13:43

More fans are gathering, sheltering from the rain beside turnstiles which only 24 hours ago showed ticket prices for Saturday’s now-abandoned game against Doncaster Rovers. Some fans are huddled under umbrellas, checking their phones for the latest news; others are just here because it feels like the right place to be today.

Tamoor Tariq, the deputy leader of Bury council, said his local authority was ready to support the club any way it can to ensure its survival, starting with reassuring fans about the future of its stadium, a fixture here since 1884.

He said: “I want to be absolutely clear that if anyone thinks there will be any development on that site any time soon then they are totally misguided - planning law doesn’t allow it, the fact that it’s an asset of community value also means there are restrictions governing it.”

He wouldn’t be drawn on whether the council would chip in to help buy the club if supporters formed a Community Interest Company (like at Darlington FC in 2013) but he pointed out that the authority was also in financial difficulty, having suffered massive budget cuts since 2010.

Asked whether a fan-owned club looked was the most likely way forward for Bury FC, Tariq said: “Something needs to change. The immediate thing that need to happen is Mr Dale needs to depart from the club, he needs to give up all of his links and he needs to decide how quickly he’s going to do that and allow - whether it’s the fans or another buyer - other people to lead the ship.

It’s a sorry state of affairs that he’s allowed this situation to develop because he entered negotiations with C&N at a very late stage. Had he been open to dialogue at an earlier stage maybe the outcome last night would have been different.”