Totally Unofficial Review of the Season 2023-24. Morecambe Football Club.

Right – well, where do we start? The season just gone has been one of the most difficult in Morecambe football club’s entire history. They started with only a handful of players and a Manager who had done his level best to keep the club in League One the previous season on a shoestring budget and an even longer string of broken promises by the current ownership. Half way through the season, the team the manager had cobbled-together from loanees and rejects from other clubs had melded into a side that was challenging for promotion. He spoke confidently of new ownership and a brighter future which would see the club in the Championship simply as a matter of course. And then he left, realising that – not for the first time – the vision of the future he had been promised was nothing more than a mirage.

Once he left, the Morecambe Board rebelled against the owner and publicly both distanced themselves from him and implored him to sell the club to a new owner for a realistic price. To absolutely no avail.

The ex-Morecambe player who had been tempted from Accrington Stanley to assist the departed Manager was thus forced overnight into the hotseat – and the limelight – to face a very steep learning curve in a situation where effectively half of his first team disappeared as their parent clubs called all their loanees home. But – with possibly even fewer resources than were available before, the new man was able to cobble together a squad arguably even better than the one he had been bequeathed and made a really strong challenge to get into the League Two Play-Offs. Only to be let down – yet again – by an ownership whose failure to keep agreed promises led to a three-point deduction and – with it – the end of any chances of progressing back to the higher division at the first time of asking.

Currently, the club is facing a financial embargo due to unpaid VAT fees. So its ability to retain players already on the books is non-existent; its ability to plan clearly for any sort of sustainable financial future is more or less impossible and the club finds itself with even fewer players – a single one – contracted to them for the start of next season than they had at the start of the one just gone. The award-winning CEO has left for another club. The Manager has returned to whence he came to become the Assistant Manager. The possibility of Morecambe Football Club going into Administration – and thus starting next season on minus twelve points – is an increasingly likely possibility. It could barely be any worse, except for one thing: the same parasitical ownership which saw Premiership Rugby Union club Worcester Warriors literally disappear under their tenure are still at the helm and there is no sign of them relinquishing their stranglehold on the Shrimps. So it’s a truly dire situation at this moment in time. Let’s put some flesh on these bare bones now.

Derek Adams.

Derek remains by far the most successful Manager the club has ever had. He made it plain when Morecambe were relegated at the eleventh hour on the final day of last season that the failure of the Bond Group to back him financially was the main reason for that failure:

“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.”

He was even more frustrated later in the year. Bond Group again failed to make good on promises to acquire the services of players such as JJ McKiernan at the start of the New Year. This indisputably made all the difference between success and failure in the club’s brief League One adventure; the King insisted at the time that just a couple of new signings would have given the squad the very small boost it needed to avoid going down as the club at the top of the relegation pack.

I was thus personally surprised that Derek actually stayed at the end of last season’s campaign. I also don’t blame him for leaving. Mr Adams is a professional. When he was offered a chance to return to the one club at which he once made an even bigger impact as both a player and a rookie Manager – Ross County – nobody can blame him, given the impossible situation at Morecambe – for taking it.

What happened after that shows that even seasoned professionals like King Derek make mistakes. This is not the time or the place to consider what happened to him next but you could take the greatly appreciated advice of a Ross County supporter: “Here have a good chuckle, the light hearted approach to football.  Just brilliant”: 

Should Morecambe Football Club really be in the Scottish Premiership?

Ged Brannan.

Derek’s departure left Ged Brannan to pick up the pieces. Referring to the scope and complexity of off-field problems alone that he had to face, Our Ged said in an interview shortly before he left the club: “If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me!”

In my view, Ged did an absolutely phenomenal job at Morecambe given the situation he inherited once King Derek left. All the players that Derek’s tremendous reputation as a Coach had attracted to the club – leading scorer Michael Mellon; outstanding midfielder Eli King; Tom Bloxham and the rest of them – were all almost immediately recalled by their parent clubs. Ged’s ability to replace them with even better players: Joe Adams from Wigan; Nelson Khumbeni from Bolton and goalkeeper Archie Mair from Norwich, for example, immediately strengthened the squad. Giving Gwion Edwards another chance to rebuild his stalled career was also a master-stroke: on his day, Gwion was a match for anybody in the division. Confounding the cynics, the Brannan Incarnation of Morecambe Football Club began to gel – and in doing so, actually looked a good bet for a Play-Off position until the wheels started to come off later in the campaign. His secondary goal – the acquisition of 60 points in a single season – was dashed by the EFL in a situation he had neither responsibility for nor control over when the League docked the club three points for irregularities committed off the pitch. This is as ridiculous as it is unfair. But, by the end of the campaign, Ged had a choice to make. Accrington Stanley had made it known they wanted him back.  Should he break his contract and do just that? Or tough it out at Morecambe with no guarantees of a budget, any players and the potential of a huge points deduction to start the season? As I said about King Derek, Our Ged is also a professional. He has to put his own interests – and that of his family – first. So he decided to leave – and who can blame him? Ged, as ever, was brutally realistic once the season ended in his own evaluation of the situation which would unfold if he chose to stay at Morecambe:

“There’s one player signed on, nine or 10 were offered contracts two or three months ago – and none of them can sign – and they all have other options. We will see what happens in the next week or so, we will see what the Board says. There’s an embargo, there’s no budget and one player for next season. So what would you do? If we start next season with a young squad and lose five or six games, then who gets sacked? I’m not money-driven but there comes a time when you’ve got to think what’s the best option for yourself – and with what I’ve just said, tell me what’s the best option?”

Clearly, he chose the safest option. He said, once he had reached this decision:

“Leaving Morecambe has undoubtedly been the hardest decision of my life and one which wasn’t taken lightly, though I feel it is the right time for me and my family to step away. I mean every word when I say it truly saddens me to leave, though I don’t see a way in which I could continue given the current situation. To be up against what we have been with staffing issues, ownership challenges, the embargo, points deduction and late wages, I couldn’t be prouder of what we have achieved this season.”

Amen to that. I personally wish Ged – and Derek Adams – all the luck in the world in the future. Both men wore their hearts on their sleeves and what you saw is what you got. And what you got was two of the most successful men ever to sit in the Morecambe FC dug-out.

The Embargo.

Now we start to get into murkier waters. Co-Chairman Graham Howse wrote the following message when the EFL announced that it was putting the club under a financial embargo for its messy tax affairs. Here, Graham clears up any misunderstandings we might have about this:

28^th March 2024:

Co-Chairman Graham Howse has penned a message to supporters.

With reference to the EFL embargo in respect of sums due to HMRC. The matter relates to VAT and is a highly unusual circumstance whereby the Club is actually paying sums due in advance of those monies being due back to the Club.

The matter has nothing to do with the current sale of the Club and its ownership. Due to the way the matter is being orchestrated by HMRC, it has been reported to the EFL and, under the rules, triggers an embargo.

The EFL are, and continue to be, in dialogue with the Club and are communicating with HMRC who are fully appreciative of the highly unusual circumstance and have been supportive of the Club.

To try to put it in simple terms, we have to pay for something where we have done nothing wrong before we are refunded, so essentially, paying for something twice.

We hope to get the matter resolved as soon as possible.

So there we have it. Or not, as the case might be. I have a lot of respect for Graham Howse personally, but I’m afraid I think this statement is far from his greatest hour, regrettably. It leaves far more questions unanswered than it actually addresses. For example: how did this mess-up over VAT happen in the first place? Far more crucially – how much money does it involve? Is it a small amount which can be effectively paid out of petty cash? (My guess is – no: if it was, it would surely have been taken care of by now.) So if it’s a huge sum – exactly how big is it? These are important details which our Co-Chairman had just glossed over. I don’t think anyone else knows the details, though: I certainly don’t. So the only part of this statement I can actually help us with is de-coding some of the terminology Graham has used but not explained.

What is an `embargo’ in the first place, for instance? According to the Horses’ Mouth – the English Football League:

“Embargoes are intended to operate as a deterrent against Clubs defaulting on financial obligations to clubs or players, and/or breaching other key relevant regulations e.g. reporting on financial matters. “

What is an embargo supposed to do?

“An embargo prevents a Club from strengthening its team or adding to its playing staff costs until such time as it has met its existing financial obligations and/or the Club has rectified the relevant breach of EFL regulation(s).“

So has the club now met its `existing financial obligations’? Has the club `rectified the relevant breach of EFL regulation’? (The EFL very helpfully explains that Morecambe are in breach of `Regulation 17.3 – Amounts Due to the HMRC’).

Your guess is as good as mine and I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect a little more clarity from the Board about this specific issue so we all know both what the situation currently is and when the embargo is likely to be lifted: this is an absolute key to the continuation of the club as a viable business entity.

I think we can all accept that there might be valid commercial reasons why the Board are keeping all these details close to their chest – and will continue to do so. If that is the case, we must respect their judgement. But I just wonder if a little more information might at least clarify things.

The Ownership.

Everything that has gone wrong at Morecambe Football Club over the last three seasons and longer can be traced back to one causal source: the ownership by the Bond Group. Jason Whittingham apparently claims on their behalf that they are willing and eager to sell the club. But if they have ever told anyone the price they expect to get for it, I – for one – know nothing about it.  If I had a car to sell – a three-year old Ford Puma for instance – I would expect to have it independently valued and take whatever offer was closest to that valuation. The internet tells me I could realistically expect to be paid anything between seventeen thousand and twenty-two grand tops depending on the model and its condition. But if I was to say – “I won’t take less than fifty thousand pounds for it!” – I’m not going to get any buyers, am I? – a brand new top-of-the-range Puma will set you back a lot less than this: thirty-two thousand pounds. So for Whittingham to say he wants to sell is not enough on its own. We need to know – as fans who could conceivably buy him out – how much he wants for our club. Other interested parties also need to know the asking price. We need to know if Whittingham’s estimation of the worth of an asset which lost a lot of its value when the club was relegated last year has been adjusted to allow for this downturn in the Shrimps’ fortunes. But we don’t know any of this. And in my view, this is largely the fault of the

English Football League.

I make no apology for repeating something I wrote about the self-styled (and self-appointed) `guardians’ of the English game in one of my final match reports:

In their infinite wisdom, the English Football League has decided to deduct three points from the Shrimps’ total this season for technical offences that the Manager, the team and the fanbase have no responsibility for – nor any control over either.

Deducting points is a blunt instrument which punishes the wrong people for the wrong things. The EFL are a dab hand at this. By applying points deductions and other punitive sanctions to them, they have effectively accelerated (and arguably actually guaranteed) the demise of clubs such as Darlington, Macclesfield and Bury in the past by forcing them into a downward spiral of fines and relegation. The EFL typically sit in their Ivory Tower and hold their hands up and say that the consequences are nothing to do with them when their rules are broken – but that’s not good enough. When football clubs run into financial problems because of the failures of individual owners, it is them who should be punished, not the clubs themselves. The EFL might claim that the further part of the punishment they announced this week does exactly that:

“Owner Mr Jason Whittingham has also been fined £10,000, payable immediately, whilst a suspended fine of £20,000 has also been imposed, to be activated on 31 May 2024, unless he complies in full with his obligation to replenish the Deposit Account under the terms of the Agreed Decision dated 17 August 2023.”

Surely this punishment doesn’t go far enough, though. The EFL – as the self-styled `custodians’ of the Beautiful Game – should disbar Whittingham as a fit or proper person to own any EFL club at any time. This should have happened when Rugby Union Premiership club Worcester Warriors was effectively destroyed by his Bond Group last year. So why didn’t the EFL act then? That way, the club could already be rid of the anchor it has had tied around its neck for years now altogether – and good riddance.

But being so dynamic needs a strategy and lawyers and probably a rule change into the bargain as well, doesn’t it? Clearly though, the EFL’s executives don’t see themselves to be there to do anything so progressive or revolutionary. No – their Job Descriptions are apparently designed to allow them to just sit back and watch Rome burn as they continue to draw the  huge salaries they receive every year. Why not? – every other incarnation of the Football League and its reactionary, stuck-in-the-mud leadership always has. Their salaries are always paid in full and dead on time every month, aren’t they? – and that’s obviously all that matters to these overpaid sinecures at the end of the day…

Morecambe Manager Ged Brannan has obviously had a lot to say about this over the last few days. One thing he said was:

“Every point that we get, we’ve worked hard for this season. And for people to say it doesn’t really matter because we can’t get in the Play-Offs anyway: what a load of rubbish that is. You go in the Changing Rooms and tell the lads that – they’re absolutely devastated down there.”

Team Captain Farrend Rawson is one of the people he was talking about. Faz has not been quiet about the tricky ownership situation at Morecambe. He told the BBC earlier in the week:

“My message would be if your heart’s not it and it’s not making sense any more then don’t hold on to it. He is where he is because he’s done well but make it easier for someone to come in and give the lads a chance to build and kick on. On the pitch we’ve just fallen short but for the club to grow and sustain I think the owner needs to make the right decision. You’re seeing it too many times in the Football League and higher. Good clubs with a good fanbase and good people around the place are the ones who get affected. If the right decisions aren’t made at the top then other people suffer for it. Something needs to happen for this club to kick on.”

Something indeed does need to happen for our club and English football in general to kick on. Very sadly, if we wait for the EFL – proud custodians of a Closed Shop which excluded clubs like ours for decades until relatively recently – to address any of the plethora of issues which are currently blighting the English game, we will be waiting forever. It’s about time it was abolished and replaced with an organisation which is answerable to the clubs in its three divisions which can hire and sack its executive. Only then will there be any real change which will benefit clubs in the situation that ours finds itself in currently.

The three point deduction saw Morecambe fall two places to fourteenth place in League Two without a ball being kicked. Their Play-Off hopes – slim at best before the forced loss of the equivalent of a win – have disappeared altogether now because of the whim of a reckless owner and the autocratic powers of an unelected body in the shape of the English Football League. It stinks; it really stinks…

I’ve nothing to add to that other than the EFL approved Whittingham and his crew as `fit and proper’ people to own an EFL club in the first place. They demonstrably aren’t. So why don’t the EFL admit their mistake and withdraw their approval of this gentleman and his asset-stripping company? They could have the club independently valued and even buy it themselves as an interim measure – they are rotten with money – and sell it on at a price that covers their costs.

Will that happen? What do you think?…

You have to have an imagination – as opposed to a Rules Book – to think so creatively. Besides which, according to themselves, the EFL don’t make mistakes. Doing something like intervening in a grave situation requires dynamism and a fearlessness to break a few rules. The staid, very conservative EFL are as likely to do that as to declare the Football League a Co-Operative where all the clubs are owned by the fans – and where would we all be then? As long as the current complacent clowns are in charge of an EFL which remains as out-of-date and unfit for purpose as it is at the moment, nothing will change.

Administration.

There’s been a lot of loose talk about Administration and an automatic Twelve Point deduction to start next season on social media in recent times. If it were to happen, what chance would a team without a Manager and just one player at the moment have of surviving at all as an EFL club next season? It would be virtually impossible. But what does `Administration’ actually mean? This is how the British Government currently defines it:

When a company goes into administration, they have entered a legal process (under the Insolvency Act 1986) with the aim of achieving one of the statutory objectives of an administration. This may be to rescue a viable business that is insolvent due to cashflow problems.

An appointment of an administrator (a licensed insolvency practitioner) will be made by directors, a creditor or the court to fulfil the administration process.

The administration puts in place a statutory moratorium (freeze of all business activity). This is a ‘breathing space’ that frees a company from creditor enforcement actions, while financial restructuring plans are prepared to rescue the company as a going concern where possible.  This may take the form of a sale to an unrelated party.

If it cannot be reasonably saved, the administrator will aim to achieve a better return for creditors than would be likely if the company were wound up (without first being in administration).  For example, the company may continue to trade for a period, while seeking a sale of the business or assets such as:

• goodwill
• trademarks
• patents
• equipment
• the customer database
• software
• content or websites

Or administration can be used to simply liquidate assets and distribute the proceeds to secured or preferential creditors where neither of the first 2 objectives are feasible.

So if Morecambe FC was to go into Administration, what would happen then?

Once in administration, a company can continue to trade. But daily management and control passes from the directors to the appointed administrator.

Within 8 weeks it is the administrators’ role to formulate administration proposals. Creditors are then asked to vote by a decision procedure to approve the administrators’ proposals.

If the administration involves a sale of all or part of the company’s business, the proceeds (after the costs of the procedure) will be distributed to creditors in a statutory order of priority. There are specific rules regarding distributions however the general order is:

1. Secured creditors
2. Preferential creditors (employees)
3. Unsecured creditors (trade creditors, suppliers, customers, HMRC)
4. Shareholders or members

The likelihood of the dividend and its timescale will be in the administration proposals.

The Upside of this would be that the Bond Group would no longer own the club – it would become probably its biggest secured creditor. But Administration would also mean that the current Board would have no status within the club anymore – and no input into any decisions concerning the club’s future such as a budget; playing staff; other staff or what assets of the club could be sold to meet the various bills – including the Administrators’ own eventually – and that alone will be massive.  So Morecambe could end up completely bust or – worse still – no longer commercially viable, in which case all its assets would be put up for sale and Morecambe Football Club would cease to exist. Don’t think it can’t happen – Bury, Darlington and Hereford United are three clubs which immediately spring to mind where exactly this scenario came to pass. Where are they all now? So anybody that thinks that Administration is a neat way to get rid of the Bond Group must remember the old adage: ”The Operation was a hundred percent successful in every way – but the patient unfortunately didn’t survive it.”

The Players.

Most normal football clubs publish their Retained List of players as soon as any individual season is over. But Morecambe’s finances are so chaotic that they haven’t done so yet. (Apparently, they have until May 18^th to submit it.) Time moves on though – and by that date, it will be almost time to write a Preview of next season. So although I can’t tell you anything about a Retained Squad – other than Charlie Brown is contracted to play for Morecambe next season – I can at least share with you the results of various categories of Player of the Season. This is how the club’s website announced this news to the world:

On Saturday 20 April, we held our End of Season Awards to celebrate the men’s first team, the women’s first team and our academy scholars’ achievements over the season

The event brought together players, staff, and supporters from all parts of the Shrimps family, and was the perfect opportunity to reflect on another successful season across the football club.

Les Taylor won the Club Person of the Year award, following his hard work in developing the Former Players Association.

Next up was the Director’s Special Award of the Year, which was won by young drummer Charlie for his efforts in backing the boys home and away!

Community Sports Champion of the Season was won by Farrend Rawson, who also scooped the EFL League Two Player in the Community at the EFL Community Awards 2024.

Next, it was time for the Academy awards. Adam Fairclough won the Academy First Year Player of the Season award, after making his debut for the first team a few weeks ago.

Academy Second Year Player of the Season was awarded to Nathan Mercer, after a strong campaign for the U18s.

Lennon Dobson went home with the Academy Goal of the Season award, thanks to his stunning strike from distance against Port Vale.

The women’s team awards followed, with Erin Menzies winning the Women’s Players’ Player of the Season award after a great campaign for the side.

Ellie Townsend won the Women’s Player of the Season award, after a fantastic season on and off the pitch for the women’s team.

The Adam Stutchbury Memorial Trophy Beyond Radio Player of the Season went to full back Joel Senior, after an outstanding season for the Shrimps.

Next up, Senior added another to his collection, winning Sardines’ Player of the Season.

The Golden Boot went to striker Michael Mellon, who scored 15 goals during the first half of the season before being recalled by his parent club.

Goal of the Season went to midfielder Jacob Davenport, following his last-minute free kick winner against Tranmere Rovers.

The penultimate award of the night was the Players’ Player of the Season, Joel Senior yet again taking to the stage for his third award.

Finally, it was time for the Fans’ Player of the Season, in conjuction with the Shrimps Trust. The Joel Senior show continued, and the defender made his way to the stage to collect the final award of the night.

I would like to add my own congratulations to everyone who won an award – and many of those who didn’t. We saw some tremendous performances from many individual players during the last campaign. Jordan Slew is my own personal Player of the Season for what it’s worth, with David Tutonda and many others running him close. I hope that everyone who helped make the latest campaign a relative success on the field against all the odds will be remembered long after they have left the club for pastures new.

In the meantime, have a great summer everybody and be kind to each other. It’s good to see – at very long last – the Shrimps Trust beginning to communicate regularly and effectively with its members and the Board of the club. I would like to echo their appeal here to members to complete and return the questionnaires they have been circulating in recent times – it won’t take you long to do so. It’s also a very positive step forward that they have taken-up the mantle of leading public protests against the Bond Group. Remember:`A House divided cannot stand’: we need to stick together as Morecambe fans – whether Trust members or not – and ride out the current storm. Keep the faith. Up the Shrimps!

Cheerio for now – Roger Over and Out.