THE takeover of Bury Football Club will not be affected by a £1m lawsuit launched against the Shakers this week.

Alex Tarsus and his consortium already knew about the pending lawsuit when they made a bid for the club and the fact that the court case has become public will not affect their plans.

"There is not a problem," Tarsus told the Bury Times. "The loan can be sorted out. It's not Bury's fault that they firm they dealt with were unscrupulous.

"I have no reason to doubt Terry Robinson at all and it doesn't change anything. We are still ready to takeover."

The consortium are still fully committed to buying the club as soon as High Court red tape has been sorted out.

Asked whether the takeover would be affected, Bury chairman Terry Robinson added: "All interested parties were told about the mortgage situation when they were invited to make bids for the ownership of the club."

Tarsus and his consortium were aware of the situation almost eight months ago. The only thing that has changed is that the lawsuit has become public knowledge.

In other words, the takeover is still on.

Meanwhile chairman Terry Robinson has come out fighting and has vowed to defend the £1 million lawsuit issued by the High Court. The Shakers, already in deep financial trouble and rooted at the foot of Division Two, are being sued by the Russell-Cooke Trust for repayment of a mortgage taken out on their Gigg Lane ground.

They face the prospect of having their ground seized and the club wound up but Mr Robinson insisted: "We will defend the action because, in our opinion, we haven't done anything wrong."

He said the law firm, which set up the mortgage in May last year was removed as trustee of various trusts by a High Court judge two months later. The court directed that the Russell-Cooke Trust take all permitted steps to enforce the mortgage. Bury believed they had a 15-year mortgage term but full payment plus interest of £739.73 per day was demanded in January and a writ issued in May.

Now the Shakers, who are already in the middle of a protracted takeover, are desperately seeking an alternative mortgage provider.

"We are being unfairly treated because this situation has arisen through no fault of our own," Mr Robinson claimed.

"We placed a mortgage with a firm in Sheffield in good faith but they were closed down. We are now being sued for repayment of the mortgage but we cannot repay it until we either find another mortgage lender or the take-over goes through, neither of which have happened yet.

"We have paid a substantial amount of money for something which has been taken away from us through no fault of our own."