The Football League played down expelled Bury’s hopes of gaining re-admission next season into League Two, the fourth tier of English football, saying on Tuesday that the established procedure for all clubs is to win promotion from the lower leagues.
Bury, one of English football’s oldest clubs, were expelled from the EFL last month after failing to resolve their financial problems or find a new buyer.
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The side, which joined the Football League in 1894, became the first team to be expelled since Maidstone in 1992 when a takeover bid fell through before an EFL deadline.
The EFL said in a statement that it recognised the efforts of local authorities and supporter groups to have the club reinstated and admitted into League Two for the 2020-21 campaign. It also said it would discuss these efforts with its member clubs in the coming weeks.
But it added that there was no precedent for such a move.
“The only established procedure… is through promotion from the National League… There is no precedent for a club to enter the EFL through an application for admission or re-admission following withdrawal of membership,” the EFL said.
“In the current circumstances, the process by which a former EFL club would obtain re-entry to the league system in England is via an application to the Football Association.
“On consideration of that application, the FA would determine the appropriate league for entry, subject to them meeting the relevant entry requirements of that league.”
The EFL said Bury would have to provide “clear evidence” of their financial viability before any formal consideration by any league of an eventual application for them to return.