Bury winding-up application adjourned for two weeks

A judge has adjourned a bid to wind up Bury.

Judge Catherine Addy analysed Bury’s case at an Insolvency and Companies Court hearing in London on Wednesday after being told that the club had tax debts.

She said the case would be reconsidered on December 18.

Lawyers representing HM Revenue and Customs had made an application to wind up the club.

Bury were expelled from the Football League in August

Bury were expelled from the Football League in August (Peter Byrne/PA)

No detail of the amount Bury, who were founded in 1885, owe was given at the hearing.

In June, the judge had heard that Bury owed nearly £1million in tax and had other debts.

Bury won promotion to League One at the end of the 2018-19 season, but English Football League officials expelled the club in August after bosses failed to show they could pay debts.

Barrister Raj Arumugam, who represented HMRC, told the judge on Wednesday that Bury had filed returns. He said time was needed for those to be processed.

The club failed in a bid to be reinstated to League Two for next season after an application was rejected by the other 71 EFL member clubs at a meeting in September.

DCMS committee chair Damian Collins told the EFL it had to take a share of the blame for Bury's demise

DCMS committee chair Damian Collins told the EFL it had to take a share of the blame for Bury’s demise (PA)

Last month the EFL was asked to apologise and make reparations to supporters and staff of the club, and was told it had to “share the blame” for the Shakers’ demise in a letter written by the chair of the Digital Culture Media and Sport committee Damian Collins.

The committee had heard evidence from EFL executive chair Debbie Jevans, Football Association chairman Greg Clarke and Premier League interim chief executive Richard Masters in October concerning how the club came to be expelled from the league.

The EFL said responsibility for what happened to Bury lay solely with the current and former owners.

It added in a statement released on the same day as Collins’ letter: “We very much recognise the real distress felt by Bury FC supporters. Withdrawing membership was a very difficult decision to have to take at the time and we regret that such a course of action was required.

“However, we stand behind the decisions taken in respect of Bury FC, which were applied in accordance with rules in place at the time.”

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