A KEY member of Bury FC’s promotion-winning team has hit out at the club’s owner over the ongoing financial problems facing the Shakers.

The club is due to reappear in the High Court tomorrow over a winding-up petition that was adjourned last month.

Meanwhile, players have only recently been paid their March wages with help from the PFA, and are still awaiting payment of their April wages.

The club’s vice-captain, Nicky Adams, took to Twitter earlier this week to hit out at Steve Dale over his handling of the situation.

The tweet, which has been retweeted more than 200 times, called on Dale to sell the club, warning that “people’s livelihoods are at stake”.

Dale, who only took over the club from previous owner Stewart Day back in December, put the club up for sale last month after claiming the financial situation was far worse than he had first thought.

Despite the off-field problems, the Shakers have rallied on the field in recent months and heroically secured promotion to League One at the end of last month.

Adams says the situation “galvanised” the playing squad, but added that the ongoing uncertainty had made life difficult for players and staff.

Speaking to the Bury Times, the 32-year-old said: “We have not heard anything, there has been no contact.

“We have not been paid by the club for ten weeks and have been liaising with the PFA, who have been great.

“I put the tweet out there to let people know what was going on because it is not fair. People have not got any money.

“All season we have been paid late, even under Stewart Day, but we just got on with it because we knew we would get it eventually.”

After Dale took over from Day, he vowed to sort out the “financial mess” the club found itself in.

According to Adams, the new owner promised players that delays over payment would become a thing of the past. However, it did not take long for the problems to resurface.

“The first thing he said when he came in was we would never have a problem with pay,” said Adams.

“The first payment was late. The second was all right but when we looked into it, we had a game on Sky that probably funded it.

“He said in one of his statements that he had paid us 50 per cent of the March wages. We think it was the PFA that helped us out.”

In April, the partner of someone within the first team told the Bury Times that delays over wage payment had left staff at the club “worried sick”.

That is a feeling that Adams, who made his professional debut for Bury back in 2005, shares.

“We are just normal lads who have got bills to pay,” said Adams.

“I have got a family that I need to support and a mortgage to pay.

“I am happy go lucky, everyone knows that. I am always smiling, bouncing around and want to be the joker, but when I am at home with my family they are the most important thing.

“If I am not talking then my wife knows something is wrong and that was the case for a while.

“I want to be the breadwinner and not have to depend on anyone. It is a worrying time, but fortunately we have had some good times on the field.

“The situation is still not sorted and it needs to be.”

Ahead of the club’s appearance in court tomorrow, Adams says players do not know what the future holds.

“We are reading that there are buyers interested but he does not want to sell.

“He says he is all about second chances in life. Well, we will give him a second chance to do the right thing.”

The club have been approached for comment.