These are dark times for English football.

On Tuesday it was announced that Bury had been expelled from the English Football League after a takeover bid from C&N Sporting Risk collapsed at the last minute.

Bury had been granted an extension on last Friday's deadline to find a buyer but failed to do so by 5pm on Tuesday.

League One will comprise of 23 teams for the rest of the season and only three teams will be relegated, but that number could drop to 22 by mid-September.

Bolton Wanderers are also at threat of being expelled from the EFL, three months after being relegated from the Championship and entering administration.

As it stands, the Trotters are without a manager and only have five senior outfield players. They have until September 12 to save themselves.

The idea of two historic English clubs no longer existing is devastating and football fans have been coming together to do what they can to help the situation.

Supporters from the likes of Leeds United, Huddersfield, Portsmouth and Wolves were at Bury's Gigg Lane on Tuesday afternoon cleaning the stadium in a bid to attract buyers.

Bolton and Bury are due to play each other in League One on September 8, with the game being shown live on Sky Sports Football.

It's a good chance for both clubs to raise some money and former Premier League referee Bobby Madley has come up with a great idea.

Madley wants the game to be staged and sold out at Manchester United's 76,000-seater stadium Old Trafford, with all proceeds going to unpaid players and staff at Bolton and Bury.

"Bolton due to play Bury in a couple of weeks," wrote Madley on Twitter. "If both teams go out this week perhaps that game should still go ahead at Old Trafford.

All proceeds to unpaid players and staff. Sell the place out with football fans of every club and stand together.

Madley's tweet has gone viral with over 5,000 retweets and 25,000 likes, so clearly there's a lot of people onboard with the idea.

Please, make it happen.