Fears of the future of National League club Morecambe are growing after their entire board had their roles terminated by the current ownership.
Morecambe were relegated from League Two last season, having spent part of the previous summer transfer window under an embargo.
Once the embargo - imposed for late payments - was lifted in July, the Shrimps announced the signings of 17 players at once.
But despite the best efforts of the new signings and manager Derek Adams, Morecambe dropped out of the EFL with two games to spare.
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Four years ago, the club were promoted to League One after defeating Newport in the play-off final at Wembley.
In normal circumstances, the north-west club would now be preparing for life back in the non-league pyramid - but the reality is significantly different.
The club is majority owned by Bond Group Investments, who were in charge of rugby union side Worcester Warriors when they went into administration in 2022, before then being suspended by the RFU due to financial insolvency.
In January, owner Jason Whittingham claimed that he wanted to sell Morecambe 'as soon as practically possible' at a 'reasonable price'.
On June 6, the Shrimps announced that they had received EFL clearance - Morecambe did not 'officially' drop out of the EFL until July 2 - for the Panjab Warriors consortium to take over the club from Bond Group.
The consortium noted in a statement that they had paid a total sum of £4,430,000 to Bond Group to clear outstanding loans against the club, as well as a further £1.7 million interest-free loan to cover salaries and 'ensure [the club's] ongoing survival'.
However, the situation has taken a considerable turn for the worse over the last 48 hours.
In a sensational statement, Morecambe's board of directors - who work on a voluntary basis - said that Whittingham had, as of Tuesday, been 'again refusing to sell his shares in the club'.
They also stated that Bond Group 'do not have the required funds to meet the club's full payroll commitment, despite being entirely responsible for paying wages until the sale completes'.
The board informed Whittingham and Bond Group that they would be placing Morecambe into administration if the ownership did not sell the shares by a set deadline, which passed.
Rather than sanction the sale of the club, Whittingham instead released his own bombshell statement on Wednesday, in which he confirmed he had decided to dismiss the entire board of directors.
He added: "We hope The Board of Directors put the interest of the club before any personal grievances and during this delicate time of negotiation to save the club, refrain from their propensity of issuing negative statements.
"Bond Group Investments need to ensure that any transfer of shares, in a sale, is done in a way that holds no recourse for either the Club or Bond Group."
The club's entry on Companies House shows that the board of directors have been terminated from their roles since Whittingham's statement.
In April 2024, Morecambe did not pay their players after Whittingham failed to make funding available.
The Shrimps owner had previously been fined £10,000 for 'failing to adhere to an agreed decision imposed' after he had failed to pay player wages on a previous occasion.
Morecambe, meanwhile, were deducted three points for the offence.
In 2021, in an unrelated case to Morecambe, Whittingham and his fellow former Worcester co-owner Colin Goldring were disqualified as company directors for 12 months after failing to file accounts for the financial year up to February 28, 2021.
Topics: League Two, Football, Rugby Union
Ryan Smart