Morecambe FC chairman: '˜We're not going into administration'

The chairman of Morecambe FC says there is now 'no question' of the club going into administration.
Globe ArenaGlobe Arena
Globe Arena

Peter McGuigan spoke after a board meeting on Monday saying the immediate future of the cash-strapped club had been secured.

Former owner Mr McGuigan said: “We’re not going into administration. We have resolved the issues.

“The mess we’ve inherited has now been resolved.

Morecambe chairman Peter McGuigan.Morecambe chairman Peter McGuigan.
Morecambe chairman Peter McGuigan.
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“We now urge supporters to get behind (manager) Jim Bentley and the team for the rest of the season.”

The Shrimps directors met yesterday with Qatari businessman Abdulrahman Al-Hashemi, the former co-chairman of Morecambe who resigned in December after two months in the role.

At the time of his resignation, Mr Al-Hashemi said he would be working with the board on a consortium basis to refinance and restructure the club.

Mr McGuigan would not comment on whether Mr Al-Hashemi had put money into the club but said “the meeting was very positive”.

Morecambe chairman Peter McGuigan.Morecambe chairman Peter McGuigan.
Morecambe chairman Peter McGuigan.
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The chairman also said he’d been angered by public comments made by Joseph Cala, an Italian businessman who met with Shrimps directors last week for talks on buying the club.

Mr Cala said on Monday he would only invest in Morecambe FC if the board resigned.

He said there had been too much focus on “catering and weddings” at the Globe Arena and not enough on football.

But Mr McGuigan said he was furious at this suggestion.

The chairman also said there was no question of any of the board resigning.

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He said the directors were united and the club “will now focus on playing football”.

Mr McGuigan also said there had been no further developments on the ownership of the club.

On Monday he said there were questions over who owned Morecambe FC after a change in directorship of a company called G50 Holdings Ltd.

Durham-based G50 Holdings bought Mr McGuigan’s shares in Morecambe in September 2016 when the Shrimps’ ownership was supposedly transferred to Brazilian football agent Diego Lemos, who has been absent from the Globe Arena since mid-November.

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But earlier this month the directorship of G50 Holdings transferred into the name of Graham Burnard, a tax consultant.

Companies House, the government’s official business register, now lists Mr Lemos as having resigned as a director of G50 Holdings.

We have tried to contact Mr Lemos through his last known representatives but have received no reply.

There were major concerns that Morecambe Football Club might go bust after staff and player wages were paid late in October, the club was placed under a transfer embargo and a company linked to the Globe Arena – PMG Leisure – went into administration.

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The directors also said that Mr Lemos had failed to provide promised investment.

Football League clubs face a 12 point penalty if they go into administration.

This would have left Morecambe, currently 17th in League 2, under threat of relegation from the Football League back into non-league football.