Morecambe FC: '˜Diego Lemos was owner of PMG Leisure at time of administration'

Morecambe Football Club has today said that a company in charge of the Globe Arena all-weather pitches entered administration under the ownership of club owner Diego Lemos.
The Globe Arena.The Globe Arena.
The Globe Arena.

In a statement on Thursday, the Morecambe board of directors said PMG Leisure Ltd was not under the ownership of club chairman and former owner Peter McGuigan when it went into administration.

Mr McGuigan told us today that he resigned as a director and ‘person with significant control’ of PMG Leisure Ltd in September 2016 and has had no involvement in the management of the business since then.

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He said he was “staggered” to learn that the company was in administration.

The club said money promised by Diego Lemos to pay creditors of PMG Leisure Ltd had not been forthcoming.

They said Mr Lemos had been absent from the club since mid-November.

They also said it was “business as usual” at Morecambe FC.

We have tried to contact Mr Lemos through his representatives but no comment has been received.

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A club spokesman said: “The first we knew of the problem was when the administrators were appointed and arrived on site the next day.

“Discussions with the administrators have been very positive with the community staff and development centre able to continue to operate without any break in services or delivery.”

PMG Leisure Ltd runs the 3G football pitches behind the Globe Arena stadium. It has 11 staff.

The pitches are hired out to the public and used by Morecambe FC for training their youth development teams.

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PMG Leisure also has a building which houses the football club’s community support personnel and match day security operations.

“The pitches are available for the club’s scholars to use and the control room is available for match day,” said the Morecambe FC statement.

“We would like to thank all of those fans who have called the club today expressing their concern at this turn of events.

“The club will be working with the PMG Leisure staff and the administrators to manage the transition but the message is that it is definitely business as usual and we look forward to welcoming both the Development Centre players on Friday and all Shrimps fans to the club this coming Saturday as we entertain Notts County in yet another huge game for Morecambe Football Club.

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“All other areas of the Morecambe Football Club Ltd business remains unaffected. The players, staff and board would also like to thank the fans who have taken the time to write to the club directly since the news of the troubles broke just before Christmas. It has been very positive to read all of the good wishes.”

Property specialists Simon Thomas and Arron Kendal of London-based insolvency firm Moorfields were officially listed as joint administrators over PMG Leisure Limited in the London Gazette, the UK’s public record, on January 3 2017.

Moorfields said they will “continue to trade the business as normal whilst seeking to achieve a longer term strategy for the company’s assets, working closely with the football club”.

Mr Thomas said: “The administrators will continue to operate the facilities as normal and will maintain the employment of the company’s 11 staff until a solution is found. In the interim, Morecambe FC will be continuing to use the company’s facilities and should remain unaffected by the administration process.”