It's Not All About the Money

[marky No.1]

How times change. eh

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[Duffman]

Notts County at the time, a League 2 club taken over by a fraudster who took money out of the club with promises of Arab riches that never existed.

[Christies Child]

Notts County at the time, a League 2 club taken over by a fraudster who took money out of the club with promises of Arab riches that never existed.

Just goes to show that no matter who or what checks are done, that it's all too easy for fraudsters to take control and take money out of an organisation.

[mrpotatohead]

Just to be clear Neil, is that what you are saying has happened to us?

[Christies Child]

Just to be clear Neil, is that what you are saying has happened to us?

I'll let you be the judge of that.....I couldn't possibly comment....

[Duffman]

Aye, steady on CC, you'll get into trouble suggesting things like that. I was merely pointing at the time Notts County were in a spot of bother themselves.

In Notts County's case they were dealing with convicted fraudster Russell King who signed documents using the name "Lord Voldermort". If that wasn't an indication something was up I don't know what is.

[fulwoodshrimp]

The reporter in the Football League paper is linking events at Notts County with events here at Morecambe. Just wondering what he is getting at!!

[Seasider9601]

The reporter in the Football League paper is linking events at Notts County with events here at Morecambe. Just wondering what he is getting at!!

And here's the said article from The Football League Paper reproduced in full:

"Seven years ago, a conman named Russell King walked into Notts County promising the wealth of Croesus. Understandably, a dying club grasped in desperation.

King's story was worthy of Jackanory. A consortium featuring an arab 'prince' desperate to buy a football club. North Korean mining rights worth £1.9 trillion. A £5m guarantee backed by a London bank. So what if he was hiding behind a labyrinth of shell companies? Who cared if nobody had actually seen any hard cash?

This was a man who could lure Sven Goran Eriksson to Meadow Lane. A company with the monetary muscle to entice Kasper Schmeichel and Sol Campbell.

Fans, directors, authorities. all were wilfully blind to the danger, unwilling to scratch the nagging itch of suspicion that it was all too good to be true.

Which, of course, it was. King was a convicted criminal, currently holed up in Bahrain with an arrest warrant on his head.

The promised cash was false, just like the Arabian prince. The London bank went bust and the signings served only to saddle the club with £7m worth of debt.

To this day, nobody knows exactly what King and the consortium he led, Munto Finance, wanted from County. Having bought the club for £1, he possibly intended to flip it for a song, using the influx of star names to attract investment and/or a buyer.

Maybe King needed Eriksson to further his own business interests. The eternally gullible Swede was, after all, paraded round Pyongyang like a trophy wife during negotiations over rights to the country's gold and silver.

Remember, too, that some £200,000 worth of club funds ended up in the pockets of Munto, including £90,000 on five-star hotels. Perhaps it was nothing more sophisticated than grubby theft.

As the full horror of what happened at Meadow Lane sank in, fingers were pointed squarely at the Football League for waving the takeover through.

County's directors were desperate, the club a mess. They had an excuse for walking into the trap. The League did not and subsequently vowed to "tighten up" its regulations on approving ownership of its clubs.

Yet, seven years on, here we are again.

Diego Lemos, a Brazilian football agent based in Doha, has left Morecambe high and dry. AWOL, since November, the 35-year-old's failure to provide funds saw wages go unpaid, then prompted the resignation of two directors, including Abdulrahman Al-Hashemi, the Quatari moneyman who claims he was 'seriously misled' by Lemos.

Peter McGuiness, from whom Lemos 'bought' an 80 per cent share in September, has not been paid. And nobody - not the club, not even Al-Hashemi - knows where Lemos has gone.

So, have the EFL's owners and directors tests failed again? Absolutely. The real question, however, is whether any test would have truly protected Morecambe. Having established a set of rules, the League can only follow them. In the case of County, King ensured his name was on no documentation, even if an alias of L. Voldemort should have raised eyebrows. Later, when Leeds was sold to Massimo Cellino, the EFL were forced to concede that all the Italian's criminal convictions were spent.

Likewise, Lemos' takeover waved plenty of red flags - hastily-established shell companies in the North East, more mysterious Asians - but nothing substantially wrong.

A day of solid Googling reveals only that Lemos is the son and nephew of former Brazilian footballers, whose biggest deal as a FIFA -licensed agent took troubled ex-Botafogo striker Jobson to Al-Ittihad.

Companies House shows two sole directorships, one with an entity called Sports 99 Ltd, the other with G50 Holdings Ltd. Both were set up only in the spring of 2016 and are thus yet to file accounts. Of his other business dealings and general net-worth, there is literally zilch.

Again, that in itself is a worry. But Lemos had no criminal convictions, no failed ventures. Proof of funds was provided, albeit through Al-Hashemi. Fishy? Yes, but he didn't breach any regulations.

Theoretically, the EFL can refuse to sanction any takeover but, as was the case with Cellino, to do so would leave them open to a costly legal challenge. That is why they need a framework.

For Morecambe, it is too late. Al-Hashemi has vowed to 'repair' the damage but, having handed Lemos control, it is difficult to see anything but a long and lengthy battle to wrestle it back.

It is a cautionary tale. Ultimately, the EFL's 'test' must be viewed as little more than an MOT. It will test if the brakes work, but not if your engine is about to be destroyed. They simply do not have the resources for anything more thorough.

That leaves the seller to seek for truth amid a fog of desperation. Sadly, Morecambe will not be the last victim."

[Zippy]

The problem these days is that the authorities no longer take fraud seriously and therefore prosecution for the crime is a rarity, the authorities even steer reporting to a website (action fraud) rather than through main stream policing and that site is a black hole

I was one of a group who were collectively hammered for over 400k from one individual who was a known quantity - but no prosecution ensued - even the BIS resources are so scant as to irrelevant.
Fortunately I got some redress but no justice was done and the perpetrators went unpunished to their next scam no doubt.
So if you take a fraudster as being someone who has been convicted - never going to happen in reality , will bet it is dealt with (probably most unsatisfactory) within the civil system, in effect fraud is no longer treated as a crime - unless its against the state

[Christies Child]

Any chance of our 'fly on the wall' being in the Boardroom on Saturday, just in case the two Boards swop stories and notes....

[Keith]

He was a lot of bloke to be heading at me full speed and out of control!

[marky No.1]

Notts Co have really fallen from grace, must be 60+ League positions

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[Lloydie]

I miss ceefax, if we were lucky Morecambe got the odd mention on page 312 "news in brief" for any 'bigger' signings/sales in the conference such as Justin Jackson and John Hardikar

[Seasider9601]

Ceefax was a right ballache for me in my role as MFC Programme Editor back in the day.

Page 399 contained detail of all minor league football results and I had to sit and wait and watch for (more often than not) page 50 of 50 to come up in order I could get the latest Morecambe Reserves Result for inclusion in the next match programme and achieve print deadlines....!!

No t'internet back then to rely on.... had to do it the hard way....

Loved those days though so much.

[captain sparkle]

Ceefax - those were the days, everything was oh so simple then!

[John L]

Ceefax - those were the days, everything was oh so simple then!

Top after 2 games... nothing changes!

[Gnasher]

Captain, what were you doing taking a photo of your TV in 1995?

[Seasider9601]

Happy days!!!

First season in the Conference, top after 2 games....!!

Morecambe 2 Telford 0 (that Ian Cain diving header.....!!)

Morecambe 3 Runcorn 1 (on the following Tuesday night)

Then, we went to Kidderminster.... Cainy put us 1-0 up after less than a minute, but we lost 2-4

[halftimeresults]

I remember going to Kidderminster and thinking wow we've finally made it big time

[Seasider9601]

I remember going to Kidderminster and thinking wow we've finally made it big time

Do you also remember Hodgy that our Red and White striped replica Pony shirts hadn't been delivered on time to the club and somebody observed that ASDA were selling in their gents clothing department something very, very similar (nylon T shirt, red and white vertical stripes) so loads of us bought one and wore those until ours arrived....!!!

[halftimeresults]

I do and the shirts didn't arrive til the fa cup against Witton away

[Christies Child]

I remember going to Kidderminster and thinking wow we've finally made it big time

I seem to recall taking a car load and going mental when we went 1 up so early.....then reality of the higher league set in and ended up a painful day out experience.

[Seasider9601]

I remember going to Kidderminster and thinking wow we've finally made it big time

That was the season they opened their new main stand for the first time at Aggborough.

Only, they'd not knocked the old one down. They just built their new one in FRONT of the old one and we could see the old main stand still stood behind the new !!!

We played in purple that day and I recall a load of Wolves "fans" coming to stand amongst the sizeable Morecambe contingent.