Winding-up petition against Bury FC dismissed in latest High Court appearance
The High Court today dismissed a winding-up petition against Bury FC, hours after a ‘phoenix’ group of fans applied to join the league pyramid as Bury AFC.
Bury FC, who were expelled from the English Football League in August after failing to provide guarantees over their financial security and a failed takeover bid, were back in court again over unpaid taxes to HMRC.
However, the BBC has reported that a lawyer for HMRC told the Insolvency and Companies Court that a debt had been paid.
No information on how much Bury owed was revealed, but according to reports in August, the former League One club owed £277,640 to HMRC and was £4m in debt.
Today’s appearance was one of several, which had all been extended to allow the club further time to address the issue.
The club’s lawyers had argued that Bury had actually paid too much tax.
They previously argued they had continued to automatically pay tax on wages that have not, in fact, been paid to staff.
And, in a separate development, the North West Counties League (NWCL) has confirmed it has received an application from a newly-formed club, named Bury AFC, for membership, commencing at the start of the 2020-21 season.
In September Bury FC lost out in its bid to be readmitted to the Football League next season.
The proposal to readmit the club to League Two was rejected by the English Football League’s 71 member clubs at a meeting.
However, a group of fans who have formed the Bury Phoneix group revealed yesterday that they had applied to join the NWCL.
Bury AFC has no connection with Bury Football Club, which was founded in 1885.
A NWCL statement said: “The league will be working with the club, the Football Association and other interested parties in progressing the application.
“At this stage, we are reviewing the application and supporting documents.
“The league’s board of directors will meet to discuss the application and whether, as this is an application from a newly-formed club, to support the application ahead of the FA deadline of 1 February, 2020.”
The future of the original Bury FC remains unclear.
