What Is Happening At Morecambe?

Morecambe Ownership Issues

Morecambe FC currently sit in 23rd place in League Two, two points off safety, but also just three points off the bottom of the table. Just over three years ago, they drew against Ipswich Town in a league fixture, but now they are miles apart from each other in the English footballing pyramid.

Historically, Morcambe are not a big club. They were promoted to the football league for the first time in 2007, and since then have only spent two seasons in League One, with the rest of the time spent in the fourth tier. Now their football league status is in jeopardy, but that isn’t the only issue plaguing the club right now, as the owners are letting the fans down.

Morecambe Ownership

In 2022, the Morecambe manager, Derek Adams, voiced his concerns with the ownership, as the Bond Investment Group had put the club up for sale and two of the directors had stepped down from the board. This was echoing the similar demise of rugby union club Worcester Warriors, who had been suspended from the competition a month earlier. At this point, the club was entering its second year in League One.

In March 2023, player wages were delayed until Sarbjot Johal, a young entrepreneur who was looking to buy the club, invested funds to cover the costs. Questions about the ownership of the club continued as Johal was unable to provide proof of sufficient funding for the takeover and the club were relegated from League One.

Morecambe have been placed under embargo by the EFL.

It relates to Regulation 17.3 - Amounts due to HMRC.

Chief Executive, Ben Sadler has told us...

'The circumstances around this issue are unusual following an assessment and we are working with the EFL & HMRC to resolve the… pic.twitter.com/FZNbxmnn9e

— BBC Sport Lancashire (@BBCLancsSport) March 28, 2024

The 2023/24 season was a mess for a club hoping to bounce back after relegation the season before. 14 players left in the summer after not renewing their contracts, and the club had little money to do business in the transfer market. The owner of the club, Jason Whittingham, was fined for failing to pay player wages and the club were deducted three points. They finished the season in 15th after a promising start to the campaign.

This Season

This season has been a similar mess. They lost 15 players in the summer, with just five members of the first team remaining at the club, and they were under a transfer embargo. The club directors told Whittingham to sell the club and he responded by saying that he was in talks with four potential buyers. Despite the situation with the lack of players, some Morecambe fans were optimistic that a resolution could come about behind the scenes.

So far, no buyer has materialised, and despite the transfer embargo having been lifted to allow Morecambe to sign a number of players in the summer, they are still second from bottom in the league. Earlier this year we reported that the Morecambe board had not received proof of sufficient funding from Whittingham for the rest of the season. Since then they have now received the funding, but Whittingham has come out and said that he “can’t wait to get out of Morecambe” (BBC Sport).