The Depressing Dismantling of Morecambe FC – Opinion

Modern football is eating itself alive. More and more clubs are going to the wall and going bust. Since the turn of the millennium, 7 clubs have been relegated from the EFL and have become defunct shortly afterwards. Plenty of others have gone through serious financial difficulties. It seems no sooner has one club been saved, than another gets into trouble.

But whilst the likes of Bury, Southend and Scunthorpe have gone through very public issues, one team has seemed to pass quietly under the radar as a crisis club that nobody is paying attention to: Morecambe FC.

As with any club, the story of Morecambe’s worrying plight is not a sudden one out of the blue. It’s come from years of brewing issues and tensions. So, what is going on with the North West club and what does the future hold for them?

Context

Up until 2018, there was nothing to be concerned about with the goings on at Morecambe. After a slow and steady rise during the 90s and early 00s, the club were promoted to the EFL for the first time in their history in 2007. They would remain in L2 for the next 11 years, only once making the play-offs and several times flirting with relegation. But they stubbornly remained and constantly defied the odds as one of the smallest teams in the 92.

They enjoyed stability in the dugout, with them only having 3 managers between 1994 and 2019. The last of the 3, Jim Bentley, did a good job of building solid but limited sides that often finished closer to the bottom of League Two than the top.

The club looked in good health when they moved into their new stadium, the Globe Arena, in 2010. However, the ownership issues have existed since around 2016 when a number of owners came and went. Fast forward to May 2018 and the current owners the Bond Group took over the running of the club.

All seemed well at first. Whilst Bentley departed in 2019, the club brought in Derek Adams after his recent sacking by Plymouth. After barely keeping them up in 2019-20, they went on a shock promotion run under Adams in 20-21, finishing 4th and going up via the play-offs to League One for the first time in their history.

The feel-good story didn’t last for long though. Adams left shortly after the play-off win to take the job at Bradford. He would last just 8 months there. 2 big players, Carlos Mendes Gomes and Sam Lavelle, would also depart. They would survive the 21-22 season but only just, with the contributions of the likes of Cole Stockton, Adam Phillips and Anthony O’Connor amongst others being key factors.

Adams’ replacement Stephen Robinson hadn’t worked out and Adams was back only 8 months after he left. But as they geared up for another season in League One, the Bond Group formally announced they were planning to sell the club in the summer of 2022. As the 22-23 wore on and Morecambe continued to battle against relegation, no buyer for the club was forthcoming. Potential options like Tyson Fury and an Asian businessman by the name of Sarbjot Johal have been rumoured as interested, but nothing concrete has been forthcoming.

The club eventually succumbed to relegation last summer and whilst the Bond Group once again promised funds to see them through the 23-24 season, uncertainty remains to this day over what the future holds for the club.

The Rebuild Begins

Still, even under the cloud of a wantaway owner and no buyers seemingly out there, Adams, along with head of recruitment Greg Strong, went about rebuilding their team. The club caught the headlines when they announced that every single one of their out-of-contract players, 14 in total, were being released without even an offer on the table to any of them. It left them with just 6 players under contract.

However, Adams and Strong didn’t let the scale of the rebuild deter them. By the end of June, they had 7 new players signed. The only notable thing about each of them was that they all signed 1-year contracts. More players arrived and by the time the summer transfer window shut, they had signed 15 players to bring the squad total up to 21.

A mixed start suddenly takes off

The Shrimps had a mixed start to the season. 4 wins from their first 10 games certainly was above what most pundits had predicted for them and they sat 12th heading into October. But in October they exploded, winning 4 straight games and pushing them up to 6th. Adams looked set to do it again and mount another play-off push despite being written off as relegation fodder.

His recruitment looked stellar, especially his loan signings. Michael Mellon from Burnley was banging in the goals upfront. At the back, James Connolly was anchoring the defence. Eli King was pulling the strings in midfield. Tom Bloxham from Shrewsbury was giving them a threat out wide.

The permanent signings were decent too. They managed to get a tune out of Jordan Slew. The likes of JJ McKiernan, Stuart Moore and Joel Senior all proved hits. The young squad, based around a core of 7 players aged 25 or under, was hard working, together and punching above their weight. Even with the cloud of the lack of a takeover, it seemed like those troubles could be forgotten about and the fans could enjoy the football at least.

The House of Cards Comes Tumbling Down

Unfortunately, though, a 2-1 FA Cup win over Lincoln in early November would prove to be their high point. The first domino to fall was Adams, who found an offer to return to his former club Ross County too tempting and departed on the 20th of November. Coach Ged Brennan stepped up to take the team and was quickly given the manager’s position, an odd choice given his 2 games as interim manager were 2 defeats, including a 6-0 drubbing at Wrexham.

The next to depart was Strong, who left less than 2 weeks ago to join Adams in Scotland. But if those 2 departures were bad, then it was about to get a lot worse.

Due to Morecambe’s tight finances, Adams and Strong had to sign a number of loanees to fill the squad. As we’ve seen a lot recently, clubs have been exercising their rights to early recalls. And in Morecambe’s case, that has been particularly devastating.

To date(January 10th), they have seen Connolly, King and Mellon all depart back to their parent clubs. Another less-used loanee, Ethan Walker, has also gone. With those 4 departures, 17 of their 35 goals and 3 of their assists have all gone. Tom Bloxham was the last to go as he was recalled back to Shrewsbury, taking with him another 4 assists.

Couple those losses with the long-term injuries to Stuart Moore, Donald Love and McKeirnan and it has been a thoroughly depressing last 2 months for Morecambe fans.

All the departures and uncertainty have had an impact on the pitch. They did enjoy some FA Cup success, beating another League One team in Wycombe on the road in round 2, with them eventually bowing out against Swansea last weekend. But in the league, they’ve won just 1 of their last 10 league games, dropping from 6th to 17th. What has turned from a potential shock promotion push has now turned into a survival mission.

What’s Next?

As I mentioned, it feels like the priority is staying in the EFL. With their financial situation already precarious, dropping into the conference would be a disaster for them. But what of the ownership situation? Well, over 18 months since the club has been on the market, only Johal, with questionable funding at his disposal, seems to have come forward.

The future looks very murky indeed. Only Adam Mayor is signed beyond the end of this season. Questions over the Bond Group’s intentions should a buyer not be found remain unclear. With their best players leaving, the team struggling and the off-field situation not looking good, there is every chance that Morecambe, whose proud history goes back over 100 years, could be about to meet the same fate as Bury and Macclesfield.