Bury FC have survived a tense close-run replay after being ordered to replay a match following a mix-up which led to an illegible player being fielded in a knockout tie against another local side.
Safe to say that despite coming through unscathed, their supporters have still been left understandably frustrated, not to mention raising further concerns throughout English football.
The Shakers were victorious in their FA Trophy tie against fellow Greater Manchester club Wythenshawe Town FC earlier this month, winning 3-1 on the night – but they had to play them again on Tuesday evening, scraping through by a single goal.
Victory aside, Bury fans have railed against what they now deem a flawed FA system, a player substituted on in the first match despite being technically ineligible to take part. The club have insisted they were unaware of this.
⚪🔵 Reaction following tonight's 2-1 win against Wythenshawe Town.
An honest reflection from Dave McNabb after a complex few days, while we also heard from match winner DJ Pedro.#BuryFC#bfc140
As detailed on social media, new signing and debutant Gavin Massey was brought off the bench in the second half on 6 September as the home team went on to win the game, but his introduction ultimately voided the result.
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This is because Massey was retrospectively sent off during his former club, AFC Fylde’s final fixture of last season against Barnet FC, being given a red card after the full-time whistle.
Not only were Bury not clued into this, but it was somewhat unclear as to who was dismissed at the time, with the referee reportedly flashing the card “in the direction of a group of players and staff of AFC Fylde in the changing room area.”
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As Bury continued in the lengthy statement released earlier this week, “the FA Portal only allows clubs to see the player registration detail once a player has made their first appearance for the club”, and since he only arrived at Gigg Lane this summer, the incident was missed.
In fact, as they clarify, the portal’s discipline records only “showed one suspension for the game, that of Aiden Walker’s following his dismissal against Stalybridge Celtic in the FA Cup replay in August.”
Once again, given how the system works, Massey’s suspension record was only made visible to the Bury after coming on for his first club appearance. The unfortunate oversight has caused quite the uproar among the fanbase.
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Attention is drawn to the way the Combined Counties ended last season and the league cup that became pretty much unplayable. There were problems in other leagues too. Until the FA and County FAs fix this clubs are on a hiding to nothing. Won’t be the last this season.
Reacting online, one fan wrote: “How the hell are you meant to work around this? Once you sign a player, you should be able to see his profile. Not after he’s played his first game.” Another simply labelled the dilemma as “bonkers.”
Following a meeting with The FA on Monday evening, Bury were officially ordered to replay the knockout tie at Ericstan Park last night and, thanks to a late header from DJ Pedro, managed to make it out of the other side with the same result, barring one less goal.
It was reiterated prior to the reluctant replay that “Bury Football Club would like to put on record that no issues with player registrations occurred in this instance, and that usual processes were followed by our administration team in preparation for the FA Trophy tie.”
Nevertheless, the whole palava has raised serious questions surrounding the official FA portal, which looks to be causing plenty of problems up and down the pyramid. You can be sure Bury FC won’t be the only ones forced into an avoidable replay this year.
A documentary about Manchester’s famous homeless charity run has just dropped on YouTube
Danny Jones
An award-winning, short, and completely free documentary about Manchester’s famous annual homeless charity run is now available to watch in its entirety on YouTube.
Following a number of short snippets and teasers shared on social media over the last few months, the mini-doc by local moviemaker Gigi Shum was finally released on the streaming platform this past June.
Documenting not only the backstory of the inspiring Manchester 24 Hour Run Against Homelessness – now a much-loved annual tradition that has since spread to multiple other locations – it also gives a peek behind the curtain at those who organise it and the thousands of inspirational participants.
You can watch one of the most recent trailers here.
Capturing the sixth edition of the consecutive relay run, which spans the length of an entire day (which was another record-breaking year before being smashed in November 2025), Shum didn’t shy away from getting some laps done herself, but she also managed to shoot a truly important public access film.
A trail runner herself with a number of other works to her name already, including a well-supported Kickstarter revolving around neurodiversity, Gigi prides herself on “exploring the neglected truth in the world” through touching tales like The 24 Hour Run.
The adopted Manc and MetFilm School graduate’s roots may hail from Hong Kong, but she’s well and truly immersed and embedded herself in the Greater Manchester community through spotlighting local initiatives like this.
More importantly, this is much more than a student project: the bitesize 21:22 picture has been nominated and won at numerous festivals across the globe, including shortlists like the Florence Film Awards, a finalist in both the Independent Shorts and LEEDSflix competitions, among several others.
Aside from the obvious humanitarian and charitable angle of The 24 Hour Run‘s narrative, the talking heads with members of the team and numerous inspiring runners taking on incredible challenges on behalf of the ‘A Bed Every Night’ scheme make you proud to be from this part of the world.
You can watch it in full down below.
About the same run-time as most sitcom episodes – we’d argue this is a well more worthwhile watch.
Deeply moving stuff, we’re sure you’ll agree.
Speaking after a limited number of exclusive screenings, Gigi told The Manc: “What began as a question about why people run through the night transformed into an exploratory journey of human resilience, community, and active compassion on the streets of Manchester.”
It’s also worth mentioning that the young director and producer is doing lots more to contribute to the region, helping out as part of the Manchester Refugee Support Network (MRSN), supporting asylum seekers who may otherwise end up sleeping rough themselves.
They’ve raised hundreds of thousands for the likes of the Greater Manchester Mayor’s Charity since the event’s inception back in 2019. Mayor Andy Burnham himself may be looking toward no.10 Downing Street moving forward, but fundraising on behalf of this organisation will always be a part of his legacy.
Better still, this dedicated crew of volunteers have also generated vital funds for similar causes in the likes of Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Hereford, and soon to be even more.
Set to debut in Liverpool later this year, another city renowned for backing themselves and looking after their own, we can’t wait to see how much more impact they make on the North West.
Featured Images — The MCR 24 Hour Run Against Homelessness (supplied)
Sport
Government grants pubs permission to stay open until 5am for England’s next World Cup match
Emily Sergeant
Pubs across the country are being granted permission to stay open until the early hours of the morning on Sunday.
As England’s World Cup journey continues, the Three Lions are set to face Mexico in a Round of 16 knock-out match at the Azteca Stadium on Sunday night, but due to time differences between the two countries, this means that kick-off will be at 1am GMT here – a time when pubs are closed, and let’s face it, a lot of us are already in bed ready for work the next day.
But, in what is set to be a big ‘boost’ for pubs and bars – and football fans – nationwide, the Government has given permission for alcohol licensing hours to be extended for Sunday night’s match.
The Home Secretary has the legislative power to extend licensing hours on occasions of ‘exceptional international, national or local significance’, so this change removes the need for individual premises to apply for extended hours.
This extension to 5am adds to the already-granted extensions for England’s knock-out games that kicked off up until 10pm.
Communities Secretary Steve Reed is set to write to Council leaders across the country to inform them of these changes.
“Football might be coming home but we’re making sure fans don’t have to,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in an emphatic statement.
Pubs are allowed to stay open until 5am on Sunday / Credit: Road to Victory | We Are Football (Supplied)
“Pubs staying open until the final whistle is good news for supporters and good news for the pubs and venues that bring our communities together. The whole country will be backing the team. Come on England.”
Michael Kill, who is the CEO of the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA), said the extension is ‘fantastic news’ that will be ‘hugely welcomed’ by operators.
He continued: ““This pragmatic approach allows venues to focus on what matters most – bringing communities together to support the national team.
Danny Jones -
17th September 2025 
