have proven in that 18 months why we have tried to make the club more professional.

“We have done a number of interviews on TV and radio in terms of what we have done at the club and how we are trying to make it more successful.

“This club was on its knees two years ago and there was not an army of people queuing up to save the club. This club was going out of business. It was going to shut its doors and if it had shut its doors it would have been a disaster.

“It would have lost its Football League status. It would have dropped into obscurity and it would have been starting again.

“With the history the club has got, that would have been horrendous.

“So when people come along and question what we are trying to do when we are now four points from the top of the table, in the second round of the FA Cup with a team that we believe is good enough to win promotion this season, it does become very, very frustrating.

“The hard work that has gone into this football club over the last 18 months and the hours we have put into it, both myself and Glenn and the other board of directors is incredible.

“We want what is best for this club.

“I am passionate about what we are trying to achieve here and it frustrates me when people are trying to question what we are trying to do when all we are trying to do is for the benefit of the club to make the club stronger and more successful.

“The staff here love coming to work. The manager loves coming to work. The admin staff love coming in to work.

“Two years ago they weren’t getting paid.

“Now they love being in this environment.

“We are trying to make it so, over the next several years it will become a self-sustainable business, but it is going to be difficult.

“If it had been easy there would have been a queue of people outside that door when we took over and there wasn’t.”

People fear they might lose their football club as a result of the aspirations you have.

Day: “There is no way they are going to lose the football club. When we were looking to take over there was one other party that might have been interested. Their aim was that the club had to move within two years because they would have sold the ground. They would have sold this land that we are on. We are still here, we are improving the facilities here. Why would we improve the facilities? Common sense should prevail on that.

“That’s what has frustrated me because the negativity that people portray, you will always be negative. If I don’t go and be positive and I don’t try to set the objectives to be successful then what’s the point in us being here.

“If I turn around to the manager and say ‘I don’t think we are going to get promotion this year that will cascade down to the players.

“You can’t change the history, you can only change the future.

“What we are trying to do is make this a club people are proud of.”

Can you promise people who are nervous – not negative – about the aspirations you have that steps will be taken to protect the future of club?

GT: “Yes is the short answer. There are no silly risks being taken on dreams of creating a football team to win the FA Cup of the Premier League.

“Our plan is based upon old fashioned hard work to turn a failing business into a viable business.

“The only way businesses grow is by making a profit, doing things properly and understanding your business.

“That’s all we are going to do so we promise the fans, no matter what they think or what negativity is out there, that we always put Bury Football Club first.”

You talk a lot about third-party revenue. Can you break down your business plan and set out how you hope to pay for it.

“We would like to redevelop the ground and its facilities to include a 300 capacity function room to host conferences, events, weddings, birthdays and christenings, which is a big income stream.

“We would also be putting office accommodation into the main stand as well so the club will get a rent roll off the office accommodation.

“We are looking at staging concerts and events. We are looking at holding one major concert a year, which would bring in substantial revenue to the club, in the region of £200,000.

“We have obtained the licence for that, but there would also be smaller types of conferences and events, which would be throughout the season, certainly when there are no games being played at home. That’s a big revenue stream.

“We have looked at the costings to put some serviced accommodation on land surrounding the club (on the site of the social club), which we would look to try to develop, which would bring in a huge income stream and equity to the football club as well. That is something that we are pricing up and costing at this moment in time, but as a business plan it is a no-brainer because of the revenue stream it would pull into the club for years and years to come.

“We are also looking to develop a training complex, which is something where we have identified to house the youth academy and obviously facilities for the first team. But we would also have an area designated to the public that we think we could try to achieve, which would bring in revenue from hiring out facilities as well at the training complex.

“We need to develop the away facilities because at the moment, on a matchday, you get a big spend from away fans paying on the gate. Obviously we have our main support from season ticket holders through June, July and August, but on matchday you do get a lot of revenue from your paying customers.

“In League Two this season there are not going to be many away teams that bring a big away support because there are a lot of southern-based teams in this division.

“We are not reliant on it, but if you did get up into League One there is a number of local derbies, so that cuts down on your travel costs, it cuts down on your hotel accommodation because the lads would travel on the day. But also, on home fixtures you will be playing teams that will bring in well over a thousand fans. If and when we get that number of away fans coming here we need to improve the facilities so they spend money when they are at the ground.

“If we can do that then that will have a significant impact over the course of the season.

“That’s not saying that if we don’t get promotion this year that it is going to be detrimental to us, that is saying that promotion would be a bonus to us.

“But we have got to plan to do that. We have got to plan to get through the divisions because our ambition is not to stay in League Two.

“We are not a football club, as some football clubs maybe are, that are happy just staying in League Two. We feel that this club needs to get through the divisions, but we have got to prepare to plan for that.

“It’s no good doing it when you get there, you have got to do it now.

“We have brought players into the football club that we believe are assets. We have tied certain players into longer term contracts that are designed, if we win promotion, to give their wage an increase but not a dramatic increase.

“We have looked at what we would earn revenue-wise in League One and we planned for that accordingly.

“A lot of people think that we are paying out a huge amount on wages, and we are certainly not.

“From the costings of where we were when we inherited the club, the players are now earning nowhere near the sums of the players we inherited.

“So even if we won promotion to League One, the wages of our players would still be near to those of the players we had when we took over the club.

“We have got a plan and a strategy to keep our current squad of players. We don’t think we would need to do a massive overhaul, if we were in League One. We would bring in quality additions to help strengthen the squad and that is something we are wanting to try to do, but we have got to get there first.

“We have looked at a business plan so that the players that we have got at the moment can also hopefully take us through League One as well when we get there, but it is not going to be financially difficult as players are not going to be put on stupid wages either.”