BURY chairman Stewart Day has accused the Shakers' players of not caring enough for the club.

Day also slammed them for having a lack of desire.

He said they had let down everyone connected with the club, and labelled their efforts "inexcusable".

In an open letter to supporters released on the club's website over the weekend he said he believed Bury had put together a team capable of success this season and the players had excellent preparation and facilities, and he admitted it was a mystery why results and performances had been so bad.

The Shakers were relegated from League One a couple of weeks ago, but they had been so far adrift at the bottom that for several weeks before it had seemed only a matter of time before the drop would be confirmed.

Day said he had wanted to address the situation with supporters when relegation was confirmed, but has waited until he calmed down.

He said that having collected his thoughts he chose this weekend to pen an open letter – in which he pinned most of the blame for the season's failings on the players.

He said: "My apologies are delivered not only from myself but my board of directors and the current coaching staff.

"However, I am not willing to represent our playing staff who have let us all down, showing a distinct lack of desire and care throughout the season, which is inexcusable.

"Our training facilities are as good as any other in League One and better than a number in the Championship.

"Our support to matchday preparation, i.e. travel and accommodation, has always been very thorough to ensure players are in the best physical state for the relevant game, but for some unknown reason, this just hasn’t worked."

Day also laid some of the blame on himself for not doing enough to ensure the club signed the right players.

"An element of the season I strongly regret is having had to use three managers, which is unhealthy for any club," he said.

"On players, I have to look in the mirror and ask myself whether I questioned the coaching staff enough on player acquisitions.

"But my intentions have, and always will be, to back the first team manager.

"Like me, I know you were all excited in July and August when we were announcing player signings and we were the envy of most League One managers.

"But on reflection our approach was wrong, and we did not carry out as much due diligence on some individuals as we needed to. But those are both huge lessons learned.

"We have had a setback that has hit all of us very hard.

"We are going to approach things differently, there will be no overly ambitious quotes in summer from me.

"However, I will remain quietly confident we will be successful. I have to, or else there is no point being here."