Sport

If you don’t shoot, you don’t win: Bury’s relegation more than deserved, insists Peter Shirtliff

By Mark Shales

Bury FC assistant boss Peter Shirtliff admits the side can have no relegation complaints ahead of Saturday’s clash with Yeovil Town – their final League One outing.

The Shakers’ fate was sealed two weeks ago, recording just eight wins in 45 games.

And after two seasons in the third flight of English football, Shirtliff admitted Bury can only blame themselves for their demise.

“The fact is we haven’t put the ball in the back of the net often enough,” he told BBC Radio Manchester.

“If you don’t do that you don’t win enough.

“When the transfer embargo came in, it was difficult to get enough experience into the squad, so it has been testing.

“It’s not easy reflect and say we should have done this or that better, but we should have had better results.”

Craig Fagan returns from suspension but Bury will be without Carl Regan and Tom Soares who join an ever-growing injury list that includes Andy Bishop, Craig Jones and Steven Schumacher.

The club – under a second transfer embargo of the season – are currently seeking £1million worth of investment to stay afloat.

Last weekend it was revealed that ex-Manchester United, and Bury-born, icon Gary Neville dipped into his own pocket to help pay the club’s wages.

Neville – whose mother Jill is the club’s general manager, and father Neville is a former club director – donated the cash in conjunction with the PFA.

Although a solution is yet to be reached at Gigg Lane, an updated statement from the board of directors, posted on the club’s website, seemed to appear positive.

It read: “Bury Football Club are in continued discussions with a number of interested parties to secure the future of this great football club. 

“These negotiations are both lengthy and complicated, and at the time of going to press we have nothing more concrete to report other than as stated in previous statements posted on our web site. 

“As soon as the situation changes we will be issuing a further statement.”

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