Board members at two fan-lead football societies could stand down in an effort to put merger proposals back on the table.

Bury Football Club Supporters’ Society (BFCSS) confirmed last Thursday that it hopes reopen talks with Bury AFC Community Benefit Society (Shakers’ CBS) in order to pursue a new proposal on amalgamation that the majority of members could agree to.

In a statement posted on its website, BFCSS told fans it had surveyed its members, as well as Bury AFC supporters, to determine how the prospect of a fresh amalgamation vote or proposal could be approached.

A BFCSS spokesperson said benefactors had met with the society with the aim of putting forward alternative proposals to unite the majority of members.

The statement said: “The result of the recent amalgamation vote showed that whilst the required 66.6 per cent threshold did not pass, the majority of the members wanted to merge with Bury AFC’s Community Benefit Society (Shakers CBS).

“Although this was not a requirement under the law, we felt that it was appropriate to continue to liaise with all the major parties.

“As a board we agreed that we would survey our members, as well as the whole Shakers’ fanbase.

“We received hundreds of helpful responses to these and have used the answers and feedback to determine what would be required to look at the potential of putting forward another vote or proposal.”

BFCSS said it had sent its findings to the Shakers’ CBS to "open talks" on the issues raised by its survey with the aim of agreeing to a new merger proposal that the required majority of members could agree to.

As part of the offer, it was proposed that board members from both societies would step down without the opportunity for re-election until its annual general meeting, due to "concerns about with personalities on the CBS".

“No one person is bigger than Bury FC”, the statement continued.

“And it is crucial that both societies are willing to address these concerns.”

The statement comes after plans to bring professional football back to the town by merging the two societies failed following an unsuccessful vote.

The two societies announced the plans in July after the council pledged to provide £450,000 in funding to a unified Bury FC.

it was revealed that 62.9 per cent of the 771 BFCSS members who took part voted in favour of the merge deal, 3.7 per cent short of the two thirds majority (66.6 per cent) needed for it to be successful.

A spokesperson for the Shakers' Community Benefit Society declined to comment.