I DOUBT if there was a general consensus about the outcome of what was an extraordinary fans forum held at Bury last week, such was the division in the room.
But one thing I think every person who attended the meeting will agree upon, and that is they will have never seen anything like it before.
The event was organised by Forever Bury – a fans group set up when the Shakers went into administration in 2002 – along similar lines as previous forums. Both the manager Kevin Blackwell and chairman Brian Fenton put themselves forward to field questions from supporters.
But so many people turned up – between 150 and 200 – they had to move it to a bigger room.
According to stand-in host Ben Miles, only seven fans attended the last one. But this time was different. An hour or so before it started the club announced one of their best players – left-back Joe Skarz – had been loaned to League Two Rotherham.
That clearly shocked a lot of those who turned up on the night eager to find out just how badly off their club was.
Most fans harboured anger towards the manager, putting Bury’s relegation trouble squarely on his shoulders, but shifted their target to the chairman as the night progressed. That feeling intensified when Blackwell confirmed the decision to let Skarz go had been taken out of his hands as the club could not afford to pay his wages.
The subsequent exchanges, which were caught on camera for BBC One’s Late Kick-Off programme, were stormy but, ultimately, showed the club in a good light.
Fenton and Blackwell both spoke passionately but rarely lost their temper in the face of searching and difficult questions from fans hungry for the truth. On the whole, I think that’s what they got.
One long-time Shakers supporter I spoke to said he was impressed with the club’s willingness to open up to fans in a way they had never done before. And I believe it surprised and sated most people in the room.
What started off feeling like a turkey shoot, ended in a more reasonable debate, which I think went a long way to clearing the air.
Bury fans, I believe, are now fully behind their club’s fight to turn around the situation.
And the effect was palpable in the stands at Gigg Lane last Friday, when “Blackwell out” chants were notable by their absence.
It is still a worrying time for the club, but the fans are mobilised and people are talking, which is a start.
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