Morecambe FC reveal why players were paid late last month

They should have been paid on November 28, only for it to emerge that their wages would be delayed for 48 hours.

It triggered memories for some of the club’s recent financial difficulties but, as Thursday night’s fans forum heard, it is hoped this situation is an exception rather than the norm.

Co-chairman Rod Taylor said: “Why it happened was a very simple circumstance; a transaction issue where money didn’t come in when we thought it was going to.

“The staff were paid but, if it caused the players to lose money through charges on direct debits, we’d have ensured that was taken care of.

“Going forward, we need to make sure it won’t happen again and we have spoken about it.”

Co-owner Colin Goldring added: “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off the bank overdraft in full but the consequence is you use the overdraft if your cash flow drops - but the bank had withdrawn it.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.

“Jason (Whittingham, co-owner) has been working tirelessly to have a cash flow situation in place and we’re a few days away from having that in place.

“If there’s a problem, we can dip into that and make payments as you would with an overdraft.”

Speculation had mounted over the situation by the club’s silence until Mr Taylor confirmed to the Visitor that wages had been paid on the 30th.

However, while those present at the forum admitted they would have liked a statement outlining the issue, Mr Taylor and Mr Goldring were split as to the benefit of such a move.

Mr Goldring said: “We are an honest club and it wasn’t a problem.

“Sometimes you can add fuel to the fire if you start talking about things.

“We didn’t want to say we were in trouble but communication is always important and I think that’s a fair point.”

Mr Taylor countered: “I think we could have put something out and I think we have to learn from that.”