THE January sales cannot come soon enough for Chris Brass as he draws up plans to strengthen the Shakers when the transfer window reopens.

Bury extended their club-record losing run in the league on Saturday to 12 matches with a 3-2 defeat at home to Oxford United.

Brass is clear where the problems lie after making it 24 games without a clean sheet, and the newly installed head coach says he has already done his homework on potential targets to fix the leaky defence.

And having been heavily involved in all of the club’s recent transfers during his previous role as head of football operations, he claims to have built up a bank of favours from other clubs that he is ready to call in.

“How we recruit is going to be vital in moving forward,” Brass said. “It’s something that we have to address in January.

“It’s not about knee jerk recruitment, we have to look at it properly.

“A lot of time has already been spent on that. A lot of phone calls and discussions have already gone on, you cannot go into this blind.

“The window shuts at the end of January but we have got to be ready from the start of the month.

"We have to address it (recruitment) because we do not have enough strength in depth, certainly in defence.

“That will mean calling in favours, and there are a lot of favours I’m owed.”

Brass also accepts, however, that he will have to offload players to balance the books.

The head coach is well aware of interest in his players, but says they will not be sold on the cheap, particularly young stars like George Miller and Scott Burgess, who signed extended contracts this week that will tie them to the club until summer 2019.

“We might have to move players on, simply from a financial perspective,” Brass added. “We have to make sure we get the budget right.

“Someone could come knocking, but they have to understand we are not holding a fire sale, we are not going to just give players away.

“If you stick with players a little bit longer, it actually maximises the potential of the deal.”

Meanwhile, Bury fans will be walking the seven-and-a-half miles from Blackpool Tower to Fleetwood Town’s Highbury Stadium on Boxing Day to raise money for Alison Turner, who needs £55,000 for a life saving operation after being diagnosed with Ehlers Danlos syndrome, which can cause sudden paralysis.

The event, titled "Full kit walkers", has been organised by Alison's boyfriend Nick Zabel, who is a Shakers supporter.

Any Shakers fan who wants to take part is being encouraged to wear the club's full kit. Walkers are meeting at 10.30am and setting off at 11am.