Stephen Dawson describes Bury demise as ‘utterly heart-breaking’

Stephen Dawson has said that he will lose his home as a result of the decision to expel Bury from the English Football League following the collapse of takeover talks just a matter of hours before the deadline for a deal to be done on Tuesday afternoon.

The 33-year-old midfielder, who was in his second spell at the club after a career that started in the youth ranks at Leicester City and has included stints at Mansfield Town, Leyton Orient, Barnsley and Rochdale since, said that he had already started the process of selling his family’s house just one day after the club’s demise had been confirmed.

“I’ve been on to the mortgage adviser this morning because that is the end,” said the Dubliner. “I’ve had to sell my house.

“There’s no two ways about it now; that is it for me. I’ve played my whole career and put everything into my house and my kids to give them a start in life when they are 18, whether that be a deposit for a house or money for college.

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“I don’t have the fancy cars or the fancy clothes as I was never in a position to earn the thousands and thousands the really good players earn. I’ve done it just for my family and myself as I love playing but it’s utterly heart-breaking. How do I say to my little girls that they are going to have to leave the home they grew up in?

“I’m struggling to come to terms with everything that is going on, to be honest.”

Dawson had confronted club owner Steve Dale on Talksport radio last week about his failure to pay wages at the club with the problems starting almost immediately after his takeover last December when he bought Bury for a pound.

In recent months, the players’ union, the PFA, had provided the financial support to ensure the squad got at least some of the wages due to them and it appears that Dawson and his team-mates will be dependent on them in the short term.

“As players we’ve got to get answers now and we’ll be asking for help from the PFA because again we won’t be getting paid,” said the Irishman who faces the prospect of having to find a new club at a time when squad’s are already complete.

“We’ll be looking for answers from the EFL about how this has all played out and how it’s been allowed to play out for so long when the concerns for us were there months and months ago. This hasn’t been happening for a couple of weeks, this has been going on for months.”