Do Morecambe fans have the fight in them to save the club?

[Hodgie1978]

It's clear now that our team lacks quality. We are effectively a non league team that works hard but is it enough to stay up?
Not only is the support dwindling but people are turning on Derek. The next 3 games are huge and if we don't win any I can see the place becoming toxic.
Crowds will drop .
People are giving up because
It's becoming clear that no sale is near. Board members have gone into hiding.
As fans we put pressure on Jason with the march and the sos shrimps campaign but we all fell for the bull shit.
It will soon be over.

[Angler1]

Even the most ardent fans will eventually lose hope and give up. We are not a good enough team to survive and in my opinion will be relegated. But I hope I'm wrong and the club is sold and the new owner gives derek a huge pot of cash for transfers in January.

[Billy bodger]

After 2 yrs of the type of ownership we have had it’s a wonder it’s only diminished as far as it has. I think the fans have realised that the action probably required to highlight our plight will only harm the Club while in the end the problem will still be in place! So we have to suffer what we are served!!

[Keith]

As fans we put pressure on Jason with the march and the sos shrimps campaign but we all fell for the bull shit.

I don't think we did, or at least, most didn't. But, we recognised that there is very little we can actually do. The days of playing Sunderland, Derby & Ipswich as peers, feels a long time ago.

[marky No.1]

After 2 yrs of the type of ownership we have had

10 years in my book

[BerlinWaller]

It's hard to be positive after a defeat and seeing a team like MK does hammer home the fact that we aren't at the level we have been in the past. There will be more games like it this season where we bring a knife to a gun fight but we have to get on with it. We need to keep the club alive, we need to support and fight for it now so that there is a club for our kids to support in the future. Whittingham has his foot on our throat and we are doing nothing about it. The Board have put up a fight but they seem to be giving up now with nothing coming from them so we need to step up. We have been sleep walking for far too long now.

Supporting Derek and the lads is a must.

[P/T Indie]

Sadly I don't think we do, I've always wondered if we had to set up a phoenix club we just wouldn't have enough about us.

We can't even agree on the best way to protest, I bet if our situation was going on at say a Bradford or Carlisle they would be a lot more active.

[Hodgie1978]

Blyth fans have done more than us.

[BerlinWaller]

I like the way Blackpool fans go about things. They have a Supporters Trust but other groups of fans have got together and organised themselves. The Muckers represent the passionate fans, the ones that go home and away. It's something we could look at as fans.

[glagys]

Funny thing is
I was watching Bournemouth on sky and it’s only a few seasons ago we were playing them in L2
So with proper investment anything is possible
Unfortunately I feel we will completely fold

[KenH]

After 2 yrs of the type of ownership we have had

10 years in my book

At least that. If not longer. PMG screwed the club with the fiasco of over-spending and stupid decisions re the move to Westgate. The club never recovered. Just year after year of losses causing the land parcels to be sold off for a song, taking out loans to cover the losses (resulting in the loss of the gym and artificial pitches). That's why he had to "sell" it to a succession of chancers culminating with Jason and Colin. I'm amazed we're still here and the club is still in the EFL.

[fulwoodshrimp]

I know we need to do something before our beloved club goes under. I also believe the board need to do something before they are tarnished by the club’s relegation to non- league. My problem is I’m not clear what we do! We need the leadership of the board before disaster strikes. The board need the support of the Trust and we fans before the unthinkable happens. Come on board give us leadership before it’s too late!

[black morse]

I know we need to do something before our beloved club goes under. I also believe the board need to do something before they are tarnished by the club’s relegation to non- league. My problem is I’m not clear what we do! We need the leadership of the board before disaster strikes. The board need the support of the Trust and we fans before the unthinkable happens. Come on board give us leadership before it’s too late!

The Trust have released their third update on the sale and the Board have told them that the sale is continuing and the confidentiality position remains unchanged.

[Billy bodger]

After 2 yrs of the type of ownership we have had

10 years in my book

At least that. If not longer. PMG screwed the club with the fiasco of over-spending and stupid decisions re the move to Westgate. The club never recovered. Just year after year of losses causing the land parcels to be sold off for a song, taking out loans to cover the losses (resulting in the loss of the gym and artificial pitches). That's why he had to "sell" it to a succession of chancers culminating with Jason and Colin. I'm amazed we're still here and the club is still in the EFL.

The two years I was on about was since the Club was put up for sale.
How bad was the Bond Groups ownership before that? We knew what was going on at Worcester Warriors but thankfully we were not really hurt by that as much as we could have been. It’s just since Worcester Warriors went under and Jason then turned his sights on us, he learned a lot at WW, in relation to how to F*** ** a sports Club and he’s applied it to us.

[BerlinWaller]

Are we in a better or worse position now than we were when Lemos proved to be a potless conman?

[Keith]

Are we in a better or worse position now than we were when Lemos proved to be a potless conman?

I think it is a good, and interesting question. Personally, definitely, I don't think we are in a better position.

But are we worse?

I don't actually think we are in a 'worse' position as such, just 'closer' to the edge. We've been rolling down a hill, towards the same cliff-edge for the whole time. Our direction hasn't changed. The difference is, the amount of time available to apply the brakes, or change direction is getting less. We've been passed from one utter shambles to the next, repeatedly.

[glagys]

Listen guys Jason has no intention of selling us he’s sole intent is making us bankrupt and so clearing his debts as it’s all tied in the club
Just forget about the club being bought and enjoy the last few months of our life till we rise like a phoenix from the flames ( if we’re lucky)

[black morse]

Listen guys Jason has no intention of selling us he’s sole intent is making us bankrupt and so clearing his debts as it’s all tied in the club
Just forget about the club being bought and enjoy the last few months of our life till we rise like a phoenix from the flames ( if we’re lucky)

That's one of the most downbeat post we've had......but you are possibly right!

[BerlinWaller]

Besides the mortgages, there aren't any other major charges against the club are there?

Can we stop calling him Jason? Can we not come up with another name so we don't feel that we are talking about a friend?

[KenH]

Besides the mortgages, there aren't any other major charges against the club are there?

They're not mortgages. A limited company can't legally have a mortgage. They're all "legal charges" over the company's assets such as the freehold property, the leasehold property and "all other assets". Different charges are secured over different classes of assets. But in a forced sale the value of all the assets won't cover the debts anyway, so the chargeholders will get a proportion of their debt back, after liquidator/administrators huge costs, and any other creditors (i.e. suppliers, HMRC, staff, shareholders etc) won't see a bean (well staff will get compensation from the state). Just like PMG leisure, the bank holding the charge didn't get the full amount of their loan back because the land sold for less than the loan, and there were huge administrators fees paid first!

[vvm]

Does that mean if we were to go into administration, even if the money raised only pays some of the debt Jason has off, it will ultimately wipe them out for him?

As for the broader question, I don't think it's a case of we don't have the fight, it's just that we're not stupid. We're in a unique situation of having a board of directors who actually care and are taking all of the correct steps. They tell us not to stage protests or throw tennis balls because ultimately it will only further damage the club and not Jason. We listen.

[KenH]

Does that mean if we were to go into administration, even if the money raised only pays some of the debt Jason has off, it will ultimately wipe them out for him?

It depends whether Jason, personally, has given any guarantees to the banks etc. Remember it's not him, personally, who has loaned the money, it's a series of limited companies, with MFC at one end and the banks/lenders at the other, with intermediary limited companies in between. Whether Jason has put any personal monies into any of the companies involved isn't clear, nor whether he's signed any personal legally enforceable guarantees to any company/lender.

It may well be that he needs a very large sale value of MFC so that all the loans/debts can be paid off, leaving something for him at the end. If he doesn't get a big price, could be that there's nothing left for him, or that he ends up personally liable for some debt left over. No one really knows - probably our own Board probably don't know the full details of what's going on outside MFC Limited as they'll have no say nor influence nor rights to know what's going on in the holding company nor financing company.

[Billy bodger]

What can we do? What is this fight that some keep going on about?
Are they leading the way,(NO).
Is it to extreme?
Have they come up with an Avenue we haven’t already tried?
We have tried marching, chanting, media exposure, calling Whittingham out on Social Media, basically it’s got us nowhere, I accept that, so we’re is the good suggestion?
What sort of fight is left that does not harm the Club?
To go out of the league because the FANS get the Club a points deduction is for me not the way to go.
If we go out because we are not good enough over 46 games, will be hard to take, but it’s part of football.
So I’ll keep buying that lottery ticket and that’s about it on the ownership front.
I’ll Keep turning up, cheering on the team, pathetic I know but showing up and supporting the players is what they need, so I’ll do that.

[KenH]

To go out of the league because the FANS get the Club a points deduction is for me not the way to go. If we go out because we are not good enough over 46 games, will be hard to take, but it’s part of football.

I think we have no option but to wait until we're definitely relegated in terms of being virtually impossible to avoid it. Then we should go nuclear and do the tennis balls, boycott games, pitch invasions, wholesale refusal to buy any refreshments/merchandise, etc., as quite literally, we can't harm the club any more once relegation is inevitable, and it won't matter about points deductions, fines, inability to pay debts/interest, etc. Until then, we really can't do anything that will harm the club in any way, not whilst we have the chance of staying in L2.

[BerlinWaller]

I'd love to see our fans form an unofficial protest group and get organised, similar to the Blackpool supporters. Our younger fans deserve to have a voice and not to be led by the more conservative fans among us. A stand needs to be taken before there is no club to follow!