Club statement...

[twosheds]

Curiouser and curiouser ....who would have thought that...


https://www.morecambefc.com/news/2023/m ... s-limited/

[AndyReifman]

No idea what to make of this.

Best guess, they've been given the news that the Sarbjot sale won't go through, and they're coming to terms with the fact the club isn't worth nearly as much as they were expecting. Now they're hoping for a quick promotion to get the club value back up.

[Westgate Wanderer]

Whatever has happened they are backing their investment in MFC! Good news at last COYS

[Old Man Kensey]

Sarbjot has obviously done one.

[Westgate Wanderer]

Sarbjot has obviously done one.

Unless he's bought Bond group

[fulwoodshrimp]

Clearly Sarbjot isn’t going to be approved as new owner so Bond need to finance the club to ensure when club is sold they make a decent profit!

[BerlinWaller]

.

[Keith]

No idea what to make of this.

That was EXACTLY the words that came in to my head when I read the statement.

Good news, I suppose, as there is no real alternative at the moment.
Good news? Hmm...

[redrobo]

First and foremost for me is that it enables DA and his team to put together a squad that will ensure we can be competitive for another season.

Secondly I wonder if this now provides a window of opportunity for a local consortium to get involved which as I've always said was my preferred option and one that I firmly believed would happen at the end of the day.

As for the youngster who wanted to buy OUR club.....hopefully this is the last we hear or see of him and good ridence.

Now let's see DA given a new contract and hopefully renegotiate contracts with some of the players he had to let go. Wonder if they had been told to hang fire as something was in the wind that would see their return if they wanted.

We'll probably never know but interesting close season ahead thankfully.

Purely coincidental how this news has been made public on the eve of the transfer window opening...

Remember someone posted circa 3 weeks ago on this forum to expect some good news...

And finally a thanks to the Bond Group (despite what has gone on) for making a continued commitment to OUR club going forward. Hopefully any future sale as I'm sure there will be will be more transparent and straight forward.

[BerlinWaller]

First and foremost for me is that it enables DA and his team to put together a squad that will ensure we can be competitive for anotehr season.

Secondly I wonder if this now provides a window of opportunity for a local consortium to get involved which as I've always said was my preferred option and one that I firmly believed would happen at the end of the day.

As for the youngster who wanted to buy OUR club.....hopefully this is the last we hear or see of him anf good ridance.

Now let's see DA given a new contract and hopefully renegotiate contracts with some of the players he had to let go. Wonder if they had been told to hang fire as something was in the wind that would see their return if they wanted. We'll probably never know but interesting few weeks ahead.

And finally a thanks to the Bond Group (despite what has gone on) for making a continued commitment to OUR club going forward. Hopefully any future sale as I'm sure there will be will be more transparent and straight forward.

Sarb haven't gone anywhere and JW does not have a pot to piss in. Either Sarb have got creative and found a short term route in to funding the club via Bond Group or we have been saddled with some form of debt.

Derek is here for at least another season and this news tonight has to be positive but it is still all as clear as mud.

[P/T Indie]

Where does it say Derek has another year?

[BerlinWaller]

Where does it say Derek has another year?

Deal until the end of this season with an optional 12months

[Wild Bill]

Reading between three lines, Sarb isn't going to happen and the owner needs to get some confidence back into the club as a going concern to attract an alternative. Derek and the board will have demanded a positive statement to get season ticket sales going and a definite budget to at least complete in L2. Its definitely a positive though and let's hope the owner has realised that not all that glitters is gold and will accept a lower offer from a more credible source. We now need to do our bit and back the club with season tickets and other spending where we can.

[black morse]

First and foremost for me is that it enables DA and his team to put together a squad that will ensure we can be competitive for another season.

Secondly I wonder if this now provides a window of opportunity for a local consortium to get involved which as I've always said was my preferred option and one that I firmly believed would happen at the end of the day.

As for the youngster who wanted to buy OUR club.....hopefully this is the last we hear or see of him and good ridence.

Now let's see DA given a new contract and hopefully renegotiate contracts with some of the players he had to let go. Wonder if they had been told to hang fire as something was in the wind that would see their return if they wanted.

We'll probably never know but interesting close season ahead thankfully.

Purely coincidental how this news has been made public on the eve of the transfer window opening...

Remember someone posted circa 3 weeks ago on this forum to expect some good news...

And finally a thanks to the Bond Group (despite what has gone on) for making a continued commitment to OUR club going forward. Hopefully any future sale as I'm sure there will be will be more transparent and straight forward.

Firstly I think the window opens on 14 June and secondly the post was by Billy Bodger (I wonder who he really is?

Certainly better news than I was expecting and I'm just hoping the general consensus that Sarb has gone is correct. Interesting season coming up. It's never dull at MFC

[redrobo]

Possibly a word of caution having given this some thought....has Sarb bought into Bond to get his hands on us by the back door as Bond are the recognized owners.....or am I being a wee bit worried needlessly....or has Berlin Waller raised a valid concern.....

[BerlinWaller]

Possibly a word of caution having given this some thought....has Sarb bought into Bond to get his hands on us by the back door as Bond are the recognized owners.....or am I being a wee bit worried needlessly....or has Berlin Waller raised a valid concern.....

He can't buy Bond Group to bypass the EFL. If he bought a controlling stake he would still be subject to the same tests as he would be buying the club directly off BG.

[black morse]

Possibly a word of caution having given this some thought....has Sarb bought into Bond to get his hands on us by the back door as Bond are the recognized owners.....or am I being a wee bit worried needlessly....or has Berlin Waller raised a valid concern.....

Well as the saying goes...If something looks too good to be true it usually is! However, BW seems certain that DA has been given another year and, if he's taken it, that looks good as I don't think he would stay on if he didn't have confidence of the support this time.

OK RR I'm a bit optimistic here!

[redrobo]

Possibly a word of caution having given this some thought....has Sarb bought into Bond to get his hands on us by the back door as Bond are the recognized owners.....or am I being a wee bit worried needlessly....or has Berlin Waller raised a valid concern.....

He can't buy Bond Group to bypass the EFL. If he bought a controlling stake he would still be subject to the same tests as he would be buying the club directly off BG.

He could of course I assume invest in the Bond Group but not become the major shareholder, with his investment being used to fund the club....or would that also be outlawed by the EFL...

As one can see I'm not that familiar with takeovers etc....

[KenH]

I wouldn't get too excited. Derek has been given a figure to work to. That's all. There's no suggestion at all that the club have actually been given the money in the bank account.

Derek had a budget last year too, but the money wasn't actually there was it? Sarb had to put the money in as far back as December to pay the wages, and then more since.

[marky No.1]

Derek didn't really have a budget of his own last season cos Robbo had already spent it all on 2 year deals.
Derek had to offload but not many were wanted by anybody.

[Gone_Shrimping]

Derek didn't really have a budget of his own last season cos Robbo had already spent it all on 2 year deals.
Derek had to offload but not many were wanted by anybody.

I would imagine that the likes of A O'C , Delaney , Obika , McClaughlin , etc etc were all on large 2 year contracts. I think O'Connor and Delaney turned down contracts at Bradford and Bolton to sign for us !

[Keith]

I struggle to work out what's going on, so my bestest guessing would be...

Whittingham/Bond have come to the conclusion that Johal is not going to be approved by the EFL.

Unlike Worcester Rugby, they will never be able to build houses on Mazuma.

Therefore, if the club goes out of business, they will be left with no saleable asset, and a large building that they still have to pay maintenance on until they go bankrupt.

They've therefore raised cash from somewhere, which they have lent to the club, probably at a high level of interest, so they can make a profit that way.

The club remains solvent and hopefully do okay in League Two, which makes it attractive to another buyer.

Obviously, the above is totally speculation and could be widely inaccurate. But at least there is some sense of 'logic' to it!

[redrobo]

My initial enthusiasm for the news has now given rise to some concern.

How is it thst only a few weeks ago the owners said that there was no money to pay wages and that the prospective owner was putting money into the club to pay for them

How have things changed so quickly or is the club now saddled as before with a huge repayment of a loan at high interest rates

Has Sarb bought a stake in Bond so that negotiations on a buy out can continue whilst providing money for a budget

Has the Statement been issued by Bond directly with the approval/knowledge of our BoD or have they bypassed them and issued it regardless

Hopefully we can get a comment from OUR BoD and DA about going forward with confidence as like a few others I'm now suspicious of Bond's sudden change of thinking.

[KenH]

Makes no sense that the Board seemed keen to pay off all the loans during the last couple of years, to the detriment of having money to give Derek to bring in some decent players, which would have avoided relegation. Now the damage is done, it looks like we're taking on debt again. What was the point in losing our L1 status, just to start borrowing again, when we could have paid off, say, half of the debt, and kept a bit of cash for Derek to bring in a few decent players to keep us in L1?

[black morse]

Makes no sense that the Board seemed keen to pay off all the loans during the last couple of years, to the detriment of having money to give Derek to bring in some decent players, which would have avoided relegation. Now the damage is done, it looks like we're taking on debt again. What was the point in losing our L1 status, just to start borrowing again, when we could have paid off, say, half of the debt, and kept a bit of cash for Derek to bring in a few decent players to keep us in L1?

Assuming that the majority of the debt was to Bond perhaps they were calling in the debtwhenthey thought they were going to sell to Sarb? Does that make sense?