I still have the voicemail on my phone from the chief executive of the English Football League (EFL), Debbie Jevans.

Sheepishly, she confirms Bury’s ejection from the league. Adding that she knew how much effort we'd all put in.

But it was the confirmation we had all feared. It drew a moment of unbridled unity from across the fanbase, the town and circumstance. Like grieving often does.

I said then at Gigg Lane to hundreds of fans assembled for what would have been the first home game of the season: "Football in Bury only dies if we walk away. And we won’t walk away."

Domestic football stopped in disbelief. We hoped for a Dale sale and the prospect still of league football.

The recent vote across the two fan bases confirmed 81 per cent wanted the swiftest return of elite men's football to Gigg Lane.

Imagine being presented with that at the time of ejection.

Everyone would have taken the future proposed with that vote, in a heartbeat.

Even those that have since mistaken spoiling as a strategy, or social media posts for a plan.

If, hours after that voicemail from the EFL, someone had said; hold the phone, there is a way back.

A team supported by all can play here again. You will be Bury FC again.

And that within a handful of 90 minutes, the lineage, the heritage and all we once held dear can be returned. We'd be back already.

None of us have walked away. Even though we're taking different ways round. None have walked alone.

Even the minority voting against the merger have done so with associated success they can be proud of, in securing Gigg Lane, for example.

Of 1,841 members that voted, 1,488 members voted in favour of amalgamation.

There's not much in football that gets anything like that support. It's a result that may yet warrant a second leg.

Or at the very least a look upstairs.

It is why I hope all fans will focus on the majority support that we already have in returning football to Bury. At Gigg Lane.

As I said in Parliament, Bury FC’s fate was to be the victim of a joint enterprise between successive owners and the football league, all unfit for purpose.

But we're survivors now, not victims.

I made an emotional plea then for an independent regulator of football.

An appeal since picked up in by the excellent former sports minister, Tracey Crouch.

Bury's ejection and our efforts prompted the review. It concluded the government urgently introduce an independent football regulator. I'm still firmly committed to this.

The hurt was real. But the hope is too.

A difference in views runs through the love of football.

What's best for the club, the team, the selection, the match? And now, what for the footballing town?

We haven't all moved as one, at the same pace.

Grief does that to us too. But as I also said at the time, sooner or later we dust ourselves off, go to the shops and we get on with life.

Life as we find it is rarely how we'd design it to be. I'm faithful for the future and believe in better. And 81 per cent agree.

James Frith is the Bury North Labour candidate for the next general election. He was MP for the area from 2017-19. He tweets @JamesFrith.