Opinion: Bury FC a victim of spivs, chancers and a culture that allows them to prosper

Bury’s expulsion from the EFL finally brings to an end a sorry tale of greed, mismanagement, incompetence and a failure of football leadership. 

Supporters of the two time FA Cup winners are now facing a heartbreaking future without a club, and the town has lost a central part of its community, but then if we are honest the concerns of match-going supporters have long been at the bottom of the pile in terms of priority to those who run English football.

The recriminations will go on for some time, no doubt fuelled by further revelations of the shady financial dealings over several years that have ultimately ended in the club’s demise.

It is a sad day for football, and there are calls for measures to be put in place to protect lower league clubs and their supporters from the seemingly never-ending queue of spivs and chancers who see the unregulated nature of football finance as a golden opportunity to fill their pockets and wallets.

The problem is the nature of football governance means until turkeys can be persuaded to vote for Christmas nothing will change.

The Premier League is now so powerful it now trumps both the EFL and FA in its control over the game and frankly does not care about anything other than their member clubs. Judging by some of the ignorant and arrogant comments on our twitter timeline, neither do many of their fans.

The media companies which continue to fuel the boom only get involved in lower league football when there is a chance to patronise the minnows in a cup tie or wheel out the horrendous Jim White and a countdown clock when they are about to go pop. They do nothing to promote or protect the football pyramid. They are complicit with the Premier League in advancing a narrative that football only began in 1992 and that all that matters is top twenty clubs in the country. They actively wet themselves when United pay £80 million for a centre-half and tell anyone who will listen its a sign English football has the best league in the world.

There is a massive trough full of cash in English football, but you are only invited to get your fill if you can somehow become part of the pack. No one is bothered how you get there but if you do you are welcome to dip your snout and fill your boots.

The lack of financial regulatory control is the underlying problem with English football, and until we address the central cultural issue of the power of the Premier League and TV companies, more clubs will follow Bury into the football abyss.