Morecambe 2023-2024 season – the Totally Unofficial Preview.
Unofficial – Why?
As far as I know, there’s never been an Official Preview of the season for Morecambe FC.
So I’ve taken this burden upon myself for longer than I care to remember and what follows is my latest effort.
However – to state for the first time something we will return to in due course, the club now has in post someone they like to call their `Head of Media & Communications’.
This gentleman arrived – to a considerable fanfare and undoubtedly a very generous salary – from North of the Border earlier this year.
But what does he actually do?
The HM&C is an insider – he had access to information, press conferences, Official Photographs plus the playing staff and the Manager which I personally can only dream about. Surely anybody in his lofty position should be able to produce a better-informed and better illustrated effort of the sort of thing you are reading now than an outsider like me ever could.
So why am I still doing it for free?
(I look in the mirror and a huge beaker with a handle attached stares back at me. That’s right – a great big mug…)
I’ve been told – told – by one of the co-Chairmen in the past to use only officially sanctioned photos of the stadium our team plays at. After the exchange of several emails, I’m still waiting for them – is it three; or even four – years later?
Last season, one of our number suggested that I and Derek Quinn co-write an account of Morecambe’s Adventures in the Wonderland of the EFL so far. Derek was supportive. So was Charlie Appleyard, one of the more progressive Directors of the club. But I wanted assurances that whatever I came up with would be not only be approved by but actually published by the club – I learnt a long time ago that endlessly slaving away at projects that never see the light of day is the sort of mug’s game even I won’t indulge in.
So I contacted the Chief Executive of the club requesting exactly such an assurance. He sent me an utterly bland reply. So I emailed him again asking for specific guarantees. That was in July 2022 – and I’m still awaiting a response.
I’ve asked myself for years: why is it up to me – as a humble honorary hack and supporter who has been writing stuff like this for well over a decade – to write the sort of thing you are reading now? How can it be that it is still apparently totally up to me to inform other fans about the club and the changes which have happened since we were relegated from League One earlier in the year?
Does Morecambe FC as a whole not think it’s important to keep the people who actually support it in the loop about latest developments?
What does a ` Head of Media & Communications’ actually do?
Maybe the man in post could tell us – assuming he can spare the time from a clearly very hectic schedule of course. I promise to publish what he says – unedited – on these pages.
So, falling back onto the default position that Morecambe FC doesn’t see communication with its supporters as any sort of priority – and moving swiftly on – what has actually been happening over the summer?
As a very definite outsider, this is what I have been able to glean this time around:
The on-going farce: ownership by the Bond Group.
Hanging over Morecambe Football Club for the last few years has been the controversial ownership of the club. The Bond Group oversaw the dismantling of Worcester Warriors Rugby Union club last season; selling-off resources such as car parks until the Sixfields Stadium itself was made out-of-bounds to the Premiership club. The result of this was the expulsion of Worcester from the highest echelon of the English Rugby Union and the loss of countless associated jobs – staff, players and ancillary workers alike. But the Bond Group still hold Morecambe’s purse-strings and Manager Derek Adams has publicly identified them as the reason for his `rage’ about the way things were handled off the field last season. Specifically, King Derek has accused the group of making constantly unfulfilled promises about finances to expand and improve a playing staff which – against all the odds – almost managed to escape relegation to League Two under his leadership on a shoe-string for the second season in a row.
Nobody knows – or nobody is saying – what valuation the Bond Group have actually put on the club. All we do know is that mysterious potential buyer Sarbjot Johal has expressed an interest in taking control of it. Allegedly. However, he has failed – for several months now – to satisfy the EFL’s “Fit and Proper Test” and explain the financial basis on which he might be able to do this. Unanswered questions about the motivation of a man from Kent with an Indian heritage and absolutely no obvious connection to Morecambe or its football club have troubled many impartial onlookers. I personally thought it very instructive at the Shrimps Trust meeting of Thursday, 18th May 2023 to hear a clearly very tuned-in young lady in the audience making a point that I – at least – hadn’t thought of before. This is it:
She commented on the nature of the Bond Group’s own basic business plan. This is to introduce rich individuals to other rich individuals in situations where they could both make a packet. She asked if anyone had any idea what the personal or business relationship between the owner of a soft drinks company which doesn’t apparently even exist and the Bond Group actually is. Implicitly, she suggested, the owners of our football club could have invited a man whose only provable asset is a very expensive car which he parks ostentatiously at the Mazuma Stadium to make a wild and unsupported bid for the club just to push the selling price up. So Mr Money Bags Big Car Person could actually be a Straw Man.
Sneaky, eh?
Do capitalists with no conscience actually do this sort of dastardly thing? Surely not…
It won’t have escaped Morecambe fans’ attention that the gentleman with the big car has also created lots of publicity for himself over the summer by expressing an interest in buying Wigan Athletic as well. But that club has new owners now and the mysterious young but apparently fabulously rich gentleman has no role in the new regime. He has invested money in our club but this is no proof of anything in itself. All I would personally say is that the sooner this man either complies with the EFL’s request for proof of financial sustainability or withdraws his offer altogether, the better. That way, Bond Group protestations that they can’t entertain serious offers to buy the club (for almost certainly a lower price than they want) will have the legs taken away and they will be forced to genuinely entertain bids which could at least put an end to their calamitous ownership of the Shrimps once and for all.
The Manager.
I make no apology for repeating my own belief that Derek Adams is the best thing to have ever happened to Morecambe Football Club. No other Manager in the club’s history has had even a fraction of his success. He took the Shrimps to League One on a very small playing budget and saved a rapidly-sinking ship from the inevitable relegation it was facing with another man’s squad last year. Few fellow-professionals would tolerate the situation off the field which he has found himself embroiled in since he re-joined the club. Mr Adams has understandably complained loudly and bitterly about the fact that he has been constantly let-down by the ownership of the club since he returned from Bradford. As long ago as last November, he stated publicly:
“The big thing for me over the summer I’ve been disappointed because I’ve had to make changes and unfortunately I’ve not been backed enough in the summer to make the changes. If we had been backed in the summer then we’d have a far different team to what we’ve got now. That’s the big disappointment for me coming back to the football club. That’s my biggest disappointment over the summer – we haven’t been backed. The previous management were backed – and we haven’t been. We’re fighting every day just to compete in this league. We just haven’t been able to get enough revenue to help us. It’s hugely frustrating for me as a Manager of Morecambe Football Club. To get out of League Two; to stay in League One last season because we were down and buried. We had eight teams out of the top eleven to play; we had none of the bottom five to play and we were able to stay there. We’re going to have to do the same again this year. Fifth bottom – whatever it is – is a huge success. It’s like winning the lottery for Morecambe. People don’t understand. The supporters – some do, some don’t; they haven’t a clue, some of them. What happens in the inner sanctuary of the football club – they have no idea.”
We still have no idea about what happens in the inner sanctum of the football club but the fact that Derek has accepted a new contract is – in my opinion – the best bit of news to come out of the club over the summer.
Last Year’s Squad – Where are they Now?
Because of the financial crisis at the Mazuma Stadium, King Derek had to release all the players he had on the books except those who were on two-year contracts at the start of last season. These players are team Captain Donald Love, fellow defenders Max Melbourne and Club Captain Farrend Rawson along with Jake Taylor, Jacob Bedeau and outstanding Young Player of the Year, Adam Mayor. Many of us (as well as the Manager in all certainty) would have liked some of the players who had to be released to have been offered now contracts instead. For some of them at least, this won’t happen now. Legendary striker Cole Stockton has signed for Burton Albion and will continue his League One career with them. Fans’ favourite Liam Gibson – who always played with his heart on his sleeve – has gone to fellow-League Two side Harrogate Town. Outstanding midfielder Daniel Crowley will now also play against us as a newly-promoted Notts County player. So will Ryan Cooney, who has been signed on a two-year contract by Crewe Alexandra. Local rivals Barrow were quick to sign Courtney Duffus, who rarely featured for the Shrimps because of long-term injury problems. League One Port Vale have snapped-up our popular Club Captain of last season – Connor Ripley. I barely recognised our goalkeeper of last season in Vale’s welcoming video. No more `who ate all the pies?’ taunts for this formerly oversize lad: Connor is now officially thin…
We must remember, though, that in his parting message to our club, Connor expressed his thanks to the fans and the manager for re-kindling his love of football and wished us all well for the future. As far as I know – with due apologies to anyone I have overlooked – only Dynel Simeu of last year’s crop did the same. Dynel has been re-signed by Southampton on the basis of what he did for us last season and I at least hope he prospers in whatever the club relegated from the Premiership last season requires of him – you could see both the undoubted class as well as the naivety he sometimes exhibited when he was picked for Morecambe.
New Faces. Derek Adams’ new-look Squad.
One thing that nobody can dispute about Derek Adams is that he is a very smart individual in all sorts of ways. We all know that he has a pathetically small budget with which –as a primary mission – to keep Morecambe in the EFL. As a secondary goal, he is apparently also expected to actually challenge for promotion with his new team at the same time.
Long before hostilities actually started, he put on record:
“Money isn’t everything but it certainly helps you to get the players in – though we have shown in the past we can be very competitive. With that comes additional pressure as (other teams) have to be looking to get out of the division. There will be a lot of changes in League Two (this time around); there will be teams coming in who have got to do well because of the money they have spent.”
Has any club in the entire EFL got less money in the coffers then ours?
I don’t actually know the answer to this question – but I can guess…
The uncertainty about the budget obviously hasn’t helped King Derek to get in the faces he wants and he told the media during July 2023:
“It’s been a slow transfer window and we’re probably the ones in the division who had most to do. We had a number of players out of contract and only six in contract – and we didn’t know the budget either – so there’s been a lot of work to do in a short space of time. The squad size will be reduced. I’ll be looking at 21 senior players and then probably looking at youngsters to fill any gaps if needed. You’ve got to appreciate the club you’re working at and working for. We aren’t in the situation where we can afford two and three-year contracts; we’re in a situation where we have to take it season to season – that’s the model of the football club at this moment in time. There are other clubs who can do that and have that different model but until there’s a bit of stability and forward planning for the future, then we have to take it season by season.”
A week before the season started, this group was:
Jacob Bedeau; Tom Bloxham; Charlie Brown; Jacob Davenport; Eli King; Donald Love; Adam Mayor; JJ McKiernan; Max Melbourne; Michael Mellon; Stuart Moore; Farrend Rawson; Joel Senior; Jordan Slew; Adam Smith; Cammy Smith; Yann Songo’o; Chris Stokes and Jake Taylor.
The first signing the possibly/almost certainly worst financed club in the entire English Football League announced by the Morecambe website had a little sting in the tail. It read:
“This announcement is brought to you by CWR Accountants”.
What’s that all about? Should it be RfM Accountants in any case? Has it any links to current Co-Chairman Graham Howse? (Yes, apparently.) Does this have any significance anyway?
Whatever, the announcement involved a not-so-new face: that of goalkeeper Adam Smith. Adam’s baptism of fire in a Shrimps’ shirt occurred in the notorious `racist’ home game against the appalling Ian Evatt’s Bolton Wanderers the season before last. He was stuck by several missiles thrown by the drunken or simply moronic element of the Trotters’ travelling support. His behaviour under severe provocation in this unseemly incident contrasts starkly with that of the Bolton Manager, who managed to get a game where his team was being soundly beaten stopped by making completely baseless claims about the behaviour of the home crowd. Adam hasn’t played much for Morecambe since this scandalous incident subsequently but in welcoming his return, Mr Adams’ appraisal of his potential contribution to the new squad explains why:
“Adam was a great part of the group last season and had it not been for the form of Connor Ripley would have likely played more games. This is a different opportunity for him now and we look forward to having him back at Morecambe as part of our squad for 2023/24. This season Adam will have a real opportunity to push on and try to make the starting spot his. It is up to him to make that happen and we will continue to support and push him all the way.”
Goalkeeping Coach Barry Roche presumably had some input into the decision to re-sign Mr Smith. And if the namesake of the Scottish economist who wrote “the Wealth of Nations” in 1776 is good enough for Big Baz, he’s surely good enough for anyone…
The second man to put pen to paper on a 12 month Shrimps contract was Chris Stokes. The 32-year-old defender has been released by Scottish Premiership club Kilmarnock after gaining promotion with them last season. The former Under-17 England international has also been promoted twice in his previous EFL career – from League Two to League One with Coventry City in 2018 and Bury a year later.
Snoopy fans everywhere will be delighted with the club’s third signing of its new League Two campaign, 23-year-old striker Charlie Brown. Charlie is a graduate of the Chelsea Academy and has played for both the frauds from Milton Keynes and Cheltenham Town, who released him in the summer. I believe that the Shrimps paid peanuts for him. (He must be well and truly sick of gags like that so I promise to stop right now.) Anyway, his new Manager said of the young lad:
“Charlie is a promising young forward. He has come through a very strong academy and has since gone on and really tested himself in League One which will serve us well. For being only 23-years-old it is a testament to his character that he has over 75 appearances behind him. It shows his desire to play regular football and not be a bit part player.”
The next signing to be announced was not such a new face, if the player concerned will forgive me for saying so. It’s our old pal, 31-year-old Yann Songo’o, who played a pivotal role in the Morecambe team which initially won promotion to League One. Derek so liked the man with a more than slightly dubious disciplinary record that he signed him up again as soon as he went to Bradford two seasons ago, which was the fourth time in all that he had signed the Frenchman for various other clubs. Since then, the hard-tackling stopper spent the latter half of last season on-loan at Walsall but there is little doubt that Yann is precisely the sort of solid foundation on which the Manager can build a squad which can yet again create a challenged in League Two.
Scottish forward Cameron “Cammy” Smith was the next man to put pen to paper on a contract at what we must now call the Mazuma Mobile Stadium. He has played for a number of Scottish league clubs, most recently Partick Thistle but also has brief experience of playing in the USA. Morecambe is the first English club he will have played for and King Derek said about the 27-year-old:
“Cammy is somebody with good experience for his age. He has been part of promotions and success, and to have those credentials are important at any club. Coming through at Aberdeen, Cammy was very highly regarded and clearly has talent. No player is ever the finished article, and we look forward to bringing even more of his talent out whilst he is with us.”
Morecambe has also signed another goalkeeper – 28-year-old Stuart Moore. Stuart was released by Blackpool during the closed season and spent the latter half of last term on-loan at Doncaster Rovers. Mr Adams explained his decision to sign cover for Adam Smith in these terms:
“It is good to add competition to our goalkeeping department. Stuart is an experienced player who has turned out for clubs at various levels and he will come in knowing what lies ahead in League Two. Going forward we know that we have two strong goalkeepers who will go toe-to-toe for the jersey and that is the environment we have had and want to keep at this football club.”
The next man to join Derek Adams’ new squad was 24-year-old defender Joel Senior. He has signed after being released from Carlisle United’s Play-Off winning squad of last season. He was once part of the Burnley Under 23’s and said, having signed on the dotted line for the Maz Mob:
“I am really happy to join Morecambe. I know League Two from last season and I want to make sure that I am competitive in League Two again this season. I look forward to meeting the team and getting to work for the season ahead. Having tasted promotion it makes me want it again.”
Northern Ireland Youth International midfielder JJ (John Joshua) McKiernan was the latest edition to Derek’s League Two 2023-24 ranks. JJ is just 21 and was released by Watford in the closed season, having been on-loan to National League Eastleigh last season. For him, full-time men’s football in the EFL will be a new experience but he told the club’s website:
“Obviously last season I was in the National League so this is another step up but one I am really relishing and I can’t wait to get started now.”
Another player who has returned to the Morecambe fold after quite a long absence is forward Jordan Slew. Jordan played for Derek Adams in the past at Ross County and Plymouth and returns for his second spell with the Shrimps, having featured for National North team FC Halifax Town during the last two seasons. I don’t remember him exactly setting the world on fire in his previous stint and it must be a concern that we are offering terms to a player who has been released by a club two rungs down the football pyramid from us. However, Derek knows what he’s doing and has been sufficiently impressed by the thirty-year-old’s performances in training sessions to offer him another contract. The Manager said about this:
“Jordan is a player I know well, and he is a player that knows this league well more importantly. Having been part of two promotions from League Two previously, he has that knowledge and experience to call on and to share with the group. We had taken Jordan in over the last week or so help him with his fitness and during that time he hasn’t missed a beat and we are happy to have him back in our group.”
The first loan signing of the season is also a familiar face. Michael Mellon has returned on a season-long loan from Burnley. The 19-year-old forward played for Morecambe last term in League One but his loan spell ended when he suffered a serious shoulder injury and had to return to his parent club earlier than planned. Derek had this to say about the young striker’s second Shrimps’ stint:
“It’s great for us to get Michael back for the season. He was terribly unlucky to suffer the injury he did and the timing of it. During his time with us he had shown flashes of what he could do, and we want to keep pushing that. We have obviously tracked and monitored Michael for a long time given he was with us last season, so we know what we are getting and look forward to helping him develop whilst he is with us.”
The second loan signing was that of forward Tom Bloxham from Shrewsbury Town. Tom is a giant: six foot five in his stocking feet. He’s only nineteen but has already clocked-up eighty appearances for the Shrews, 66 of them in League One. A lot is expected from him from our Manager, who seemingly has no doubts at all as to the potential of this young lad:
“Tom is a player we were aware of in League One and somebody we kept an eye on and tracked. He is also a big physical threat for us and gives us a different dimension to what we already have.”
The final loan signing prior to the start of the season involved a 20-year-old midfielder from Cardiff City, Eli King. The Welshman has played at international level (most recently at Under 21 level) throughout his career and has League Two experience as a result of his loan to Crewe last season, for whom he played eighteen times.
Several triallists – as always – have been invited to the club to show their mettle in the friendly matches which provided a backdrop to the new season. Midfielder Jacob Davenport so impressed Derek Adams after just two games that he has also been offered a contract by the club. Jacob is a midfielder who graduated from the Manchester City Academy and was a Blackburn Rovers player for four seasons. Most recently, he played for Stockport County but our fellow League Two club did not renew his contract at the end of last season. Having signed on the dotted line for us, the 24-year-old said:
“It’s been a tough couple of years but hopefully now I can be a bit more settled here and kick on. This is a club that has proven that it can take in younger players like myself and help us to develop which is a big attraction for me.”
Pre-season Friendly Matches.
The club announced pre-season friendlies during June 2023 when they still had only six players on the books and the future of Manager Derek Adams had yet to be confirmed. He would be out of contract at the end of the month.
The friendly matches were announced at a point when controversial owners Bond Group had announced the largest League Two funding of the club ever.
Sounds good, doesn’t it?
But Morecambe have spent the last two seasons in League One…
So – in reality – the money on the table for the new campaign would actually amount to the smallest in three years. Doesn’t sound quite so good expressed like this, does it?…
All in all, the pre-season campaign seems to me at least to reek of a lack of ambition. So I turned to look at who our nearest rivals will be playing before a ball is kicked in anger.
Accrington Stanley arranged five friendly fixtures before the start of their latest League Two campaign. Neighbours Blackburn Rovers were their first visitors in a truly meaningful game for both clubs. That’s more like it. But then they would face both Workington and Clitheroe away followed by home games against National League Chesterfield and York City.
So how about Barrow? The club which has signed discarded Morecambe’s injury-ravaged striker Courtney Duffus will complete the traditional fixture against Holker Old Boys first. Then it’s Oldham Athletic. Athletic are facing their second season in the National League wilderness after relegation from League Two in 2022. Last time out, they ended-up in twelfth spot in the most senior non-league table. This is surely more of a test for the Bluebirds than a trip to Burscough is for us… And then, god alone knows what happens: their website lists friendlies played during 2022 but I happen to know that Blackpool, Preston North End and Newcastle United would all visit Holker Street to provide further pre-season tests…
`Lack of ambition’ or not, what follows are the friendly fixtures which were lined-up by the club prior to the league campaign beginning in August 2023. The dates are followed by the significance of each game according to the club’s website and quoted in italics.
Workington AFC v Morecambe FC. Tuesday 11th July 2023; 7.30pm. Borough Park, Workington.
Workington AFC is a `Northern Premier League side.’
Morecambe FC is a League Two side – by my reckoning, still three levels higher in the English football pyramid. The strongest link I can think of between the two clubs is that we managed to tempt our imperious Centre Half – the late, great Gerry Irving – away from them when ours was a Lancashire Combination club and they were members of the Closed Shop known as the Football League a lifetime ago. But what sort of test will playing a club whose glory days were decades ago and whose ground makes Christie Park look like the new Wembley provide as far as preparing for a campaign against teams such as Bradford City; Doncaster Rovers; Wrexham and Notts County? Surely, a game against either fellow League Two Barrow or newly-promoted League One Carlisle United would provide a better test for everyone concerned as far as Workington’s geographical neck of the woods is concerned?
I intended to travel to this fixture but the day before it was supposed to happen, the following appeared on the club’s website:
“Due to having a number of players with minor knocks/injuries we have had to take the difficult decision to cancel the match in order not to aggravate the injuries further and cause damage to the squad ahead of the new league season.”
I can’t remember anything like this happening before. What it was telling us was – with the new season less than a month away – we didn’t have enough fit players to complete a football fixture. How worrying – nay, embarrassing as far as the inconvenience and expense we have caused Workington – is that? In itself, the bare words quoted above pose more questions than they actually answer. Donald Love, Jacob Bedeau and Adam Mayor all missed games last season due to injuries of one sort or another. Max Melbourne and Jake Taylor both spent as much time on the treatment table as they did competing on the pitch. That means that the entire retained squad have a history of being sidelined in recent times. Is it possible that the physical damage which led to this last term is still affecting them this time around? Or – worse still – are some of the new players Derek Adams has been able to attract to the club also suffering from long-term injuries? None of these unanswered questions bode well for the new campaign. So the next query which arose in the wake of this announcement was: would the squad be sufficiently recovered to fulfil the next fixture, just four days later?
Warrington FC v Morecambe FC. Saturday 15th July 2023; 3.00pm. Cantilever Park, Warrington.
They would – and probably wished they hadn’t because they lost 2-0. Several weeks before the game. Morecambe’s website told us:
`We will make the short trip to face newly promoted Warrington FC. The Yellows have just clinched promotion to the National League North and will host us at Cantilever Park.’
Is it really a `short trip’ to Warrington? Does the person who wrote this actually know where Warrington is? Maybe they do – but they don’t know where Morecambe itself can be found on a map…
Whatever, Warrington FC is another team far lower in the football pyramid than we currently are. `Hiding to nothing’ was the phrase which immediately sprang to mind when I learnt of this particular fixture. Warrington had nothing to lose – but a great deal of kudos to win if they managed to do anything other than endure defeat as far as this fixture is concerned. Again, I wonder what is the point of competing in it other than as an act of courtesy to another club to be found somewhere in the north-west of England…
Mark Beesley’s side won far too easily on the day with a goal either side of half time against the Shrimps. Finding out exactly what happened has proved to be a challenge as no details of this match is recorded on either clubs’ website. The bare bones of the result are things I discovered on a local Warrington paper’s website plus Beyond Radio, which told us:
“Two senior players – midfielder Jake Taylor and defender Donald Love – were absent from the travelling squad, which included four trial(l)ists on the bench, alongside academy players Lennon Dobson and Cameron Rooney.”
The Lancaster Guardian added details of the team:
Adam Smith; Joel Senior; Max Melbourne; Jacob Bedeau; Farrend Rawson; Chris Stokes; Jordan Slew; Yann Songo’o; Michael Mellon; JJ McKiernan and Cammy Smith.
Substitutes included four triallists, Adam Mayor; Stuart Moore; Charlie Brown; Lennon Dobson and Cameron Rooney.
One of these traillists was Oscar Threlkeld. Derek knows the 29-year-old defender from his time with Bradford. Prior to that, Mr Adams signed him for Plymouth Argyle and he scored for them against Morecambe during the 2016-17 season in a game that the Pilgrims lost 2-1. Oscar has also played for Salford City and in Belgium for A-League club Waasland-Beveren.
Southport FC v Morecambe FC. Tuesday 18th July 2023; 7.30pm. Haig Avenue, Southport.
“Just 3 days later we are back on the road as we travel to face another National League North side, Southport FC. We will be facing off against Southport Manager Liam Watson – now in his 4th stint of managing the club and one of the longest-serving managers in England having been in position for 5 years.”
Well done Liam. But so what? Like Workington, Southport was a Football League club several decades ago. With the boot firmly on the other foot in recent years, we have managed to poach some of their better players – Carl Baker and Mark Duffy for instance – only to have them poached, in turn, by even bigger fish (at the time at least) in the English football pyramid. But again, the question must be asked: what sort of a test can clubs like Southport really provide to one which should be geared-up to regain its League One status? Is there a subliminal message from the current owners here? Workington: ex-Football League club. Southport: ex-Football League club. Morecambe:…
The result would tend to contradict this message: According to the Southport FC website,
“Our final home pre-season game ends in defeat against a very impressive looking Morecambe side.”
The Shrimps won by three goals to one. The scorers were Joel Senior, Michael Mellon and Chris Stokes. The line-up on the night was:
Stuart Moore; Donald Love; Joel Senior; Jacob Bedeau; Farrend Rawson; Yann Songo’o; Jordan Slew; Triallist; Michael Mellon; JJ McKiernan and Adam Mayor.
Substitutes included another triallist, Adam Smith; Charlie Brown; Max Melbourne; Chris Stokes; Cammy Smith; Lennon Dobson and Cameron Rooney.
(The two triallists were apparently Doncaster Rovers’ forward Kieran Agard – who played for the first half – and Jacob Davenport. Very sadly for them, neither of these players has subsequently been offered employment by Morecambe Football Club.)
Once again, the details of this game were difficult to find. I am indebted to the contributors to fans’ forum Shrimpsvoices for providing the information I have been able to glean. A few of these people wondered what on earth the club’s so-called Head of Media & Communications is being paid for given the absence of any official coverage either of the matches played so far – or any information about any of the triallists who have featured in the Morecambe line-ups to date. As I stated at the outset, I echo their bewilderment…
Burscough FC v Morecambe FC. Saturday 22nd July 2023; 3.00pm. The Community Stadium, Burscough.
“The match against The Green Army at The Community Stadium in our final, confirmed away pre-season friendly.”
Mighty Burscough – for those who don’t know – has a unique claim to fame. The town is near Omskirk, which is almost as famous for its spud-growing capabilities as the Champagne region of France is for producing a very particular type of grape. However, packets of Seabrooks have been known to be scoffed more often in the home Changing Rooms after Burscough matches than any sort of champagne that has been quaffed in the same place: the Linnets’ perhaps greatest ever claim to fame is to have won the FA Trophy. Don’t knock it – this was once our own greatest achievement as well. We beat Dartford and their utterly feral supporters 2-1 at Wembley half a century ago; Burscough played Tamworth at Villa Park and won by the same score just twenty years ago.
Their old ground – the Victoria Ground – was demolished a couple of years ago. The new, neighbouring one is pretty basic, as you would expect from what their Facebook site suggests is a club which is `a member of the North West Counties League, and competes in the Premier Division.’
This is officially `9 to 10’ in the English Football Pyramid.
Carnforth Rangers play in the West Lancashire League – Level 11 of the Pyramid.
There’s not a huge gap in the quality of football between them. So why not play Rangers instead?
Although Warrington is apparently `near’ to Morecambe and Burscough is even nearer; Quarry Park is closer still – a mere seven miles away. Besides which, Carnforth Rangers is a really progressive club which we should surely do all we can to support.
(That was just a completely unbiased thought from a man who actually lives quarter of a mile away from their ground…)
Anyway – Rangers certainly would have provided more of a test for Morecambe than Burscough did – they lost by an almost farcical margin: 1-10.
The Shrimps lined-up on the day thus:
Stuart Moore; Donald Love; Joel Senior; Jacob Bedeau; Farrend Rawson; Yann Songo’o; Tom Bloxham; Jacob Davenport; Michael Mellon; JJ McKiernan and Adam Mayor.
The substitutes were: Adam Smith; Charlie Brown; Jordan Slew; Chris Stokes Cammy Smith; Lennon Dobson and Cameron Rooney.
Max Melbourne and Jake Taylor were conspicuous by their absence from the squad – yet again.
For what it’s worth, the scorers were Michael Mellon (3); Adam Mayor (2); Tom Bloxham (2); JJ McKiernan (2) and Farrend Rawson with a header from a corner.
It’s obviously better to win ten-one than lose by the same score although if you look on the official Morecambe website, this fixture apparently didn’t happen at all. Shall we leave it there?…
Morecambe FC v Blackpool FC. Tuesday 25th July 2023; 7.30pm. Mazuma Stadium, Morecambe.
“Our only confirmed home friendly fixture takes place on Tuesday 25th July as we host recently relegated Blackpool FC. The Seasiders and our near neighbours have recently re-appointed Neil Critchley as manager, and we look forward to welcoming Neil and his team to the Mazuma just under two weeks before starting our competitive league campaign.”
This is the only one of the original list of fixtures announced by the club which I personally can see could have any real utility as far as our preparations for the new season are concerned. Blackpool is precisely the sort of club we should be testing ourselves against. After all, if we had managed to stay in League One at the Eleventh Hour, we would be playing against them on equal terms next season…
Blackpool arrived on the back of a 0-5 win at Barrow last Saturday and their team contained big names such as CJ Hamilton; Matty Virtue and Shayne Lavery from the off.
In front of quite a lot of away supporters, the game proved to be quite a lively – and occasionally feisty –affair. It ended on a worrying note, with a Tangerine player laid-out in the home goalmouth and not getting up. He was still flat-out as the Referee had the sense to end the game early after lying motionless for at least five minutes. Let’s hope he will be all right for the new season.
Both sides played some decent football during the first half – Morecambe were noticeably far more fluid than was ever the case last season, which I suppose is truly ironic given their reversal of fortunes since then. The hosts deservedly took the lead with a well-taken finish by Tom Bloxham near the end of the period following a free-kick from the Morecambe right.
The visitors equalised through Lavery in the second period but probably both sides have reasons for optimism after this display. For the Shrimps, Jacob Davenport really caught the eye in midfield (was I alone in thinking he might be Daniel Crowley in disguise?) Stuart Moore looked confident in goal against his former employers. Joel Senior read the game well from his left back position on the night and put in an excellent performance. Michael Mellon and Adam Mayor both looked more like men than teenagers tonight and both played well into the bargain. In truth, the only player I personally thought performed poorly tonight was Captain Donald Love, who was guilty – as he was so often last season – of constantly giving the ball away, particularly during the first period.
As I’ve mentioned earlier, Derek know what he’s doing: there’s a reason he persists with Donald as Captain. (I almost wrote `there’s obviously a reason’ but I personally can’t see one.)
For me, the obvious Skipper of the squad is Farrend Rawson. He leads by example on the field and also was the first Morecambe player to approach the fans after the game to acknowledge our support – he strikes me as a natural leader. But what do I know?
(I do know that since I originally wrote this, Farrend has been named Club Captain but Donald remains the team Captain. I don’t really understand the significance of this announcement to be totally honest…)
The line-up for the Shrimps was exactly as it had been last Saturday:
Stuart Moore; Donald Love; Joel Senior; Jacob Bedeau; Farrend Rawson; Yann Songo’o; Tom Bloxham; Jacob Davenport; Michael Mellon; JJ McKiernan and Adam Mayor.
The substitutes were: Adam Smith; Charlie Brown; Jordan Slew; Chris Stokes Cammy Smith; Lennon Dobson and Cameron Rooney. All of them bar the latter two Academy players got a game this evening, even if it was only ten minutes for most of them. Once again, there was no sign of Jake Taylor.
You wouldn’t have found any of this information of the official Morecambe website until a few days later. But Blackpool posted a match report including their own line-up on the night within two hours of the fixture on their own site. Next day, all you could see at Morecambefc.com were some photos of what happened on the night. So what happened there?
Subsequent to the initial announcement of friendly matches, one more was added to the list:
Morecambe FC v Wigan Athletic. Saturday 29th July; 3.00pm.
“Both clubs do battle ahead of the new 2023/24 season getting underway just days later.
Shaun Maloney will be pushing his Latics for an immediate return to the SkyBet Championship and will be looking to build on the momentum the club have following a recent change in ownership which has secured the future of the former Premier League side.”
This game could pose a real test for the Shrimps against a team that they would also be playing as equals if we had managed to hold on to our League One status last May.
Derek Adams named the same squad which had performed so well against Blackpool last Tuesday to start this game. They began quite well but the longer the first half went on, the more the team in the blue and white stripes took control of it. Morecambe looked increasingly static and lacking in forward ideas and it was not a surprise when the visitors scored an excellent headed goal on the break after eighteen minutes.
This was still the score at half time.
Derek shook things up in the second half and suddenly, we had a proper game on our hands. Substitutes Cammy Smith and Charlie Brown both impressed as the Shrimps stepped-up the tempo and – for the first time – actually ran at the Wigan defence. Michael Mellon seemed to have equalised at one point when it seemed to me that visiting goalkeeper Sam Tickle had passed the ball straight to him. But the referee ruled it out. Right at the death, Athletic went further ahead with a superb shot from the left edge of the Morecambe penalty area from their point of view which beat substitute keeper Adam Smith all ends up as it flew into the top far corner of the net.
Wigan looked a much better side than Blackpool did earlier in the week. But the way Morecambe broke out of their torpor and actually took the game to them in the second half must give heart to the Manager that he might be able to shake things up in the coming campaign and radically alter the trajectory of any match.
Derek used all the players on his team sheet this afternoon. These were:
Stuart Moore (Adam Smith, 69′), Donald Love (C), Jacob Bedeau, Farrend Rawson (Chris Stokes, 69′), Joel Senior (Eli King, 69′), Yann Songo’o (Max Melbourne, 46′), Jacob Davenport (Cammy Smith, 61′), JJ McKiernan (Jake Taylor, 60′), Adam Mayor, Michael Mellon (Jordan Slew, 46′), Tom Bloxham (Charlie Brown, 69′).
Two extra good things emerged from today.
On the field, Jake Taylor not only appeared on the bench at last but actually played (however briefly) during the second half.
Off the field, the Morecambe website very belatedly actually carried a match report of what had happened on the same day for the first time since the club returned to League Two.
Better late than never, I suppose. No doubt, the Official Preview of the Season will also appear as well during the next few days. Won’t it?…
The Fixtures (all League Two unless stated otherwise):
| Sat | Aug | 5 | Walsall | H |
| Tue | Aug | 8 | Rotherham United – EFL Cup | A |
| Sat | Aug | 12 | Mansfield Town | A |
| Tue | Aug | 15 | Notts County | H |
| Sat | Aug | 19 | Bradford City | H |
| Sat | Aug | 26 | Harrogate Town | A |
| Sat | Sep | 2 | Salford City | H |
| Sat | Sep | 9 | Barrow | A |
| Sat | Sep | 16 | Gillingham | A |
| Sat | Sep | 23 | Swindon Town | H |
| Sat | Sep | 30 | Forest Green Rovers | A |
| Tue | Oct | 3 | Accrington Stanley | H |
| Sat | Oct | 7 | Colchester United | A |
| Tue | Oct | 10 | Barrow (EFL Trophy) | H |
| Sat | Oct | 14 | Crawley Town | H |
| Sat | Oct | 21 | Sutton United | A |
| Tue | Oct | 24 | Tranmere Rovers | H |
| Sat | Oct | 28 | AFC Wimbledon | H |
| Sat | Nov | 11 | Grimsby Town | A |
| Tue | Nov | 14 | Blackpool (EFL Trophy K.O. 1900hrs) | A |
| Sat | Nov | 18 | Crewe Alexandra | H |
| Sat | Nov | 25 | Wrexham | A |
| Tue | Nov | 28 | Newport County | H |
| Sat | Dec | 9 | Stockport County | H |
| Sat | Dec | 16 | Doncaster Rovers | A |
| Sat | Dec | 23 | MK so-called “Dons” | H |
| Tue | Dec | 26 | Bradford City | A |
| Fri | Dec | 29 | Notts County | A |
| Mon | Jan | 1 | Harrogate Town | H |
| Sat | Jan | 6 | Walsall | A |
| Sat | Jan | 13 | Mansfield Town | H |
| Sat | Jan | 20 | MK Cons | A |
| Sat | Jan | 27 | Colchester United | H |
| Sat | Feb | 3 | Crawley Town | A |
| Sat | Feb | 10 | Sutton United | H |
| Tue | Feb | 13 | Tranmere Rovers | A |
| Sat | Feb | 17 | AFC Wimbledon | A |
| Sat | Feb | 24 | Grimsby Town | H |
| Sat | Mar | 2 | Crewe Alexandra | A |
| Sat | Mar | 9 | Wrexham | H |
| Tue | Mar | 12 | Newport County | A |
| Sat | Mar | 16 | Salford City | A |
| Sat | Mar | 23 | Gillingham | H |
| Fri | Mar | 29 | Accrington Stanley | A |
| Mon | Apr | 1 | Barrow | H |
| Sat | Apr | 6 | Doncaster Rovers | H |
| Sat | Apr | 13 | Stockport County | A |
| Sat | Apr | 20 | Forest Green Rovers | H |
| Sat | Apr | 27 | Swindon Town | A |
Wow – all this could mean lots of travelling – teams like Accrington; Barrow; Salford; Stockport County; Tranmere Rovers and Bratfud are within easy reach of Morecambe!
Carabao/League Cup.
Morecambe must travel to the Keepmoat Stadium to face Rotherham United of the Championship in the first round of this competition on Tuesday, 8th August. Don’t buy a train ticket: even if they’re not on strike, you won’t get home until at least six o’clock on Wednesday…
Pizza Time again?
In the arguably completely pointless former Papa John’s competition – a.k.a. The EFL Trophy – the Shrimps will compete with Barrer, Blackpool and Liverpool Under-21s.
The Title of the Stadium.
What was originally built as the Globe Arena has been known as the Mazuma Stadium for the last few seasons due to sponsorship by the mobile phone company. As from this season, it will be known as the Mazuma Mobile Stadium.
Big Deal. Probably.
But does that also mean that the rank and file of Morecambe fans must also now be known as the Maz Mob?
The Bookies.
As always, you don’t have to be psychic to guess who is among the favourites to be relegated from League Two this season. No pre-season betting predictions concerning relegation would be complete without a mention of Morecambe, would they?:
1) MK Cons – 4/7.
2) Forest Green – 5/2.
3) Accrington – 4/1.
4) Morecambe – 11/2.
Predictably, we don’t even get a look-in in Sky Bet’s odds to be promoted back to League One. Here are their favourites:
1) Wrexham – 7/2.
2) Stockport County- 6/1.
3) Notts County – 8/1.
4) Gillingham – 10/1.
5) Bradford – 12/1.
6) MK Plastics – 14/1.
7) Salford – 16/1.
8) Mansfield – 18/1.
I’m not a betting man. But if I was, I might do worse than put a small (or even a big) stake on the Shrimps getting back to League One next term…
So that’s it until things start in earnest in League Two against Walsall next Saturday. Apart from an assessment of the Shrimps Trust and the emergency meeting they convened in Morecambe early in May after the club had been relegated for the first time in its history which I will post during the week.
However – at the risk of sounding like a Charles Dickens clone – I personally have Great Expectations for the coming campaign.
Some of the fair weather `fans’ who latched onto the club when the going was good in League One will inevitably abandon us this season. We mustn’t be too hard on some of them: it costs a lot of money to continue to do so in a time of a Cost of Living crisis and when priorities may lay elsewhere.
But others – the noisy ones spoiling for a fight, for example – really won’t be missed…
An undeniable element of the key Morecambe support base over the years is that the hardcore fans of the club have always been loyal.
We will stick with the team whatever league they are in: come hell or high water.
So – all together now:
COME ON YOU SHRIMPS!!!!
shrimplythebestfootball 