Bury FC CEO Neil Sears has resigned after a turbulent day at the club.

The Shakers made the announcement at 11.47pm on Friday with a short statement.

It said: "We can confirm the resignation of CEO and club secretary, Neil Sears.

"Further comment will be released in due course."

The Shakers revealed in February that Mr Sears had been appointed as the club's new club secretary and general manager.

He had fulfilled the general secretary role part time since October last year before going full time four months later.

The club said he retrained in 2020 to pursue his passion, a career in sport, obtaining a first class honours degree in sports business and law and picked up experience working with Burnley FC.

At the time, Bury said his appointment "promises another step up in the professionalism and pace of change in the club, as we continue with our strategy of blending highly qualified staff with sector expertise in with our hardworking volunteers".

Mr Sears was later appointed as the club's CEO.

During his time at the club, he spoke out about the behaviour of a small section of Bury fans, including at the opening game of the season on Saturday, July 27 away at Squires Gate FC in Blackpool, when video, which was widely shared on social media, showed a short fight broke out.

Mr Sears spoke to the club on camera after the match and said: “Things quickly changed after the full time whistle to what I can only describe as absolutely disgraceful behaviour from a certain fraction of Bury fans.

“Again, I find myself talking about the one per cent - these fans act in a disgraceful way.

"They’ve aimed completely unacceptable verbal abuse at the chairman of the football club...and at myself."

The late night announcement comes only hours after the Shakers said it had received resignations from Phil Young, the Football Supporters' Society of Bury (FSSB) chair, and Marcel De Matas, the club's football chair and an FSSB board member.

The club said Mr Young will not stand for re-election in the upcoming FSSB elections and will depart the club after more than four years as chair, first of Shakers Community, and then FSSB from last year.

The Shakers said Mr De Matas has indicated he will be "standing down with immediate effect" from his role on the FSSB board, which he was elected upon last year as well as chair of the club. 

The major changes at the top of the club's hierarchy come on the same day that Bury released a statement to say it will be “reviewing” their volunteering practices after long-standing volunteer John Raftery was suddenly dismissed.

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John Raftery has been volunteering at Gigg Lane for “many years” and was informed by Mr Sears on Wednesday that his services were no longer required.  

The club acknowledged that the incident was a mistake and a “function of poor communication and decision-making within the club” and promised to “do more” to ensure it does not happen again.

Bury next play on Saturday away at AFC Liverpool at 1pm.