United We Slump…

Before we go any further, let’s quickly at least mention the cloud we must all be aware of which lies just over the horizon to the south at the moment but which could be heading this way depending which way the wind blows in the next few days or weeks.

This concerns Worcester Warriors Rugby Union Club. The RFU (Rugby Football Union) ruled a couple of weeks ago:

“The RFU and Premiership Rugby have been in regular dialogue with the RPA (Rugby Players Association), DCMS (Department for Culture, Media and Sport) and Worcester Warriors, and the Premiership clubs since a winding up petition was filed by HMRC. As a result of assurances provided on payment of salaries and insurance cover they are able to participate in Premiership Rugby. We will continue to work together to provide the Worcester Warriors owners with the best opportunity for developing their future sustainability plans.”

Last week, the Guardian had this to say about latest developments at the rugby club:

“Worcester’s director of rugby, Steve Diamond, says his team “cannot keep going” in the Gallagher Premiership beyond the next few days unless a deal can be done to ease the club’s increasingly acute cashflow crisis. There are fears the Warriors’ weekend loss to Exeter could be the last league fixture the club is able to fulfil without urgent fresh investment.

In a statement released on Sunday, the club’s owners insisted a new buyer was still keen to take over and that a formal announcement of a sale would be forthcoming “in the next 48 hours”. Within the club, however, trust has virtually evaporated and there is not even enough money available to register loan players with the Rugby Football Union before Wednesday’s Premiership Cup fixture against Gloucester. Diamond also cannot yet say for certain whether Saturday’s home game against Newcastle will go ahead, with the Exeter match having been staged only because volunteers offered to cover stewarding and medical requirements. “We are on the never-never at the minute, we can’t keep going,” said Diamond, having seen his side give a valiant display in a 36-21 defeat to the Chiefs.

“An answer is going to have to come this week. The players are now working in arrears. I don’t know how long we can keep going but a line has to be drawn. It’s quite embarrassing for us to call ourselves a high-performance environment and for me to be involved when we are dealing with what we are dealing with. It’s like the old days of professional sport, a bit of shamateurism.”

There are even allegations of staff currently owed money having been threatened with the sack after criticism of the owners on social media. Diamond said: “If anybody has been threatened or bullied in the building, which allegedly has happened, I can’t believe it when people have given up their free time and volunteered to come into work when they’re not getting paid.”

41-year-old Warriors’ Coach Jonny Goodridge and former player Mat Gilbert have come out of retirement to play for the stricken club as it is All Hands To The Pumps to desperately try and keep Worcester afloat.  The Times adds to this tale of woe:

“The co-owner of a Premiership rugby club has been banned from working for lawyers after misleading a foreign prince in a failed £8 million luxury car deal. Colin Goldring, who jointly owns Worcester Warriors, was found to have “misled” a “low-standing” member of an unidentified royal family in the attempted purchase of two Ferraris and a Bugatti Chiron. He has been banned from working in the legal profession unless granted regulatory permission.”

What must concern all Shrimps supporters is that Colin Goldring – along with Jason Whittingham – own our club as well. During the week, Worcester’s Tory MP Robin Walker didn’t mince his words when he told parliament about Warriors’ current crisis: “The current owners of the club have brought it to the brink of financial collapse.”

Rumours are swirling around that these two gentleman have been involved in further murky dealings – including raising a huge `loan’ using our club as collateral. These rumours may or may not be true. Given the lack of clarity concerning the ongoing crisis involving both Worcester and Messrs Goldring and Whittingham (to say nothing of the libel laws in this country) it is safest to say nothing further at the moment except: watch this space – and – good luck to Warriors and its fans…

Now to less contentious things. Cambridge United made the long trip to north Lancashire today hoping to put an end to a losing streak of the last two games out of five. They had won the previous two and drawn the one before that but successive defeats at Cheltenham and then at home 0-3 to Barnsley last Saturday have seen them slip out of the Play-Off positions into ninth place in League one. Against the Tykes, the U’s only faced ten men for the final half an hour of the match – plus Barnsley’s reserve goalkeeper – but still contrived to ship a further two goals.

We all remember that the Shrimps – as a non-league club – beat EFL Cambridge 2-1 in the FA Cup at Christie Park in the year 2000. But since then, United have also inflicted Morecambe’s record defeat – seven-nil – on them in the Football League at the Abbey Stadium in 2016 and annihilated them again at today’s venue 0-5 just two years ago almost to the day. In their last six matches against today’s opponents, Morecambe have only drawn one and lost five. In League One specifically, Stephen Robinson’s Shrimps lost to the Amber Army last season at home 0-2. Once the Ulsterman had packed his bags and taken the High Road, though, Morecambe faced the High Jump in the Fens, being beaten 2-1 in one of Shrimps’ Redeemer  Derek Adams’ early attempts to rescue the team bequeathed to him as a poisoned chalice by the departed Manager. This was only last April but the squad – and particularly the starting eleven – he selected today was virtually unrecognisable from the one he had few options but to choose then.

Here is the team he chose to start then: Trevor Carson; Greg Leigh; Jacob Bedeau; Cole Stockton; Aaron Wildig (C); Dylan Connolly; Adam Phillips; Liam Gibson; Arthur Gnahoua; Ousmane Fané; Rhys Bennett.

The man so aptly described as `the integral engineer’ of Morecambe’s recent success and survival by Cambridge’s website had this to say about how he feels things are going at this stage of the season prior to the match:

“We’re delighted with the progress we are making. We’ve played a lot of difficult games this season. We’ve played a number of Championship teams in Stoke City and Rotherham and been able to win these games in the League Cup to progress. In the league, we’ve played a top team in Sheffield Wednesday here which is always difficult, and we’ve been away in tough fixtures. We understand we’ve got to cut the points between ourselves and the ones above us. We’re only five points off tenth position, so it’s an extremely tough and tight league. We’ve been unfortunate a number of times this season not to have won games. We’ve come close a number of times; Bristol Rovers and Fleetwood Town: they’re the two fixtures we feel we probably could’ve won. The rest of the games have been very tough, but that’s the division we’re in.”

As far as Cambridge United is concerned, he added:

“They’re the same as ourselves. We got up to League One at the same time and have been able to stay in the division last year. Like us, they’re trying to fight to stay there this year. To get a home victory would be nice, we’re probably due it with the performances we’ve had. We’ve been unfortunate not to have been able to get those three points. It’s that balancing act – and it is difficult to win games in this division. But if you can, the points total – the three points – is hugely beneficial to you. We’ve been trying our hardest but, in the end, sometimes a draw can be good. At the end of the day, it depends on circumstances in the game (and) we’ve been able to pick up some good draws.”

United Manager Mark Bonner’s Assistant Head Coach Gary Waddock talked about the forthcoming fixture in these terms:

“They’ve got a good group of players there and some real threats in their frontline. The manager knows the level; he’s a good and experienced manager. It’s going to be a tough game for us. When we’re playing teams in and around us, on the same level as us, we’d like to perform well firstly, and pick up points against them. That was the key last year, and it’ll be similar this year. The players that were here last year did so well, they deserve their opportunity again. You want competition, and that’s hopefully what we’ve been able to do here. Everyone wants to play in every game, but Mark has been really good in the way he has rotated the group. If you come out of the team, you’re not out of the team for very long, so you have to make sure you’re performing while you’re in it because you have to leave your mark.”

It was sunny but quite breezy in north Lancashire all day today. Cambridge – making a very passable impression of Coventry City in their all-Sky Blue strip – looked well-drilled and played some progressive football right from the start. But Morecambe took the lead in the 12th minute with a really good goal. Kieran Phillips received the ball in midfield and then played in Jensen Weir down the Shrimps’ right. I personally thought that Jensen had flunked the chance with a poor first touch but he recovered brilliantly to beat visiting goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov low to his left. So the man who had been on-loan last season with the Amber Army scored against his former team.

This was as good as it got today for the home side. As we all stood to applaud for  sixty seconds in memory of long-term Shrimps’ Fan Tom Dixon with seventeen minutes on the clock, Cambridge were continuing to play some neat football and might have equalised a lot earlier than they actually did. In the twentieth minute, Sam Smith’s last-second lunge at a Paul Digby free-kick on the United left was well stopped by a reflex save from Connor Ripley. Then the same player was denied by a possibly even better stop just a minute later. The visitors were dominating play at this juncture and it was no surprise when they equalised after half an hour. Harrison Dunk made good progress down their left wing and then sent over a perfect cross for Jack Lankester to direct past the home keeper from quite close in. So it ended one each at half time but the visitors – in all truth – had probably just about shaded the play.

Mark Bonner clearly told his troops to increase the pace and push further up the field in the second half. Morecambe thus found themselves playing on the break most of the time. That said, they had the first two decent chances of the second period, which both fell to Kieran Phillips.  He dragged the ball wide with an instant shot after 49 minutes which could have restored the Shrimps’ lead if he had managed to get hold of it properly. Then he couldn’t quite grow enough to be able to head Skipper Donald Love’s cross from the right on target a couple of minutes later. Up the other end of the field, Smith actually beat Ripley after fifty-five minutes but smashed his resulting shot into the side netting. At the other end, Lloyd Jones did really well a couple of minutes later to block live wire Phillips’ attempt on goal shortly afterwards.

Both Managers made lots of changes around the seventy minute mark. But Mr Bonner’s proved to be the most effective. Once Cole Stockton – who looked more like his old self today – was taken-off, Morecambe seemed to lack any focal point up-front. But United, if anything, stepped up a notch. For a period after all the changes, the hosts struggled continually to even get a touch of the ball as the `Us’ pinged it around confidently and constantly probed for openings. The decisive moment in the match duly arrived after substitute Harvey Knibbs ran purposefully from midfield and controlled fellow-sub Shilow Tracey’s cross from the Cambridge right to beat Ripley convincingly from quite close range. After this, Morecambe actually roused themselves and gave the visitors at least a bit of a game for the remaining seven or so minutes. But it was too little, far too late.

King Derek was right when he said that teams like Cambridge are the ones we really need to be seeing-off in this division to stand any chance of survival. United are not one of the Leading Lights in the division but in striker Joe Ironside – who caused all sorts of trouble for the Shrimps’ defence all the time he was on the pitch, they have a genuine handful of a Centre Forward.  Skipper Paul Digby impressed throughout too with a performance which reminded me, at least, of what we are missing in the shape of Aaron Wildig. For me, the actual Man of the Match today was Zeno Rossi at the back: he had a phenomenal game throughout.

For Morecambe, official Man of the Match Jensen Weir had a really good game too. In my view – for what it’s worth – Jake Taylor was the best player in a red shirt this afternoon. Ryan Delaney was good too and most of the defence – particularly Gibbo – performed well. But you just have a nagging feeling that something is still missing.

King Derek had this to say after the game:

“They get the goal at the end which is a sucker punch to us. Liam Gibson got into the box; unfortunately, he could’ve cut it back, but has a shot at goal. And then we misplace a pass in the middle of the pitch – a square pass – and they’re on the end of it. They didn’t really look like they were going to get that second goal, it looked like it could’ve been 1-1 at the end of the day. But in the end, they’ve got that victory.

We got ourselves into good areas at times, but the final ball wasn’t good enough from us. If it had been, it would’ve led to an opportunity. Today, we didn’t find that solution, and that’s why we haven’t won the game.”

The loss saw Morecambe remain next to bottom of League One. Cambridge went back up to seventh. Even at this very early stage of the season, it is becoming to be clear who are the other favourites for relegation this term. And these are Burton Albion, FGR, Cheltenham and Bristol Rovers. The latter were beaten at home 0-1 today by old adversaries Accrington Stanley. And guess who are up next in Morecambe’s struggle for survival?

Finally, spare a thought for Worcester Warriors fans this evening. Their club was bottom of the Premiership Ruby table with no points before play today but then thrashed Newcastle Falcons against all odds by 39 points to 5. Lions led by Donkeys yet again. The BBC tells us, though:

“Worcester Warriors director of rugby Steve Diamond has described the imminent threat of his ailing club going into administration as “like the death of a dog”. Warriors have been cleared to host Saturday’s Premiership game with Newcastle Falcons. But the club must provide the Rugby Football Union with proof of funds to continue on Monday or face suspension.

“I just don’t know how it’s got to this position,” Diamond told BBC Sport. “It’s sad and it’s diabolical that it’s been allowed to walk itself to the graveyard.”

After weeks of uncertainty surrounding the club’s future since HMRC issued a winding-up petition over an unpaid £6m tax bill, a further £14m owed in Covid sports survival loan payments, underpaid and late payments to players and staff, and some non-payments to suppliers and part-time staff, under-fire co-owners Jason Whittingham and Colin Goldring are still to announce positive action.”

But for the grace of god…

If you have missed any of the action from Morecambe’s season so far (including the Papa John’s Trophy game against Hartlepool last Tuesday), you can catch up at:

MORECAMBE FOOTBALL CLUB. SECOND SEASON IN LEAGUE ONE: 2022-23.

Morecambe: 1 Connor Ripley; 2 Donald Love (C); 4 Liam Gibson; 5 Farrend Rawson; 6 Ryan Delaney; 7 Jake Taylor (8 Ousmane Fané 73’); 9 Cole Stockton (13 Arthur Gnahoua 73’); 15 Jensen Weir (Y); 16 Jacob Bedeau (11 Dylan Connolly 72’); 20 Liam Shaw (22 Anthony O’Connor 84’); 23 Kieran Phillips (19 Jon Obika 81’).

Subs not used: 12 Adam Smith; 21 Ryan Cooney.

Cambridge United: 1 Dimitar Mitov; 2 George Williams; 4 Paul Digby (C); 6 Lloyd Jones; 7 James Brophy (18 Shilow Tracey 65’); 9 Joe Ironside (20 Feiiri Okenabirhie 85’); 10 Sam Smith; 11 Harrison Dunk; 14 Jack Lankester (26 Harvey Knibbs 73’); 16 Zeno Rossi; 19 Adam May.

Subs not used:  5 Greg Taylor; 8 Liam O’Neil; 15 Jubril Okedena; 25 William Mannion.

Ref: Robert Madden. The Scotsman had a very erratic game today which was littered with basic mistakes.

Att: 3,917 (307 from Cambridge.)