MP calls on Bury FC owner Steve Dale to sell the club

The Shakers are due to return to the High Court next Wednesday to face another winding-up order over unpaid debts.

At the hearing, the club's main creditor, Capital Bridge, is expected to present an application to enter the club into administration, providing a takeover has not been agreed before then.

To help with attempts to sell the club, Mr Frith has put together a rescue board “with expertise and access to capital”, which met this week.

In the letter, which he shared to his Twitter followers this afternoon, Mr Frith told Mr Dale, who put the club up for sale in April, that he had it within his "gift to determine the assured sale and safety of one of the oldest clubs in English football."

The letter read: "Following this morning’s constructive meeting of my rescue board for Bury FC and after you declined my invitation to attend, let me update you with my evaluation of the situation the club finds itself in.

"It is my judgement, informed by all the advice I’ve received today and well before now, that the situation we face is not sustainable. I urge you to agree a deal to sell Bury FC before going in front of the judge on Wednesday June 19th.

"I understand there are now several formally engaged parties who are officially considering a bid for the club and that this is ongoing. This information is an advance on your prior statements on simple expressions of interest as per the instruction you gave to the court last time.

"I am sure you will consider each of these on their merit. However, I ask that in the event you decline a deal with them that you publish your terms for selling with enough time to invite new prospects to the table before this goes to court next week."

Mr Frith also used the letter to appeal to any parties who might be interested in buying the club.

He said: "Now is the time to reach out and make contact - publicly or in private. Furthermore, I say to potential buyers and investors, proceed now if your interest is genuine and be assured of the town’s support and mine if your motives are authentic and your commitment is long-term.

"Move on this now and in doing so, help us prevent the last resort of Administration, which, whilst remaining an option, remains the purview of the largest of the club’s creditors and to be avoided if at all possible on the advice I have taken."

Appealing to Mr Dale once more, Mr Frith said: "The future can be bright for League One club, Bury FC, but this requires an immediate positive, alternative future to that which we now face.

"You have it within your gift to determine the assured sale and safety of one of the oldest clubs in English football.

"This can be your legacy following an important period owning the club. The rot, that we seek rescue from, set in under the previous owner and your ownership has included the success of promotion to League One.

"I remain committed to my original offer on April 9th to assist you in brokering next steps for the club as well as helping vet the next owners for suitability, which I am determined to influence in duty to the hundreds of Bury folk and beyond who’ve contacted me asking I help make a difference.

"This duty sharpened in focus again for me last week when, whilst visiting a nursing home for D-Day celebrations, I was quizzed extensively by the very elderly female residents as to how best we might save Bury FC.

"It’s in your hands. And over to you to do the right thing."

Mr Frith joins Bury Council leader Rishi Shori in writing to Mr Dale to urge him to sell the club.

Earlier this month, Cllr Shori urged the Bury owner to sell the club 'as soon as possible' amid "serious concerns for its future".