A Bury supporters' group says the club is suffering "death by a thousand cuts" after a winding-up petition against the Shakers was adjourned.
Bury had their membership of the English Football League withdrawn in August due to financial problems, and the PA news agency understands the club's absence from this season's FA Cup will mean a bye to the second round for the last team left in the pot when the first-round draw is made.
On Wednesday, HM Revenue and Customs' bid to wind up the club was adjourned in the High Court in London, with judge Mark Mullen saying he would reconsider the case on October 30.
Asked if he thought the day's events had simply delayed the inevitable, Forever Bury director Dean Hamer told BBC Radio 5 Live: "The fan inside me thinks it's death by a thousand cuts to be completely honest.
"It's very frustrating and disappointing. But then my head says at the end of the day we've got to give every opportunity for the club to be saved.
"I feel that Forever Bury have explored and exhausted every avenue to be able to do that. It gives a little bit of time for maybe the last-minute, last-ditch opportunity to arise.
"But realistically, for me, today I think it should have been liquidated, and I was fully expecting it to be.
"It's very disappointing to be put in a position again where we are death by a thousand cuts, that's the only way I can put it."
Hamer was then asked about trying to set up a 'phoenix club' and said: "We've had a working party that have been looking at a phoenix option, and that is gathering momentum now.
"I think there's over 100 volunteers within that group now who are all actively looking at a phoenix club, and that's something we're definitely going to be doing going forward.
"It's not going to be an easy task, we know that, but it doesn't matter if it takes 10 years or 15 years, we will be a league club again, and we'll be back in League Two or League One, where we belong."
He added: "Obviously the supporters' trust would have the control (of a phoenix club), but I really want to stress the point that it would be a democratic process and fans would have a say in that club. I think that's the one positive we can take out of this whole situation.
"There's a lot of negatives – we've lost history, the club we've all supported all our lives. But the real opportunity here is that we've got a potential to have a fan-owned club. This might even be a once-in-a-generation situation, and we've got to grasp it.
"We've got to pull together. We have to unite as one and do the right thing together."
Last week it emerged Bury's bid to apply for entry to the National League system had been given the backing of the Football Association.
James Frith, the MP for Bury North, met with senior members of the FA board to discuss possible admission to the fifth or sixth level of the football pyramid.
