EXCLUSIVE: Michael Gove has written to the FA endorsing an application to change the name of Bury AFC – as the club’s two supporters groups voted to merge for the first time since explusion from the EFL in 2019
- The phoenix club currently plays in the ninth tier of the football pyramid
- This month’s merger marks a positive turning point in the club’s torrid history
- Bury are edging ever-closer to returning to their historic Gigg Lane stadium
Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Michael Gove, has written to the FA endorsing an application to changing Bury AFC’s name.
Two supporter groups voted to merge earlier this month after years of animosity following expulsion from the EFL in 2019, a result that will see football return to Gigg Lane next season.
Bury AFC, a phoenix club, play in the ninth tier – the Premier Division of the North West Counties League – and plans are in place to revert back to Bury FC with a unified fanbase.
The FA will consider the case and Gove, whose department have pledged £1million in funding to the rebirth of the club, has backed Bury fans in a letter sent to Debbie Hewitt on Saturday.
‘I would be grateful if the FA were to approve the name change to Bury FC,’ it reads. ‘A football club is not its legal status – and owners, players and managers come and go.
Michael Gove has written to the FA backing an application to change the name of Bury AFC
The club’s former name still adorns the walls of their former ground, Gigg Lane, in Bury
‘A football club is its supporters; generations held together by fleeting, glorious highs, persistent hope, and frequent disappointments.
‘The greatest symbol of a team is the name. The interim board of the new society will soon be applying to the FA for the current playing name of Bury AFC to be changed to Bury FC.’
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