Morecambe: Many Questions, Many Owners, No Answers

When the wages went unpaid at Morecambe, it took a Qatari director, Abdulraham Al-Hashemi, to finally step in and pay the staff. He had joined the board in October alongside the club’s supposed new owner, Diego Lemos. By 21 December, Al-Hashemi had seen enough of the chaos and resigned.

His departure was just one symptom of the bewildering ownership saga engulfing the League Two club. The central question remains stubbornly unanswered: who holds the majority of Morecambe’s shares?

Club chairman Peter McGuigan states he sold his controlling stake in September to Lemos, a Brazilian resident of Qatar. The transaction was apparently handled through a holding company, G50, established for Lemos by a Graham Burnard of County Durham. But the money, it seems, is a sticking point. Burnard claims Lemos never paid for the service of setting up G50. He has since resigned as a director of the company and now argues that, by default, he is the de facto owner of Morecambe. A court case to establish this was adjourned last Friday until the end of March.

A Familiar Face Rocks Up

As if this were not complicated enough, another claimant has appeared at the seaside. Joseph Cala has announced that he is the new owner, having purchased the club from G50. He was quickly warned by the Football League that he could not simply start running the club without first passing its Owners and Directors test. Mr Cala has previous form with seaside clubs, having shown an interest in Portsmouth back in 2012 before an administrator was appointed. His ambitions for Morecambe are grand; he has spoken of floating the Shrimps on the American Stock Exchange, a similar plan to one he once mooted for Pompey.

Cala’s financial backing for such a venture is unclear. His Cala Corporation is currently listed as not trading, with its stock quoted at $0.00. The American Securities and Exchange Commission recently revoked its registration for failure to file company details. The last available report, for the year ending 2013, showed the company in default of court fines and legal liabilities totalling $321,667. If Cala Corporation intends to take control of Morecambe, the Football League may wish to examine its standing in America.

While these characters fight for control, the club itself is haemorrhaging staff. Nigel Adams, a local director, left the board frustrated by the lack of straight answers on club finances. General manager and director Mark Dixon resigned on 16 February, having been suspended in October for questioning the business ethics of Lemos and his associates. Through it all, Peter McGuigan remains on the board, though he is maintaining a tactical public silence.

Why All The Fuss?

For a club that averaged home attendances of around 1,500 last season, Morecambe is attracting a surprising amount of attention. The club’s 2015 accounts showed a turnover of just over £2.3m but a loss of £829,832, almost double the figure from 2014. The accompanying strategic report noted the company’s reliance on director loans to maintain cash flow. There are currently eleven outstanding charges on the club, seven of which are held by current or former directors.

The club does not own its ground, the Globe Arena, but holds a long-term lease on its footprint. That land is covenanted by the local council and can only be used for playing association football. However, land to the north of the stadium, containing the club’s 3G training pitches, is owned by PMG Leisure Ltd. This company, formerly owned by McGuigan, was also part of the sale to Lemos. PMG Leisure was put into administration on 20 December 2016, with two recent charges payable to Barclay’s Bank dated February 2016, just a month before the club was put up for sale.

The fans are not flattered by the attention. The newly-formed Shrimps Trust issued a statement, declaring:

‘Ours has also been a friendly community-centred club with no grand illusions about itself… Those now dragging our club through the courts and the mud are making a mockery of that reputation. They need to understand that they can’t take our loyalty to Morecambe FC for granted.’

A Cast Of Characters

The advisors and associates involved hardly inspire confidence. Lemos and Al-Hashemi have been advised by Peter Harrison, the agent struck off by the FA in 2012. Cala’s associate, Michael Williams, has been active on Twitter claiming a deal was signed, while Cala’s agent has released statements confirming he is seeking legal advice. Burnard, for his part, was chairman of Northern League club Bedlington Terriers in 2005, leaving before they were liquidated the following year.

Lemos himself, having been missing for some time, has now resurfaced to claim he has alerted the Action Fraud department to Burnard’s ownership claims. The Brazilian remains on the Morecambe board, insisting he never resigned from G50 despite Companies House records suggesting otherwise. He claims that after taking over, he found “some things we were not expecting.”

Now, another name has entered the fray. Geoff Hogg, a property entrepreneur from Middlesbrough, has reportedly shown an interest in a takeover. Lemos is said to be keen, but no deal can progress until the courts decide who actually has the authority to sell Morecambe Football Club.