Concerns grow for Morecambe as they face cash crisis and a potential sanction from EFL should the situation fail to improve.
It seems the Shrimps face similar cash flow issues to that of Championship side Wigan Athletic with the Latics being deducted points and face a strong possibility of being relegated to League One.
Alan Nixon revealed this week that players were told they could see the money today or later this week. The delay in authorising the EFL takeover is believed to be the reason.
Football journalist Alan Nixon (@Reluctantnicko) broke the news that players and staff at #Morecambe Football Club haven’t been paid this month’s salary.
He spoke to @BBCLancsSport about the situation#uts | #bbcefl | #bbcfootball
— BBC Sport Lancashire (@BBCLancsSport) March 28, 2023
Players are now nervously waiting to find out if their wages arrive as promised, with a statement issued on Tuesday afternoon.
Jason Whittingham, the ex-Worcester Warriors owner and director of Bond Group Investments (who own Morecambe), said: “Due to the timing over potential acquisition of the club, Bond Group Investments has experienced a delay with incoming funds.
“Whilst we are still hopeful that those funds will come through later today, and payroll will happen as usual on the 28th (March), payments may be delayed but we do still fully expect them to be made this week.”
Twitter users say they’ve heard it all before however, after Whittingham and Colin Goldring were joint owners of Warriors until September when the club was placed into administration.
Whitingham and Goldring had to deal with a variety of issues regarding payments to Worcester Warriors players, staff and officials before the club was closed down in court.
Payouts were delayed and staff and players were only paid a fraction of their salaries at a time. Some of these staff were not paid the full amount due to the bankruptcy of the club.
Whittingham, Colin Goldring and the Warriors were jointly owners until September when they were placed in administration.
Similar problems were faced by Whitingham and Goldring with payments to Worcester Warriors staff and players before the club was closed down in court.
Payouts were delayed, players and staff received a fraction of their salaries at once and some staff were not paid the full amount due to the bankruptcy of the club.
Wages for Morecambe’s players were not paid on time during the 2016-17 season
In November 2018, after only a few months of Bond Group ownership, there was a delayed payment., with wages paid 48 hours late than expected.
39 – The number of days since the @EFL last statement on the @MorecambeFC ownership shambles. Surely if @sarbcapital and Sarbjot Johal have still not satisfied their requirements he should fail the fit and proper owners test. Move on https://t.co/tMwmO3Vpp6
— Opta Morecambe (@OptaMorecambe) March 28, 2023
2 – Not content with killing one communities sports team, Jason Whittingham is trying to ruin a second club within the space of 12 months. Scum https://t.co/4aJOlPo4vk
— Opta Morecambe (@OptaMorecambe) March 28, 2023
Talking about that delay, the club’s co-owner, Colin Goldring, told a fans forum in December 2018: “We’d paid off the bank overdraft in full but the consequence is you use the overdraft if your cash flow drops – but the bank had withdrawn it.
“We monitor cash flow carefully so we know what comes in and what goes out; we planned for money to come in on a certain date but it took two days longer to clear.”
Tuesday’s news comes amid a wait for an update on Sarbjot Johal’s proposal to takeover the Mazuma Stadium.
Bond Group, which has owned Morecambe for nearly five years, prepared the club to be sold September 2022, with Johal initially linked to a buyout at the beginning of the year, then it was announced by Sarb Capital that he had bought equity in the club via his company, Sarb Capital.
Johal later stated that he was willing to submit an application in order to purchase the club, with Johal telling members of the Shrimps Trust that his financial situation was significantly different from the one currently recorded at Companies House.
Morecambe currently sit 22nd in League One, three points behind Oxford United, who still have a game in hands.
If wage issues aren’t resolved quickly, the Lancashire outfit face similar punishment to Wigan, meaning a points deduction is a likely outcome, but the EFL could decide to deduct points for the 2023/24 campaign.
Questions will be asked about whether the EFL could have done more in order to avoid this situation, given the fact that the EFL was unable to stop the directors and owners test.
Wigan were hit with a deduction of 3 points last week, having already failed to pay wages in June, July and October 2022.
They were handed a suspended points deduction in January, which then was imposed following the failure to pay wages for the 4th time in 9 months.
— 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐞 𝐅𝐂 𝐅𝐞𝐞𝐝 🇺🇦 (@MorecambeFCFeed) March 28, 2023
The new EFL chair seems to have sorted most of the confusion around this out since he came in. If applied consistently, a single breach won’t lead to a points deduction.
Is this the owners trying to send a message to the EFL to accept the takeover? I certainly hope not!
— 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐞 𝐅𝐂 𝐅𝐞𝐞𝐝 🇺🇦 (@MorecambeFCFeed) March 28, 2023
This is what social media users said as concerns grow for Morecambe as they face crisis and potential sanction from the EFL according to reports…
@uptheowls76: No doubt the EFL will help your situation by fining you and put you further into debt, theyre fucking useless and sat back while it happened at bury and very nearly Bolton . GL guys
@Zander1967: Thought Morecambe would have got rid months ago ?
@blakebaxter1234: one normal day of Morecambe fc please 😂
@GRad2304: Just shows their “punishment” of being banned as being Co directors for a year was flawed. They’ve still managed to cause damage even without the title
@thompsonm_21: “I think I’ve seen this film before but didn’t like the ending”
@andy_frobisher: We’re fucked…
@Binnsey22: Sounding very familiar
@colboy70: Sounds familiar, i bet its the fans fault the funds arent available as well!
@doogwasps: How is he still in a position to control payment of other people’s salaries with his recent record? I thought he’d been banned.
@holden_pete: Same old story we all heard before. Bet he gets his wages
@neilmchapman1: Caused so much pain and will never understand the full gravity of his greed. Should go to jail.
@KatEasthope: Deja vu much?
@pjbugs05: 🤔🤔 sort of sounds familiar…
@twright1989: Unbelievable – would be a lie.
@BreezeDarren: Don’t believe a word he tells you and that’s someone who’s seen it all as a Worcester warriors fan and look how we’ve ended up
@wattsy1114: Horrendous
@philipfowler: Didn’t one of them fail the fit and proper test? Yet seem to be still running a football club.
@DaveStudland: As a Worcester Warriors fan this is all sadly very familiar. The owner (as the other one is now deemed unfit) is a big fat liar
@MartGillingham: Echoes of past glories …
@brisbrom: Well he’s certainly consistent if nothing else.
@lynn428: Sounds very familiar- poor sods ….
@jem_stein: I ran a business for 10 years and worked bloody hard to ensure that wages were never late. I never realised that paying wages on time was some kind of option that you can take to ease cash flow🧐. Outrageous statement!
@mickeymfc: Ffs here we go again
@merican_dave: We all know how this ends… 🤠
@Thofurnzz: When will the dopey cunt learn that the EFL ain’t letting Sarbjot take over. Needs to listen to the over offers before he fucks the club
@MaxKelsey23: Hope nobody at #morecambefc believe a word from these cowboys
@makende28: To put it simply your club was f*^*^d the day that Whittingham became involved.
Seems very familiar to Worcester Warriors troubles. Very worrying times.
I’m sure Mr Whittingham would have no problem with putting the club into administration if things don’t progress with the sale quickly, and no one is confident about that either! https://t.co/KeewmdUdSY
— Andy Frobisher (@andy_frobisher) March 28, 2023
Pretty sure I’ve seen this nearly word for word a few times 🧐
— Ethan Waller (@beef324) March 28, 2023
Two famous promises, if it’s business “ cheques in the post” if it’s your girlfriend “I promise I won’t etc, etc etc “ If this guy said it was dark at midnight, I would open my curtains to check!! 😣
— Lennie Newman (@LennieNewman1) March 28, 2023
— Jonathon Lance (@jonno_lance) March 29, 2023
— Matt Jones 🦁🤘🏻 (@MattAJones17) March 28, 2023
— Josie Symonds (@jsymonds014) March 28, 2023
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