This is why reporting on local football clubs like Bury is so integral to their survival

If we don’t want to see more clubs go to the wall, the football community, including correspondents like me, need to take some responsibility

Bury Football Club were expelled from the English Football League last week (Getty)

Bury, one of the oldest clubs in English football, has been expelled from the Football League and left on the brink of liquidation. I went to Gigg Lane, their home ground, and spoke to supporters about the club’s plight. One of them was Dave Horner.

Horner was the type of vox pop you appreciate after being parachuted into a story you have not covered extensively before. Other fans I spoke to talked of sadness and anger about Bury’s demise, but Horner touched on something I had not expected.

“There is a certain sense of embarrassment that we haven’t done enough,” he said, believing he and his fellow supporters had acted too slowly, unfavourably comparing them with fans of other clubs who took early action against ruinous owners. “They can see the iceberg on the horizon,” he said. “We’re seeing it when it’s on the bow.”

The idea that Bury fans would blame themselves for the club’s problems had not occurred me. A week on, I still do not necessarily agree. But if a Bury supporter can accept some responsibility for the loss of the club, then the wider football community can too.

I cover northern football for The Independent, which means covering the northwest of England and the three clubs who audiences are most interested in reading about: Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool. This skewed level of interest ensures our coverage informs our audience about the elite clubs they are interested in, while at the same time not neglecting important stories outside of those clubs.

But my story from Bury was the first thing I wrote about the club’s plight, which dates back months and years. I was not ignorant of their problems but I did prioritise other clubs, believing Bury would ultimately survive. I was wrong.

My colleague Miguel Delaney wrote about the uncertainty which clubs outside of the Premier League face and pointed out that while any football fan would be appalled by the slow death of the English pyramid, we are simultaneously enthralled by “the grand show” at the very top of the game.

That’s the problem we face if we don’t want to see more local clubs go to the wall. If Bury supporters can ask what they could have done, so can the whole of football, including those of us privileged enough to report on it.

Yours,

Mark Critchley

Northern football correspondent