Bury

Bury FC offering free tickets to Morecambe fans amid ongoing club crisis

A lovely gesture.

Danny Jones Danny Jones - 5th August 2025

Bury FC are offering free tickets to travelling Morecambe fans free tickets to an upcoming match in a show of solidarity for the fellow North West football club amid their ongoing crisis.

For anyone unaware of the situation in the Lancashire town, Morecambe FC could soon be no more after being suspended from the National League as they face further financial uncertainty.

At present, controversial owners  Bond Group Investments LTD, led by businessman Jason Whittingham, have failed to sell the struggling club despite multiple deadlines, leaving the vital community sporting organisation on the precipice of complete collapse.

While the seaside team currently have no fixtures to look forward to with the 25/26 season now underway for various parts of the football pyramid, the Greater Manchester outfit, which only recently survived similarly their own precarious circumstances, has offered Morecambe fans free admission.

Although this is a very temporary alternative, with complimentary tickets being offered for Bury’s Northern Premier League West season home opener against Newcastle Town, it is a touching show of support from regional counterparts who know all too well the fear and pain of potential dissolution.

Sharing a post on their official website and social media along with the message, “We’ve been where you are. We stand with you.”, The Shakers have stated that anyone who turns up at Gigg Lane for the game this Saturday, 9 August, with their season ticket or wearing a Morecambe badge can enter for free.

It was only back in 2019 that Bury themselves were expelled from the football league after 125 years as a result of their unpaid debts. It’s fair to say that the state of affairs at Morecambe looks strikingly familiar.

Plenty of clubs have been placed into administration and hit with suspensions over the years, and Bury did go on to reunite their AFC phoenix club back in May 2023, but unfortunately, nothing is ever certain given how money-driven modern football is.

To add more context, Whittingham has been registered as the director of 25 companies during his career, but it’s important to add that a staggering total of 18 have been dissolved (either forcibly or voluntarily), put into administration, liquidated, or put into receivership – the stage before full liquidation.

Global sports investment firm, Panjab Warriors, stated that it is still prepared to acquire 100% of the club, but is yet to finalise any kind of deal now that all footballing operations have ceased, especially given that the club’s insurance has also run out.

It remains to be seen how many travelling Shrimps supporters will make the nearly 50-mile journey to 0161 for the game, but Bury’s classy gesture has nevertheless been met with plenty of praise.

For now, it has been reported that Morecambe have anywhere between the end of the week and 20 August – when the National League meets to discuss the matter again – to balance books and/or discover their fate.

The beautiful game belongs to everyone; people of all regions and walks of life, from the grassroots all the way up to the Premier League, and as a footy-obsessed part of the world, we all know all too well how important it is to have these sporting and crucially social outlets in local areas.

Sending all our support to all those at Morecambe FC, and we hope to see these dire straits resolved with the right outcome sooner rather than later.

Bury offering free tickets to Morecambe fans is touching, but when are clubs going to get better protection from questionable ownership?

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Featured Images — Surreykraut (via Flickr)/Ian Taylor (Geograph)/Bury FC

Bury

Body found in search for missing man Craig Foy after police scour Heaton Park

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Body found in search for missing man Craig Foy after extensive search of Heaton Park

A body has been discovered in the search for missing Bury man Craig Foy.

Greater Manchester Police’s Major Incident Team had been carrying out an extensive search for Craig, 40, after he disappeared on Saturday 26 July.

Those searches had included the Heaton Park area, after CCTV appeared to show the Whitefield man climbing into the park just before midnight.

Officers have now confirmed that a body has been found in connection with the investigation.

While formal identification is yet to take place, it’s believed to be that of Craig.

Craig’s family have been informed and are being supported by specialist officers.

Body found in search for missing man Craig Foy after extensive search of Heaton Park

Earlier in the week, GMP said that three men were arrested on suspicion of murder, with one suspect since released on bail and two others facing no further action.

Detective Chief Inspector Jill Billington, from GMP’s Serious Crime Division, said: “The investigation remains ongoing to establish the circumstances leading up to Craig’s death, and to ensure that we can get the answers that his family deserve.

“We appreciate the support of the public in sharing our appeals to locate Craig and ask for his family to be given privacy, space and time to process their loss.”

Police are still appealing for information relating to the investigation – you can contact GMP on 101 quoting log number 917-28/7/25 or via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Any information, including photos and videos, can also be uploaded to the Major Incident Public Portal.

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Featured image: GMP

Bury

Three 19-year-olds arrested after teen is killed in ‘targeted attack’ in Bury town centre

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

Three men have been arrested after a teenager was stabbed to death in a ‘targeted attack’ in Bury town centre.

The arrests come after a 19-year-old male was attacked just before 9pm on Friday (1 August) in a car park on Market Street in Bury town centre – sustaining several stab wounds in the process and sadly later dying from his injuries.

All three of the suspects are male and aged 19, the same as the victim, and it is being treated as an isolated attack with ‘no wider threat’ to the public.

The three have each been arrested on suspicion of murder, with two of the arrests taking place in Bury and Bolton over the weekend, and the other in the early hours of the morning at Manchester Airport – with all remaining in police custody for questioning.

Following the incident, Greater Manchester Police‘s (GMP) Major Incident Team has launched a murder investigation.

Despite the arrests, the investigation is still very much ongoing, and police have now appealed to the public for information.

Appealing to the public, Detective Chief Inspector John Charlton said: “This was a violent and tragic incident that was witnessed by a lot of people. This incident will have shocked the community and distressed anyone who witnessed it, but we believe this was a targeted attack with no wider threat.

“Our officers will be in the area today and over the next few days as we try to establish what happened in the lead-up to this awful incident.

“We also have specialist officers supporting the family at this difficult time.”

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Anyone who has any information or was in the area at the time is asked to contact police, quoting log 3354 of 01/08/25.

Featured Image – Wikimedia Commons

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