BURY FC’s have staved off the threat of liquidation once again with their winding up petition in the High Court adjourned.

The hearing in London, the club’s ninth, saw the Shakers, expelled from the Football League with fans planning to form a new club in non-league next season, given until December 4 to rectify some outstanding issues.

The judge was told of a mix up under which they are said to have over-paid the tax man in PAYE which related to salaries they had not paid.

Senior insolvency judge, Judge Nicholas Briggs, allowed the extra time for the situation to be looked into and sorted out.

Two weeks ago at a hearing where the club had been expected to be wound up another judge allowed a two week adjournment until today after being told that an offer of payment had been made to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.

But today when the case returned the new twist to the long running saga emerged.

The judge was told that the club has been paying PAYE, probably since as far back as February in respect of salaries that have not been paid.

This would mean that the club had paid tax that the taxman was not entitled to. The amount of PAYE thought to have been paid was not given in court.

However, the club says that it has already made payments to the tax man of around £7,000 in respect of the tax debt at the heart of the winding up proceedings and they say they have handed over further money to their solicitors for this purpose.

As a result the club sought a further adjournment for more investigations to be carried out into the situation.

Judge Briggs said : “It sounds like there is an issue to be sorted out.

“Let’s sort it out and I’ll give you time to do it. The problem is to determine if HMRC has been overpaid PAYE.”

The group behind the new phoenix club insisted that despite Wednesday's judgement, their work would continue as planned. 

"The news of an additional adjournment to the Winding Up Petition (WUP) of ‘The Bury Football Club Ltd’ is not a great surprise to the Phoenix group and supporters. The on-going legal process may continue to be drawn out for a period of time yet," a statement read. 

"The assurances given on Friday that the WUP would be settled have not been met and it is yet another example of how the supposed custodian of the football club that we love has little interest in fulfilling their many promises. 

"Whilst the fate of The Bury Football Club Ltd continues to officially hang in the balance, the work of the Phoenix group and the volunteers involved will continue.  

"The town of Bury needs and deserves a football club. It needs a football club that will never find itself in this position ever again. We will continue to sow the seeds for a rebirth for when the seemingly inevitable occurs. There will be a football team in Bury come August 2020 and our resolve to see this through remains as strong as ever."