Bury FC: Vote to merge with Bury AFC to be held for second time

Bury fans completed a deal to buy back their old Gigg Lane ground in February 2022

A vote to merge Bury FC and Bury AFC will be held for a second time, almost five months after a previous vote failed to pass.

Members of both clubs failed to reach a two-thirds majority which would have won local council funding and brought football back to their Gigg Lane home.

The Shakers were expelled from the English Football League in 2019, with some fans going on to form Bury AFC.

The vote will be open for a month and is due to close in May.

Bury fans completed a deal to buy back their old Gigg Lane ground in February 2022 and currently trade as Bury FC.

Bury AFC was set up in the aftermath of the Shakers being kicked out of the EFL - and they are currently fifth in the Premier Division of the North West Counties League, the ninth tier of the English football pyramid, playing their home games a few miles down the road from Gigg Lane at Stainton Park, Radcliffe.

"We're fully committed to restoring professional football to Gigg Lane. Not only for the town but for the broken fanbase," Daniel Bowerbank of Bury FC Supporters' Society told BBC Radio Manchester.

"We've got a team with no stadium and then the other side with a stadium but no football team.

"Both sides have continued to progress. It's not thriving. We know for the long-term to get back in Bury and to progress as one, it needs its own stadium which is critical."

'It's a really stark choice'

Although the majority of Bury FC members - just short of 63% - voted in favour of joining with Bury AFC in October, that was just short of the 66% of fans of both sides required to merge.

Funding of £1.3m is available in total, coming from the government's levelling up fund as well as about £450,000 from Bury Council, however this is dependent on an amalgamation of Bury FC and Bury AFC.

Bury AFC's Phil Young told BBC Radio Manchester: "This is really the only way forward for us. We can't carry on with a lack of unity and with the stadium not being used for senior men's football. It's a really stark choice.

"Anyone who's trying to take a measured view of it will hopefully read through it and decide that this is the best way forward.

"We're also optimistic that the name can be changed to Bury Football Club as part of that in time for the new season as well.

"This is basically the last shot we've got at doing this so hopefully there's enough incentives for people to get this over the line."