BURY chairman Brian Fenton has praised the “tremendous support” shown by fans this week and has appealed for wavering supporters to join them in helping the club get back on an even keel.

It was confirmed on Monday that the Football League had imposed a transfer embargo on the Shakers after directors went to the Professional Footballers’ Association for an emergency loan to solve “cashflow issues”.

The embargo will stop Bury from registering any new players until the money is repaid.

But Fenton reiterated that will happen, as arranged, by mid-January, and could even be repaid much sooner after this week’s unprecedented show of support.

“Our fans have been absolutely fantastic in the last few days,” said Fenton.

“They have supported all of the special offers that the commercial department has put out this week, with I think more than 80 season tickets sold for next year since Monday.

“With that kind of response, the club could well be able to repay the loan to the PFA before the transfer window even reopens.”

Whether that is possible or not, the chairman is confident manager Kevin Blackwell will be in a position to strengthen the team before the end of January.

But Fenton and his fellow directors are not resting on their laurels, and have appealed to the club’s “wavering supporters” to make a return to Gigg Lane.

“I can’t knock the loyal fans that we have at this club, who support us home and away, but what has really affected us this season is maybe the wavering fans who have stayed at home,” said Fenton.

“We set our budget for this year on our average home gate of last season, which was 3,600, but it has fallen well below that to between 2,600 and 2,700.

“On Saturday, we had less than 2,000 home supporters come through the gate, so the cash flow got tight and we decided to apply to the PFA for a small loan to tide us over.

“What we need now is to attract the wavering fans back to Gigg Lane and hopefully, by the reaction we have had this week, we are on the way to doing that.”

Bury fans, as well as the football community as a whole, have been asked to show their further support this week, when the Shakers play their final two home matches of the year.

After Saturday’s visit to in-form Crewe, they will host Preston in the rearranged area quarter-final of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy on Tuesday, before a League One clash with Shrewsbury next Friday – both kicking off at 7.45pm.

The club is running a “Quid a Kid” offer for the Shrewsbury game, while fans of other local clubs will be able to watch the match for £10 on production of a season ticket.

Manager Kevin Blackwell said both Zac Thompson (hamstring) and Ethan Ebanks-Landell (ankle) are “touch and go” for Saturday after picking up injuries at Southend, while Andy Bishop is also a doubt after he only managed an hour of Tuesday’s match due to a reoccurrence of a heel injury.