Latest news with #MazumaStadium
The Sun
2 days ago
- Business
- The Sun
Calamity club once sponsored by Tyson Fury face being kicked out of league within days as local food bank steps in
MORECAMBE football club are days away from calamity amid their "soul-destroying" financial woes and collapsing takeover deals. The Shrimps face the possibility of being banned from playing their first National League game of the season, which is just three weeks away, after their owners have been unable to pay staff and players. 3 Morecambe are owned by Jason Wittingham's Bong Group Investments, but have been up for sale since 2022. Financial issues in that time has seen the club slapped with transfer embargoes and impacted on-field performances with Morecambe relegated twice in the last three years. Now players and staff are seeing their livelihoods impacted as the club have been unable to pay wages. The club's playing staff were paid just a third of their wages in June and will be able to leave Morecambe for free if they are not paid their next paycheck by Friday. Financial issues have also meant that school proms, weddings and wakes that were scheduled to be held at their ground, the Mazuma Stadium, have been cancelled. The dire financial straits have seen a local food bank offer to help employees struggling to make ends meet, while an Indian restaurant fed players for free earlier this month, according to the Guardian. Fans have even tried to raise funds for the players themselves, generating £362 in a whip-round that was politely refused by the team. Lifelong fan David Freer, 62, has described the whole ordeal as "soul-destroying" to the Guardian. 3 Fans have been left in the dark as a public war has played out between the club's current owners, their prospective buyers and the board of directors. The Bond Group had previously announced their intentions to sell the club to London-based investment firm Panjab Warriors - who have since loaned £6million to Morecambe. However, Panjab Warriors have since accused Bond Group of "deliberately jeopardising the very existence of the club in a last-ditch effort to alter terms that were already agreed". And things came to a head when Whittingham announced last week that he is selling the club to a mystery third party and not the Panjab Warriors - who had already been ratified by the EFL. SunSport have contacted Morecambe and the National League for comment. Labour MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale, Lizzi Collinge, suggested that Whittingham is using the club to leverage his own finances. Using parliamentary privilege in the Commons last week, she said: "I suspect that Jason Whittingham has built a house of cards, and it is now falling down around his ears. 'Morecambe FC is being held hostage, and it breaks my heart … The likes of Jason Whittingham should never have been allowed to buy a football club.' Panjab Warriors have also announced that is is considering legal action against the Bond Group for possible "misrepresentation and bad faith dealing'. The club is on the brink of collapse and could be the latest to fall victim to the gaping holes in rules surrounding football governance. It all comes just four years after Morecambe were playing at the highest level they ever have in their history in League One. The Shrimps have even had sponsorship from local fan Tyson Fury in the past. Former boxing heavyweight champion Fury has even floated the idea of purchasing the club himself in the past. Speaking to TalkSPORT in 2022, he said: "I'm thinking about buying Morecambe Football Club, they're in League One at the moment. "So I was thinking I invest X amount of millions in them. Basically throw it at them and keep them going up. "I've been offered to buy Morecambe Football Club. I own all the training facilities anyway and the training gym. So who knows? "You might be looking at a football club owner."
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
‘It's soul-destroying': takeover crisis leaves Morecambe FC on the brink
In the century since it was founded, only a world war has stopped play at Morecambe football club. But the 105-year-old institution is days away from collapse amid the 'unfolding disaster' of a takeover deal. The Shrimps, as they are affectionately known, are the latest victims of lax football governance rules, after similar crises at clubs including Wigan Athletic, Bolton Wanderers, Sheffield Wednesday and Bury FC, one of the oldest in the world. 'It's soul-destroying,' said David Freer, 62, a lifelong fan who has commentated on Morecambe games for 12 years for the Football League. As recently as 2021, the club were holding their own in the third tier of English football – their highest-ever ranking. Morecambe were relegated for the first time in their history in 2023 and then again last season. Now there is a real possibility the club will be banned from playing their first game in the National League, which kicks off in three weeks, and players will be allowed to leave the club for nothing if they are not paid by Friday. 'It is two minutes to midnight and it's just terrifying,' said Freer. The club's playing staff were only paid a third of their wages in June, and school proms, weddings and wakes due to be held at Morecambe's 6,400-capacity Mazuma Stadium were abruptly cancelled. The local food bank and Citizens Advice branch have offered help to employees, while an Indian restaurant fed them all for nothing earlier this month. A whip-round by fans raised £361 for the players, who politely declined the donation, which will instead go to the supporters' group the Shrimps Trust. Joanna Young, the chief executive of Citizens Advice North Lancashire, said: 'We've had contact from people who have been affected by what's happening at the football club, who find themselves in a very difficult financial position. 'Most people budget for what they're expecting to receive. Receiving a third of your wages – that just pitches people into financial crisis.' Lizzi Collinge, the Labour MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale, said she had wept and barely slept over the 'unfolding disaster' at the club. There was a 'very real risk' that the club would cease to exist in a matter of days, she added. Morecambe's takeover drama began in 2023 when the owner, Jason Whittingham's Bond Group Investments, announced it was selling to the London-based investment firm Panjab Warriors, which then loaned £6m to the Shrimps. Two years of financial turmoil followed, with unpaid bills, sackings and resignations. It came to a head last week when Whittingham announced he was selling the club to a mystery third party and not to Panjab Warriors. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion In the Commons last week, Collinge used parliamentary privilege to raise a suspicion that Whittingham is using Morecambe to leverage his own finances. 'I suspect that Jason Whittingham has built a house of cards, and it is now falling down around his ears,' she said. 'Morecambe FC is being held hostage, and it breaks my heart … The likes of Jason Whittingham should never have been allowed to buy a football club.' Panjab Warriors said this week it was considering legal action against Bond Group Investments, accusing it of possible 'misrepresentation and bad faith dealing'. Whittingham has not commented on the allegations. Morecambe FC was approached by the Guardian for comment. Tarnia Elsworth, the chair of the Shrimps Trust, said the end of the club would devastate Morecambe, a seaside resort that relies on the thousands of football fans who visit the Mazuma Stadium every year. Football was a 'common thread' that held the town together, she said. 'It's the one place where 3,000 people meet regularly to share experience. I've got members who've been doing that for 60 years. For some people it's the only contact they have with other people.' Outside the stadium, lifelong fan Mike Gibson, 58, said he had been watching his beloved Shrimps for 43 years. 'All that time could just disappear and could all be ripped away from you,' he said. 'It just feels like losing a family member. It's a deep part of your life.'
