BURY Football Club is being sued for more than £1 million and could lose its Gigg Lane home in a row over a loan secured on the stadium.

A financial company wants the club to hand over its ground or the cash after the Shakers failed to make repayments on a mortgage.

The struggling club used the ground to secure a £1m loan last year in a desperate bid to keep its head above water.

But Richard Prentis and Co, the firm with which Bury secured the mortgage, was shut down by the Law Society last July after investigations into its dealings.

Since then, club bosses have been trying in vain to place the mortgage elsewhere.

The Russell-Cooke Trust, which was directed by the High Court to enforce the mortgage, asked Bury to pay back the cash in January this year, claiming the club had not made any repayments.

Now the trust is suing the club for possession of the ground, or payment of the £1m, plus £144,616 interest and continuing interest of £739.73 a day.

Ground threat

If the trust wins its action, and the ground is handed over, it is not known whether Bury will be allowed to carry on using Gigg Lane as a football ground, or whether the property will be sold off for another use.

Terry Robinson, club chairman and chief executive, vowed to fight the action and said the club had been aware of the situation since May.

''This is something that has happened completely out of our control,'' he said. ''We entered into an agreement for a 15-year mortgage. Since the mortgage firm was shut down, we have been having difficulty trying to place the mortgage elsewhere.

''We are also in negotiations for the sale of the club and the Russell-Cooke Trust is aware of the situation. We are defending this action.''

Another blow

The crisis is the latest financial blow to hit Bury.

The club has been struggling to survive since major shareholder Hugh Eaves lost millions of pounds on the stock market in 1998.

The fall-out of the scandal left Bury FC in limbo as Eaves owns 90 per cent of the club's shares, and had also loaned the club £800,000.

Bury's board of directors is still trying to negotiate the sale of the club in a bid to keep football in the town.

Competition from Greater Manchester's other football clubs, such as Manchester United, City and Bolton, have meant Bury's gates - and bank balance - has suffered.

Recently, the club has been kept alive by shrewd sales of players including striker David Johnson and gate receipts from high-profile cup ties.

If Bury fail to fight the action successfully, could it spell the end for the Shakers? Let us know your views

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