What exactly is happening?

[Christies Child]

Say I'm in denial if you like, but I really do not want to consider Posh's near-apocalypse scenario yet. No criticism of Posh, by the way, I just hope he's completely wrong. I don't have a lot of money, but I would be willing to consider contributing to some form of trust, depending on terms, and league status is not one of the conditions.

We could form a double act as I'd be interested in a trust depending on terms

[George Dawes]

I see it like this, Diego made a statement telling us there's been an hiccup with bank accounts and that the players will be paid in the coming week, and they got paid.

Seriously, I have no desire to be negative. In fact, I am as desperate as anyone to see a positive outcome and loads of cash appear. I also want a Supporters Trust so we can make sure this never happens again.

However, the comment is ludicrous. We didn't pay our players and staff and then he came up with the money. But he did it by effectively selling Tom Barkhuizen, arguably our best player, to Preston North End. It didn't from Brazil or Qatar, it came from Preston.

don't know the exact details with Barky, it might have been something is better than nothing in the summer, and he could have been unhappy anyway, with being shifted out of position , the reason he reportedly left Blackpool and thought about quitting football altogether.

like I said lets wait n see to the next pay day and transfer windows and then we'll see the new owners true intent, and direction we'll be going in.

[Shrimpy]

don't know the exact details with Barky, it might have been something is better than nothing in the summer, and he could have been unhappy anyway, with be shifted out of position , the reason he reportedly left Blackpool and thought about quitting football altogether.

If thats the case then why not just sell him in January? When have you ever seen a scenario like ours where a club releases a player outside the transfer window so they can effectively sell him to another club? It doesn't happen and the only reason we did it was so we could get around the transfer window to receive the money now as opposed to January.

Do you honestly think if it was just a minor hiccup with the takeover they would prefer to lose their best player rather than stump up the money for a months wages?

[George Dawes]

don't know the exact details with Barky, it might have been something is better than nothing in the summer, and he could have been unhappy anyway, with be shifted out of position , the reason he reportedly left Blackpool and thought about quitting football altogether.

If thats the case then why not just sell him in January? When have you ever seen a scenario like ours where a club releases a player outside the transfer window so they can effectively sell him to another club? It doesn't happen and the only reason we did it was so we could get around the transfer window to receive the money now as opposed to January.

Do you honestly think if it was just a minor hiccup with the takeover they would prefer to lose their best player rather than stump up the money for a months wages?

prepared to give the benifit of doubt for now , Barky is clearly temperamental(moody) , and might have refused to play/train with the wages blip, with Jim and Co being disappointed with his attitude compared to the rest of the team.

and thought best ship him out now, he could get injured(even in training) losing out on a decent transfer fee?

[black morse]

It's all a case of believe and hope what you want to. I believe the worst could easily happen but I fervently hope I'm wrong.

[morecambegeek]

don't know the exact details with Barky, it might have been something is better than nothing in the summer, and he could have been unhappy anyway, with be shifted out of position , the reason he reportedly left Blackpool and thought about quitting football altogether.

If thats the case then why not just sell him in January? When have you ever seen a scenario like ours where a club releases a player outside the transfer window so they can effectively sell him to another club? It doesn't happen and the only reason we did it was so we could get around the transfer window to receive the money now as opposed to January.

Do you honestly think if it was just a minor hiccup with the takeover they would prefer to lose their best player rather than stump up the money for a months wages?

prepared to give the benifit of doubt for now , Barky is clearly temperamental(moody) , and might have refused to play/train with the wages blip, with Jim and Co being disappointed with his attitude compared to the rest of the team.

and thought best ship him out now, he could get injured(even in training) losing out on a decent transfer fee?

I'm sure it's a massive coincidence that this moody player was sold and then the players wages were paid.

We've been told these people are investors, so should have money in place or at least available. It strikes me as odd that one of these investors wouldn't put their hand in their pockets to pay the wages and then get the money back when the cashflow issue eased to avoid all the adverse publicity and bad feeling.

Some people are being pessimistic, some people are being optimistic. The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle, but all the signs point towards further difficulties ahead.

[marky No.1]

It strikes me as odd that one of these investors wouldn't put their hand in their pockets to pay the wages and then get the money back when the cashflow issue eased to avoid all the adverse publicity and bad feeling.

Exactly!!

[Gone_Shrimping]

It strikes me as odd that one of these investors wouldn't put their hand in their pockets to pay the wages and then get the money back when the cashflow issue eased to avoid all the adverse publicity and bad feeling.

Exactly!!

Well the new owner (s) now know what the feeling was when the October wages weren't paid on time.

A week today the wages B.A.C.S. are due so if they fail to arrive on time then its Houston or should I say Morecambe we have a problem !

[Seasider9601]

We have just one home game in December. One game.

Saturday 17th v Cheltenham Town. With all due respect to the opposition, not a "big" name or likely crowd puller.

If that game gets called off, due to inclement weather, it'll be re-arranged for the next year no doubt and then we'll have had no home games during December.

With me so far? Thinking what I'm thinking?? Even if the game goes ahead - which of course we all hope and pray it will - just one home game......

[Zippy]

I don’t wish to be sucked into a baseless apportioning of accountability for today’s state of affairs, the potential of which could range from an existential threat to league status and the club , to just a failure to prioritize stakeholder engagement for the fans group, to anything that falls in between .

I would though from just an mildly horrified bystander perspective like to throw in a few hopefully constructive words by turning the question on its head and asking a few questions, Namely what exactly did not happen or did happen

1. Management of change, risk , & transition management
The fact that key stakeholders (staff) were not paid on –time, with subsequent short term adverse publicity and reputational impact, which may have longer term implications (as many have pointed out; collateral impacts on event management and also less attractive proposition to new signings) if not more robustly managed , points to failure to identify the risks associated with the transition and failure to have in place appropriate measures and or resources in place to deal with any risks that manifested themselves. Have said before that the club seem reluctant to manage communications, until events begin to manage the club, and we all hope the club can do this better in future.

You would think that all the key stakeholders would have worked together on a transition plan for the Sale and hand over of responsibilities of the club, allocated accountability, and resources to manage key elements , and both parties signed off on it. I wonder if this is how it happened in reality ?

The limited scope releases by the club have failed to assuage reasonable concerns to the fan base , and the reported failure of the club to provide an English competent spokesperson to interface with a press request or subsequently support a written statement if true, is another seeming oversight that adds to the confusion. I would agree though that Diego was probably right not engage with our wonderful press if not feeling competent to do so. So half a smart move :

The situation arounds Tom’s departure also intensifies the mood of pessimism, and in turn raising the potential for longer term implications, I personally found the clubs statement on the subject crap. And the departure of such a quality player at this stage of the season very worrying.
As to whether the release of a club employee was to pay the bills or due to other circumstances suppose we will never really know due to confidentiality.

Kudos to FCOM who have actually put out the far more lucid public statement on the current situation than the club managed to achieve to date

2. One way forward
We have seen in response to the uncertainty arising from the current situation a raft of positive and innovative suggestions from Forum members, without wishing to go into detail, the fact that such a range of responses come from a fairly limited group of contributors to the forum, if scaled up to the wider (but seemingly declining) fan and stakeholder base shows that there is a great deal of untapped potential both in terms of ideas and of material contribution that can be harnessed. Individually these initiatives are well- meaning, but by harnessing the full power of all club stakeholders in aligning behind an jointly agreed set of plans and objectives initially developed by the club , circulated for stakeholder input (FCOM – Sponsors -community etc) and finally agreeing the joint strategy and plan , schedule of implementation, (both of which can be easily risk assessed ) , defined accountabilities, and achieving a state where most if not all stakeholder working towards a common baseline and contributing its talents and resources.

Some business sensitive elements may need to be limited access and not all plan elements will necessarily be achieved, but this approach has got to have an edge against the current groping in the dark that seems to be prevalent, its nothing novel or unique, its normal practice in better run businesses of all sizes and in most cultures, there is no reason why Morecambe FC cannot kick –on and become a model for stakeholder engagement (OR IS THERE ?). I found the club charter online for 2013/2014 and that could be a start to build on but its more a CRM document than a plan.
Attached a link to a couple of clubs plans as found with simple internet search, neither is perfect but both are illustrative.
Appreciate these things take time, but in reality if you hadn’t thought about this stuff before embarking on a project, you are a somewhat behind the curve already, so I hope the club under its new management can improve its engagement and harness the energy of its stakeholders, sooner rather than later.

http://www.fortwilliamfc.co.uk/wp-conte ... n-2014.pdf
http://www.scarboroughathletic.com/file ... 0_v2.0.pdf
http://www.morecambefc.com/documents/mfc298-868897.pdf

Im going back in My box now
Cheers
Zippy

[marky No.1]

Thanks for that, Professor M. You were doing really well till you gave the game away

"I personally found the clubs statement on the subject crap"

[KenH]

We have just one home game in December. One game.

Saturday 17th v Cheltenham Town. With all due respect to the opposition, not a "big" name or likely crowd puller.

If that game gets called off, due to inclement weather, it'll be re-arranged for the next year no doubt and then we'll have had no home games during December.

With me so far? Thinking what I'm thinking?? Even if the game goes ahead - which of course we all hope and pray it will - just one home game......

Even if it goes ahead, say 1,000 paying punters (ignore s/t holders who paid in Summer so the money's spent), even at £25 average per head, that's only £25k - so wouldn't cover the wages anyway. So the new owners will have to put most of the wages money in themselves - hope the realise that and have the funds ready this time.

[black morse]

We have just one home game in December. One game.

Saturday 17th v Cheltenham Town. With all due respect to the opposition, not a "big" name or likely crowd puller.

If that game gets called off, due to inclement weather, it'll be re-arranged for the next year no doubt and then we'll have had no home games during December.

With me so far? Thinking what I'm thinking?? Even if the game goes ahead - which of course we all hope and pray it will - just one home game......

Even if it goes ahead, say 1,000 paying punters (ignore s/t holders who paid in Summer so the money's spent), even at £25 average per head, that's only £25k - so wouldn't cover the wages anyway. So the new owners will have to put most of the wages money in themselves - hope the realise that and have the funds ready this time.

I'm sure they realise that but I'm not sure about the other bit

[Kendalshrimp]

We have just one home game in December. One game.

Saturday 17th v Cheltenham Town. With all due respect to the opposition, not a "big" name or likely crowd puller.

If that game gets called off, due to inclement weather, it'll be re-arranged for the next year no doubt and then we'll have had no home games during December.

With me so far? Thinking what I'm thinking?? Even if the game goes ahead - which of course we all hope and pray it will - just one home game......

Shit month for the club in getting revenue in then. Looks like the players wages in December will probably be late too

[marky No.1]

Looks like the players wages in December will probably be late too

Sorry KS, I have a vivid sense of humour, but this just aint funny

If they have been through our accounts and taken some notice, how can they possibly not know what they were letting themselves in for

[Seasider9601]

Shit month for the club in getting revenue in then. Looks like the players wages in December will probably be late too

Not exactly funny though is it.

You'd be happy if your wages were late then or not forthcoming ? Thought not.

[outsider]

On a plus side though, There will be more events on in December with Christmas Parties. so that may off set lost income from the football?

[Christies Child]

We have just one home game in December. One game.

Saturday 17th v Cheltenham Town. With all due respect to the opposition, not a "big" name or likely crowd puller.

If that game gets called off, due to inclement weather, it'll be re-arranged for the next year no doubt and then we'll have had no home games during December.

With me so far? Thinking what I'm thinking?? Even if the game goes ahead - which of course we all hope and pray it will - just one home game......

Shit month for the club in getting revenue in then. Looks like the players wages in December will probably be late too

What a ray of sunshine you really are.... Just hope that the players and staff don't read your post post...that is all they would need to cause an out and out strike.

I just wonder if you fall into one of those who will suffer....because you seem so close to club info that it's uncanny...

[Gone_Shrimping]

On a plus side though, There will be more events on in December with Christmas Parties. so that may off set lost income from the football?

They will take a lot of cash in December for the parties and functions.

How much will be profit is the vital thing.

There's an old saying in the accountancy world :

Turnover for vanity

Profit for sanity.

[marky No.1]

The Christmas parties should be a bonus, not hold up the football side of things.

The days have gone since we had the good old Boxing Day and New Years Day fixtures

[Trevor]

I thought the whole point of moving to the Globe was that the 365 venue WOULD 'hold up' the football?

Anyhoo, Ive been invited to a christmas do there so i hope its still going!

[marky No.1]

I thought the whole point of moving to the Globe was that the 365 venue WOULD 'hold up' the football?

Anyhoo, Ive been invited to a christmas do there so i hope its still going!

Not to the degree of one home match in a month I shouldn't think. Enjoy your party and make sure everyone on your table has a bottle of wine and 6 pints each!

[Gnasher]

The Christmas parties should be a bonus, not hold up the football side of things.

The days have gone since we had the good old Boxing Day and New Years Day fixtures

As was made clear to me in a thread asking about functions, that money does not go to Morecambe FC Ltd.

[Gone_Shrimping]

The Christmas parties should be a bonus, not hold up the football side of things.

The days have gone since we had the good old Boxing Day and New Years Day fixtures

As was made clear to me in a thread asking about functions, that money does not go to Morecambe FC Ltd.

Well the income from the functions seems to go in the accounts of Morecambe FC so maybe you should re-check that.

[Posh]

The Christmas parties should be a bonus, not hold up the football side of things.

The days have gone since we had the good old Boxing Day and New Years Day fixtures

As was made clear to me in a thread asking about functions, that money does not go to Morecambe FC Ltd.

There was mention of a company called MFC Catering at one point but no such company exists. All the money goes to the football club as I understand it.