Uncertainty continues as more Weasel Words do nothing to help…

It’s exactly three weeks ago today since Morecambe FC owner Jason Whittingham publicly assured everyone that he would sell the club to Panjab Warriors – the EFL-approved bidder. He even specified the date:

“Bond Group Investments LTD and Panjab Warriors Sports LTD have today agreed final terms for the transfer of ownership and sale of Morecambe Football Club Limited, subject to contract, and intend to complete the sale of Morecambe Football Club Limited on Monday 7th July 2025.”

But he was lying.

If he had done, the staff and players would have been paid immediately and the crisis he has single-handedly created at the club over the last two and a half years and counting would now be resolved. But he didn’t sign and a string of further promises he has made to interested parties and the media subsequently have all come to nothing, as predicted on these pages a long time ago.

Weasels are shy creatures which prefer the shadows and you will never see them out in the open, where they feel vulnerable. Some humans have similar traits. One I can think of is just like this. Jason Whittingham is media-shy and hasn’t shown his shifty face in public for longer than anyone cares to remember. The Shrimps Trust have described him as `uncommunicative’; the ex-Board at Morecambe have said numerous uncomplimentary things about him and the Warriors have consistently complained that he has not responded to their queries over the last three weeks. The group published the following statement as long ago as 18th July:

This was followed by a Statement from the Shrimps Trust on 23rd July 2025:

“Dear members,

The Trust would like to update members and fans alike on our actions, and the updates throughout the past couple of days.

Bond Group

The Shrimps Trust have had some communication with Bond Group. This has been in the form of messages in which Jason Whittingham assures us daily that a sale will complete soon – either to the ‘new consortium’ or to Panjab Warriors. We have stressed to Jason on behalf of everyone that we have heard this for weeks now, and how dire the consequences will be should the sale not happen. Bond Group continue to claim they want a sale. Given the past few weeks, we hold little store in the updates we are receiving.

Regulators

The Trust were booked in to have a meeting with the National League on Tuesday. Frustratingly, this did not take place. From conversations we have had with them, it seems their regulations aren’t fit to support our club at present. We remain in contact with them and the Football Association, and are exploring every possible angle. We have also asked the NL to be transparent about what deadlines there are on this situation being resolved. Their response is that this is not set in stone, so we need to work with them on a flexible basis. Further updates will follow when we pin them down to meet.  

Panjab Warriors

We understand PW remain in contact with the NL and Bond Group. We have not had confirmation over whether legal proceedings have begun. PW are working with all parties on this to ensure that next steps are taken correctly, and to make sure that the implication of any action is fully understood.

Media

You will have seen the Football Governance Bill passed into law this week. We remain in contact with our MP and the DCMS, and thank Lisa Nandy MP and Stephanie Peacock MP for keeping Morecambe FC at the forefront of their interviews on this topic. Our Chair spoke to Keiran Maguire and Kevin Hunter-Day of the ‘Price of Football’ podcast on Tuesday, and we thank them for their time. This interview will go out on Thursday morning. We also remain in contact with multiple media outlets. Thank you to all the mainstream media who have worked with on this so far. Our contact is media@shrimpstrust.co.uk for anyone who wants to get in touch.

Football Governance

We have a meeting with (Morecambe MP) Lizzi Collinge on Thursday afternoon, at which we hope a representative from the DCMS (Department for Culture, Media and Sport) will be in attendance. We will be continuing to work through the roadmap for the introduction of the Football Governance Act, and how quickly it can support Morecambe FC.

AGM

Our AGM is booked for 31 July at 6.30pm for a 6.45pm start at the Strathmore Hotel. This will be a formal meeting with a business agenda to get through. While we will be taking questions from members, the focus of this meeting must be on the formal constitutional matters the Trust has to legally complete each year.

Note: Due to venue size, we only have space for 100 members at the AGM. Nominated Trustees are already registered so please just come along. A booking link will be posted for other members to register on in due course. We will need to work on a ‘no ticket, no entry’ basis on the night.

We are pursuing all lines of action/pressure that we can at present. We will update when practicably possible.

Thanks as ever for your ongoing support.”

On the same day, local solicitors Wright & Lord opened-up a new front against Morecambe’s recalcitrant owner and this statement brings us right up to date: Monday 28th July 2025:

The day before – Sunday 27th July 2025 – Mr Whittingham took the very unusual step of speaking to us all on the Sabbath (do his delusions really stretch that far? – you have to wonder…) via the official Morecambe FC website:

“Dearly Beloved Bond Group Investments has continued to work with the Consortium led by Jonny Cato in their efforts to acquire the majority shareholding in Morecambe Football Club.

Whilst talks are ongoing, it is clear that continual negative press statements impacting on the club, have given them cause for concern and pause.

Alongside this, Bond Group had agreed to an offer, made by a Sikh representative of, and on behalf of, the Panjab Warriors, and are ready to sell on that basis.

Despite numerous attempts over the past week to contact Panjab Warriors regarding their offer, and our willingness to complete, we have not heard from them.

We now urge the Panjab Warriors to make contact in an effort to complete on the sale.

Jason Whittingham,
Bond Group Investments LTD“

Well, well, well…  

So the failure of the club to be sold has nothing to do with our owner. What a surprise. It is all the fault of Panjab Warriors. Oh – and also the press for making `negative press statements’ and scaring off other potential buyers. Gosh – there are some nasty and thoughtless people in the world, aren’t there, Jason?

Characteristically, though, Mr Whittingham very conveniently ignores any attempt to explain why he didn’t sell to the Warriors when a contract was on the table three weeks ago. This is absolutely key to the current round of obfuscation and avoidance by the Essex `businessman’.

Why is he talking about a `Sikh representative’. Does that have any significance?

If this person was Jewish or Catholic, for instance, would that make any difference to anything? So why mention it?

Also: why has he chosen to publish this latest work of fiction at this particular juncture?

I think the National League might provide the explanation. They published this statement on Friday, 25th July 2025:

Blaming Panjab Warriors for being unresponsive seems to be the straw Jason is clutching at to explain why he hasn’t sold the club.

He doesn’t have a lot of choice. Without Morecambe Football Club – as we have considered at length on these pages – his Bond Group is in serious financial trouble. But even with it, it seems that his business goose is cooked: the one that laid the golden eggs for him to keep his head above water for the last goodness knows how long is now struggling to keep afloat itself.

Clearly, he won’t be able to satisfy the National League’s Club Compliance and Licensing Committee that he can provide the funds needed for the Shrimps to complete the season which starts in less than two weeks’ time. You can’t simply lie your way out of a situation where the National League’s accountants and lawyers will want to see concrete proof of the Bond Group’s financial ability to bankroll the club for whole of next season. Writing the first thing that comes into his thick head on the Morecambe website is one thing but talking to serious people who want serious answers to serious questions is quite another.

So with Wright & Lord answering the question posed in my last posting:  Is it too late for Administration? ­ with a resounding Yes it is; the Writing was well and truly On The Wall for the club long before this afternoon’s meeting took place.

So what happened?

According to the club’s official website this evening at 2100hrs, nothing happened – it doesn’t even merit a mention.

So let’s rely on the BBC to update the situation for us. With a heading Morecambe suspended from the National League it reported at 1551hrs:

“Morecambe have been suspended from the National League with immediate effect and will not play in the division during the first weeks of the new season.

The Lancashire club were given a deadline of midday on Monday by the league surrounding their compliance with its rules and were warned they would face “possible further sanctions”.

The league’s compliance and licensing committee met again to discuss the club’s response and has now suspended Morecambe until it meets again on 20 August.

“It was decided further sanctions must be imposed, with the club’s membership to be suspended with immediate effect,” a National League statement said.

It added: “The club will also remain under embargo ahead of the new season.”

“Morecambe Football Club will also be removed from the National League Cup for the forthcoming season.

“The committee will meet again on Wednesday, August 20 to determine if outstanding items have been satisfied, and to decide the club’s ability to retain membership in the competition.”

That means Morecambe’s fixture away to Boston United on 9 August, their first home game against Brackley Town on 16 August, and the trip to Scunthorpe United on 19 August, will no longer take place.”

The BBC also quoted Tarnia Elsworth, Chair of the Shrimps Trust, whose role in trying to mediate this long-running dispute has been absolutely vital. She said:

“’We have to prepare for the worst while hoping for the best.’

“The National League has been abundantly patient over the last four weeks and as generous as they can be with the sanctions, but it has a league to protect the integrity of. We’re grateful it’s a suspension at this stage and not an expulsion. It buys us a bit of time to get the sale over the line.

This deal has been ongoing for three years. Just as we think it’s done there’s another chapter in the saga.

As things stand, we have to be very cautious and prepare for the worst while hoping for the best.

We’ve seen other clubs, like Bury and Macclesfield, have suspensions which have been extended into the first six games of the season. It may be that we get a further suspension but we have to prepare for expulsion on the 20 August if the club doesn’t sell.

As a Trust, we always have back-up plans for phoenix clubs and what we’d do if Morecambe FC in its current form stopped trading. If we’re expelled from the National League, that means no football for Morecambe this season and it would mean reforming under a different banner as quickly as possible ready for next season.

Morecambe is a small seaside town and the football club is the glue that holds us all together. Everyone talks about the club.

We’re a deprived area of the country and the economic impact of not having visitors to the town once every fortnight to watch the football, and all of us not coming together in that way, is devastating.

Today is pay day for a lot of our friends and family who work at the club and for the second month, they’ve not been paid.”

In a further update to members, the Trust went into more detail:

I believe that the players – who were apparently training as usual – were sent home this afternoon. There are also rumours that one of them has already left the club but I think we should wait for confirmation of this before jumping to any conclusions about it.

The immediate question is: will the friendly scheduled for Giant Axe tomorrow night still go ahead? Once again, Mr Whittingham’s contempt for the fans is such that he has not bothered to post anything about this either on the website of the club that he still very regrettably owns. Fortunately, the Lancaster City website has more consideration for its own supporters and their neighbours in Morecambe and announced earlier:

“After the National League ruling suspending Morecambe Football Club from the Division, we can confirm the friendly which was due to be played Tomorrow (Tuesday 29th July) has been cancelled.”

So what happens next?

It would help if – for once – we got a straight story from Jason Whittingham. But that’s unlikely given his track record so far.

It would be good, too, to see some more detail of the thinking of the National League’s Club Compliance and Licensing Committee which underpins the decision they made this afternoon.

What assurances – if any – did Jason give them?

Was there any input from Panjab Warriors?

The only good thing about today’s decision is that the National League didn’t expel us altogether. The club – or, in the absence of a Board of Directors – more accurately the Shrimps Trust has just over three weeks to do what it can to persuade the Bond Group to sell our club to Panjab Warriors and stop the appalling game it has been playing for the last few weeks. It’s a poisoned chalice given the principal actor’s deserved reputation for Weasel Words and broken promises.

So we must all wish Tarnia and her team the very best of luck with that…

She has already made the point that one man’s intransigence and dishonesty is continuing to cause widespread damage to countless other people’s lives. This in itself is shameful – and the fact that this conscienceless individual is able to do this with apparent impunity is an actual scandal. The people he is hurting – unlike himself – are decent, loyal human beings who deserve so much better.

I was at AFC Fylde on Saturday, when Tom White not only led by example on the field but single-handedly created the best chance of the game for Morecambe. He did really well to rob the ball from the Coasters’ Taelor O’Kane in midfield, stride purposefully forward and take a shot which goalkeeper Zak Jones did brilliantly to keep out. So amongst all the doom and gloom, let’s enjoy a tribute to a man who is loyal to the end – just as the rest of us are. Fortunately, not all people are as scummy as someone I can think of from Essex: