RYAN Lowe has backed chairman Stewart Day in pointing the finger at the Bury players for the club’s relegation from League One.

The Shakers’ return to the EFL’s bottom tier was confirmed with four games to spare and, before their final home match last Saturday, Day gave a frank assessment of what went wrong in an open letter to fans on the club website.

Day apologised for such a disappointing campaign, especially after assembling a squad which looked capable of challenging for promotion, and he accepted the board did not carry out enough “due diligence” on those signings.

But Day, who will see the team finish rock-bottom even if they end the season with victory at AFC Wimbledon on Saturday, made it clear he feels the players must shoulder most of the blame.

“The chairman’s come out with a statement and I mirror everything he said because that has been the case,” said manager Lowe. “It hasn’t been good enough. There have been false promises, that we’re going to do this and do that, and we fell well short. I sympathise with the chairman, we’ve spoken about the situation, and what we need now is a bit of stability, to consolidate and to look to the future.”

With so many players now surplus to requirements, the squad will be overhauled this summer although it is unclear whether Lowe will oversee the rebuilding job.

There has been speculation Day is speaking to other managers, with departing Carlisle boss Keith Curle linked with the Bury job, so Lowe declined to comment on his prospects of staying in charge.

“I’m not interested in Ryan Lowe at the minute, I’m interested in the club and everything else that comes with it,” he said.

“We’ve had discussions and we’ll keep them in-house.

“We’ll sit down either this week or next and we’ll take it from there.

“We need to have a plan and that’s what we’ll speak about.

“We need a structure and a bit of balance going forward.”