BURY FC are set to make a number of members of staff redundant next week, the Bury Times understands.

It is understood that between 10 and 12 members of staff at the financially troubled club have received letters of “potential redundancy”, subject to a consultation.

A range of club staff are believed to involved, including ground staff, operations, accounts and maintenance.

However, club secretary Jill Neville is not thought to be one of those involved.

When quizzed on the redundancies, the club's owner Steve Dale accused staff of "trying to extort money from the club".

He said: "If you read my past statements I indeed made clear that staff will be let go as we are overstaffed.

"That’s just commercial sense. What you should be asking is, these staff who are purporting to love the club, why didn’t they just go and find other jobs? But no, they are trying to extort money from the club."

The news comes as the town's football club is facing an increasingly uncertain future as financial problems continue to mount.

The club, who were promoted to League One this season, are due to appear in the High Court next week to face another winding-up petition over unpaid debts.

In a desperate bid to save the Shakers from extinction, fans trust, Forever Bury, has tried to convince the club’s main creditor, Capital Bridge, to file for administration.

The trust's chairman Dave Giffard says today that he is confident that an application will be presented before a judge when the club returns to the High Court on Wednesday.

The move is intended to wrestle control from Mr Dale, who only took over the club back in December.

Mr Giffard added that a number of parties are still interested in buying Bury, and his group were working with the club to negotiate a deal before the court date in order to avoid administration.

However, any takeover would ultimately need to be sanctioned by Mr Dale.