The Political Economy of Football V2

At all levels of football lawyers are the key players these days and Morecambe are taking legal advice before responding to a censure notice issued by the independent football regulator, the first of its kind under the new regulatory regime The IFR claims that two of the club's directors, Katjie Singh Morni and Harjit Singh, are in breach of Section 65 of the Football Governance Act. It is stated that they responded to requests for information about the running of the club a month late and without fully addressing the questions asked. The club's response is here:  https://morecambefc.com/news/independent-football-regulator-warning-notice-1784232143191

The new independent football regulator could launch its first significant action after the troubled Lancashire club Morecambe appointed a senior executive who has been banned by Guernsey’s financial authorities for involvement in a fraudulent investment fund. Steve Dewsnip, 59, was appointed by Morecambe as their chief operating officer on February 19. The announcement came only days before the club were handed a transfer embargo by the National League for failing to comply with its financial rules. Dewsnip was director of a company which collapsed in 2016 leaving investors £37m out of pocket.  It was subsequently found guilty of conducting a fraudulent Ponzi scheme.   In August 2024 the Guernsey Financial Services Commission banned Dewsnip from involvement in a regulated entity. Morecambe had hoped that last August's takeover by Punjab Warriors would end a difficult time for the Shrimpers who are fighting relegation from the National League.   They had been pre...

The board of the Shrimps Trust at Morecambe have written to the club’s owners, Panjab Warriors, and the club’s chairman Kuljit Singh Momi, expressing their concern at the direction of the Lancashire club. The open letter details a number of concerns relating to both on-pitch and off-pitch matters, with the trust claiming that promises made have not seen results delivered or communication with fans. The new ownership group took over at the start of the season following a long campaign by fans to oust previous owner Jason Whittingham, who presided over their relegation from the EFL. Supporters hoped that after this period of turmoil which saw club wages going unpaid, a gutting of the club’s playing staff, and their early fixtures in the National League suspended, that new ownership would steady the ship. Now the club find themselves in the relegation places of the National League. The trust, however, are concerned that promised recruitment, strengthened board governance and a l...

Morecambe face expulsion from English football’s league pyramid after the fifth-tier National League suspended the Lancashire-based club with immediate effect because of their dire financial position. In a short statement, the league said its Compliance and Licensing Committee had met on Monday afternoon to debate Morecambe’s ability to start the season. The club have been in football’s Emergency Room for years but the crisis has deepened in recent weeks after a protracted takeover by London-based sports investment company Panjab Warriors stalled and a new potential buyer emerged. With Morecambe already under a transfer embargo, the National League announced on Friday that it was effectively giving current owner Bond Group Investments until noon to sell the club. But that deadline came and went, giving the league no option but to suspend the club until August 20, which means their first three fixtures of the new season — away at Boston United, home to Brackley Town and away at ...

The baffling saga at Morecambe continues.   Punjab Warriors were approved purchasers but were sidelined by a new consortium:  https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cdezw4g47w6o Meanwhile fans fear for the future of their club:  https://www.beyond.radio/news/local-news/interviews-anger-frustration-sadness-fans-unite-at-morecambe-fc-over-club-crisis/

The end of May will mark 1,000 days since Morecambe were put up for sale by Bond Street Investments, a company set up by Colin Goldring and Jason Whittingham. The pair previously owned Worecster Warriors, a rugby union Premiership side who were wound up in 2022 over an unpaid tax bill. Whittingham, now in sole charge of the Shrimps, told the BBC in January that he can't wait to get out of Morecambe. The problem is that no one wants to get in, notes Chris Dunlavy in The Non-League Paper.    Fizzy drink entrepreneur Sarbjot Gorbal had plenty of bling (Givemchy track suits) but was set packing by the EFL when he could not show proof of funds. Punjab Warriors are the latest hopefuls and have been interested for ten months.  Frontman Kuljeet Singh Momi claims to have provided interest free loans to the club since October 2023.   A so-called 'positive' meeting with the EFL in March seems to have led to no progress. The underlying point is that the financial landscape ...

Writing on his The Ugly Game blog last week, the excellent Martin Calladine revealed the identity of the man currently trying to buy League Two (fourth-tier) side Morecambe: Kuljeet Singh Momi, a 48-year-old businessman with nine active directorships of London-based firms. There is nothing particularly exciting about any of these companies but the same cannot be said about some of the firms of which Singh Momi has previously been a director, as they include several with close links to Sarbjot Johal, the 22-year-old “entrepreneur” who has spent over a year failing to convince the EFL he has the money to buy Morecambe. Singh Momi has not explained why  he  wants to buy Morecambe but has issued a statement via the club website to strongly distance himself from Johal and explain that he has been trying to buy the club since the summer. In fact, Singh Momi says, he has been loaning Morecambe money, interest-free, for over a year and has already bought some s...

Morecambe are bottom of League Two, the fourth and last tier of English league football.  Never the biggest of EFL clubs, and rather fittingly nicknamed the Shrimps as a nod to the local fishing industry on the Lancashire coast in the north-west of England, Morecambe have been particularly hamstrung in recent years by their majority owners’ inability — or refusal — to fund them adequately. This happens, unfortunately, but normally owners suck it up, sell the club and move on. The Bond Group, however, has spent the past 26 months trying to sell Morecambe to people who clearly cannot afford the inflated price the Bond Group wants. For much of that period, the intended buyer was Sarbjot Johal, a 21-year-old from Birmingham, in the English Midlands, who claims to have made millions in soft drinks, property and crypto. The Bond Group, where the sole director is a businessman called Jason Whittingham, eventually gave up on Johal ever being able to convince the EFL he had the m...

The takeover of Morecambe FC has been dragging on for months and is still ongoing according to the club's CEO:  https://www.beyondradio.co.uk/news/local-sport/morecambe-fc-sale-process-is-still-ongoing-says-shrimps-ceo/

The EFL has issued a stern statement about requirements for a change of control not being met at Morecambe:  https://www.efl.com/news/2023/february/efl-statement-morecambe More here about the EFL's concerns in relation to the 20 year old prospective owner:  https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/64682241

Has the Covid-19 pandemic changed the balance of power between clubs and players that has been in place since the Bosman ruling 25 years ago.  This claim is being made by lower league managers in relation to out of contract players and may well apply to them:  https://www.lep.co.uk/sport/football/morecambe-boss-sounds-warning-out-contract-players-2891639 A similar point has been made by the Shrewsbury Town chief executive:  https://www.shropshirestar.com/sport/football/shrewsbury-town-fc/2020/06/23/contract-poser-for-shrewsbury-players/ Whether it is the case for elite level players in Europe's top leagues is more open to question.

Morecambe have announced their 2018 results. Income was up 3% due to slightly higher attendances (average crowd 1,946) Turnover was £2.794m with hospitality contributing £539k. No sign of any players bought or sold for cash in the accounts, the club is reliant on borrowings, mainly from owners, which rose by £500k in 2018. The club lost over £1,000 a day. Total wage costs were just over £2m or 74 per cent of turnover. Since year end new owners G50 have put in £750k of shares and committed to fund the club until the end of 2019/20.

With just two sets of accounts to come in, Kieran Maguire of the Price of Football has taken a look at overall League Two results. Clubs made a collective loss of £15 million, signed players for £980,000 and had loans of £63.8 million with Luton Town and Colchester United taking up £48 million of those loans. The average income of League Two clubs is £4.5m with Portsmouth by far the highest at £7.5m. Luton are second and Carlisle third. Average wages are £1,610 this week, but this figure is somewhat misleading as it includes Portsmouth. Maguire also takes a close look at the accounts of Morecambe FC: Bring me sunshine With the second lowest attendances in the division, the club only generated about £848,000 from gate receipts for the season, much lower than that of the large clubs in the division such as Portsmouth (£3.86 million) who have the benefit of larger crowds. It’s always tricky to determine player wages but using his standard formula Maguire estimates the average weekl...

Morecambe's total football income was £1.7 million in 2016/17. This is less than the difference in prize money between finishing 15th and 14th in the Premier League. Turnover was up from £2.5m to £2.7m. Ticket sales accounted for two-thirds of turnover. The total wage bill for the year was £1.9m. Wages were 70 per cent of turnover. The club lost £9,000 a week before tax. The average crowd was 1,704. This was the lowest figure in League Two. Fourteen National League clubs had a higher average. The club had an overdraft of £586k and just over £1m in loans. Control of the company is expected to pass to London-based Bond Group Investments imminently.

Some restraint has been shown in prices for away fans in the Premier League after the 'twenty is plenty' campaign, but Championship prices can still be very high. Some Brentford fans were deterred by having to pay as much as £44 for a seat for the away game at Leeds. Add on travel costs etc. and you wouldn't have much change out of £100. Nevertheless, away attendances in the EFL continue to rise. A health warning: these figures relate to last season when Newcastle United's Toon Army were on the march (73,380 away visits during the season). It's a far cry from the 73 Morecambe fans who travelled to Wycombe Wanderers last Saturday to see their team pull off a surprise 4-2 win featuring a 39-year old striker (Kevin Ellison) who scored twice. The average number of away fans at EFL games last season was just under one thousand, a rise of six per cent. In the Championship the average was 1,571; in League One it was 799; and in League Two 484. Sheffield United had ...