Bury have been given extra time to prevent their expulsion from the English Football League – but the club's prospective new owners fear it might not be enough.
The EFL has set a new deadline of 5pm on Tuesday for owner Steve Dale to complete a sale after receiving information to consider a request for an extension to Friday's original deadline.
C&N Sporting Risk, a data analytics company helmed by Rory Campbell – the son of former Labour Party spin doctor Alastair Campbell – and Henry Newman, want to buy the League One club, with the EFL announcing on Friday night that Dale had accepted an offer to sell Bury.
Having initially claimed to buy Bury for "philanthropic" reasons, Dale put the 134-year-old club into administration this summer and engineered a debt repayment scheme.
The scheme, known as a company voluntary arrangement, would see creditors paid only 25 per cent of what they are owed, with him and his associates being the main beneficiaries.
His plan, however, depended on Bury being allowed to start the season – with a small squad and skeleton staff – and the EFL handing over the club's share of its central income. That, as desperate Bury fans are well aware, has not happened.
Having previously greeted each EFL postponement of a Bury game – five league fixtures and an EFL Cup tie so far this season – with an angry statement on the club website, Dale announced he was willing to listen to offers for the club early last week.
