Memorandum of Understanding Signed to Progress Football in Bury.
The work of the groups behind the project to bring professional football back to Gigg Lane has taken a significant step with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
This MoU has been signed by all parties involved in the project, including Bury Council, The Football Supporters’ Association, Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Shakers Community Society Limited on behalf of Bury AFC, Bury Football Club Supporters’ Society Limited, Bury FC Benefactors Limited and The Bury Football Club Company Limited, owners of Gigg Lane.
The Memorandum of Understanding will provide the framework for the parties to continue working towards a common cause and formulating the proposals to be voted on by the members of the two supporter organisations when the time is right.
A considerable amount of work has been underway for some time. The MoU is a non-binding written document that sets out an agreed way forward, defines the purpose of the project and sets some milestones.
We have excluded the appendices as some elements are protected by a Non-Disclosure Agreement and others, such as the timeline are still being developed, but as you can see from the text below the intention is to make as much information available as possible over time and ahead of any vote.
Memorandum of Understanding
This Memorandum of Understanding (“MoU”) shall come into effect on the date stipulated on the front cover (21st April 2022) and shall endure for a period of 12 months from and including such date unless terminated in advance of expiry by the parties by agreement in writing (such agreement to be recorded by way of each party signing a document to that effect).
Background
Bury Football Club (“the Club”) was placed into Administration in November 2020 following its expulsion from the English Football League (“EFL”) in August 2019 and the failure of a CVA which, if successful, may have resulted in a change of ownership of the Club and re-admission to the Football Association’s National League System. As part of the Administration process the Club’s assets, including the stadium, intellectual property and memorabilia at Gigg Lane, were openly marketed.
The Club’s Supporters’ Society (then known as Forever Bury and now known as the Bury Football Club Supporters’ Society (“BFCSS”)), backed by several benefactors, successfully applied for a grant from the Government’s Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities for £1m to contribute to the acquisition of Gigg Lane. A copy of the grant funding agreement has been shared amongst parties. The premise of the underlying business plan for obtaining the grant was to return football to Gigg Lane, with the stadium providing additional facilities (e.g. a gym, multi-use space, 3G pitch etc.) for wider community use. In February 2022, BFCSS was successful in acquiring Bury Football Club’s assets through a special purchase vehicle, Gigg Lane Stadium Limited – Sale and Purchase Agreements have been shared amongst parties. In April 2022 Gigg Lane Stadium Limited was renamed The Bury Football Club Company Limited, as had been anticipated in the Non-Real Estate Sale and Purchase Agreement.
Following the expulsion of the Club from the EFL, Bury AFC was formed as a supporter owned football club under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 with a stated community benefit purpose of being a vehicle through which a healthy, balanced and constructive relationship between it and its supporters and the communities it serves is encouraged and developed. Bury AFC has been playing successfully at the Neuven Stadium, the home of Northern Premier League Radcliffe FC on commercial terms and has completed the 2021/2022 football season as champions of the NWCFL First Division North. Bury AFC will now compete in the NWCFL Premier division, this being step 5 of non-league football and tier 9 of the Football Association’s National League System.
Objective
Our objectives are:
– To bring professional football back to Bury
– To unite and grow the fan base to its maximum potential
– To grow all forms of revenue to its full potential
To balance the competing needs of a successful football club, commerciality, and offering true benefit to a diverse local community.
To safeguard the principles of transparency and financial sustainability for the long term.
To achieve these aims we are looking to combine and unite a number of organisations under one banner, however that might be achieved. These are Bury AFC and its holding company Shakers Community Society Limited, and The Bury Football Club Company Limited and its owners Bury FC Supporters Society Limited and Bury FC Benefactors Limited. It is acknowledged that each party has its own governance process (see Appendices 1 and 2), and due diligence to perform and that in the case of Bury AFC this involves consultation with members and the need for members to vote in favour of any change of home ground. In due course consideration will need to be given to establishing a governance process for The Bury Football Club Company Limited. This MoU is intended to provide the parties with the assurance that each is committed to working towards a collaboration, subject to the outcome of the respective due diligence exercises and recognising the need to comply with the respective governance processes and procedures.
Gigg Lane has been the home of the town’s football team since the 1885/1886 football season making it one of the oldest stadiums in the United Kingdom and it is generally accepted as being the “spiritual home” of football in the town. The collaboration envisaged by this MoU is with a view to that being restored and then continued.
Process
In order to provide structure to the discussions, and achieve the objective in a timely manner, the parties have agreed that the timeline included in Appendix 3 shall be followed and each party agrees to use its best endeavours to adhere to the timings set out in this timeline. The process will be supported by The Football Supporters Association, Bury Metropolitan Borough Council and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.
In working through the timeline, the key components of the discussions will be centered upon:
– A viable business plan for the Stadium which all parties, including Bury Council and GMCA, believe is deliverable; and
– A commercial set of Heads of Terms for the collaboration arrangement which both parties can use as a basis to work through their governance processes and procedures.
Principles
In signing this MoU the parties agree to commit to the following principles:
To work with and communicate with each other in a spirit of openness, honesty and transparency whilst at all times acknowledging the need to respect confidentiality in accordance with the terms of a Non-Disclosure Agreement that the parties have entered into in advance of this MoU coming into effect;
Notwithstanding the timeline the process can only go as far and as fast as the respective memberships of BFCSS and Bury AFC shall be willing and able to proceed;
– The building of a joint understanding and relationship whilst work through the issues in the timeline;
and
– That although undertaking the process pursuant to the timeline is a shared objective the pace of progress will ultimately be determined by working through the various issues and the timeline shall be adjusted as necessary.
