Bury pay the price of cup humiliation - Cost of failure - Bolton Evening News - Monday, 13 November 1995:
BURY must sell following Saturdays shock FA Cup exit to non-league minnows Blyth Spartans. Up to three players will have to go to balance the books after the first round knockout denied the club a potential £150,000 cash bonanza. Bury have one of the biggest squads in the lower divisions. But their elimination from the two major cup competitions in the space of four days means they must offload to keep expenditure in line with their income. Major shareholder Hugh Eaves declared he cannot afford to keep funding the club at the current level and will instruct manager Stan Tement to begin cost cutting. Saturday's shameful 2-0 home defeat to Unibond Premier League side Blyth came almost five years to the day that Bury were plunged into a cash crisis following a carbon copy FA Cup first round exit at non-league Chorley. That fateful defeat sparked Eaves to pull the plug on his huge capital outlay and paved the way for the departure of £million worth of talent and manager Sam Ellis. He said: "Saturday reminded me of the Chorley game but the situation is different now. We had a very expensive side in 1990 and needed a good cup run to keep afloat. Although we are going to have to trim the squad the changes will be nothing like as sweeping." Saturday's defeat left Eaves feeling just as devastated as five years ago, as he added: "I felt humiliated. "There was no urgency and we committed suicide. "To be honest I cannot work out what is going wrong at home this season." Bury have now gone more than five hours without scoring a goal at Gigg Lane and boss Stan Tement admitted: "It's causing us concern. We are anxious at home and we have to address the situation sooner rather than later."