OPINION: Time Morecambe's ownership mess was resolved once and for all

The yearly ritual of the retained list, which all clubs have to publish within days of their final game of the season, took place and illustrated the stark position in which the club finds itself.

Relegated clubs normally do some cutting of cloth but all 14 out-of-contract players departing without the offer of a new deal was, frankly, staggering.

It leaves the Shrimps in a position of having only six contracted players for next season and beyond, with one of those – Adam Mayor – likely to be on clubs’ radars for his performances in 2022/23.

It’s the latest chapter in a sorry story which began last September when Bond Group Investments put the club up for sale after almost four-and-a-half years of ownership.

That came in the same period that Gallagher Premiership rugby union club Worcester Warriors, also owned by Bond Group, was hit by a petition for unpaid tax by HM Revenue and Customs.

Eventually, the Warriors were suspended from the Premiership altogether before eventually being relegated and seeing their players’ contracts terminated.

Colin Goldring – who was part of Bond Group at the time, alongside Jason Whittingham – told the Daily Telegraph later that month that a buyer had been found for the Shrimps, subject to EFL approval.

Nothing was heard for a few months – OK, Rome wasn’t built in a day and all that – until rumours began to emerge at the start of the year concerning a possible takeover by Sarbjot Johal.

A 20-year-old, based in Solihull, and overseeing the Vitanic, Lovely Drinks and Sarb Capital brands, was apparently in pole position to complete a purchase.

That was despite having no apparent link to the area and a concerning financial position according to documents on the Companies House website.

That was January. We’re now in May and there isn’t any sign of this would-be purchase being concluded one way or another.

In that time, there have been questions about the source of Johal’s funding and the financial positions of his companies.

Early February saw a club statement confirming Johal had purchased equity through one of his firms, Sarb Capital, and would become the Shrimps’ new owner subject to passing the EFL Owners and Directors’ Test.

The Shrimps Trust then met with Johal, one of his associates – Saidi Kawooya – and Whittingham in mid-February, when Johal reportedly refuted allegations of links to a crypto-based investment platform and maintained Sarb Capital’s financial position and performance had vastly changed.

A few days later, the EFL publicly asked for a meeting with Johal in revealing that requested information had yet to be received.

Adding to the mess, March’s wages were paid late after a cash injection from Johal, who did the same again last month just as salaries were due.

It just gives the impression a proposed owner is effectively helping to pay wages but without having had the green light to buy the club.

There is an Owners and Directors’ Test section on the EFL website, which explains the various criteria a would-be buyer has to meet.

However, there doesn’t appear to be a set deadline for a takeover to be completed: fuelling the sense of limbo manager Derek Adams outlined after last weekend’s relegation.

There are rumours of other interested parties and, if that is the case, what hasn’t been made clear is why Whittingham seemingly prefers the Johal option.

It would help if there was the merest sign of public communication from either the seller or prospective purchaser.

We contacted Johal in early February following the claims made concerning his businesses, only to receive no response.

As for Bond Group, they have largely stayed silent apart from a couple of fan forums early on in their ownership and an explanation of Jim Bentley’s departure in October 2019.

For example, we asked Whittingham for a pre-season chat ahead of Bond Group’s first campaign as owner in 2018/19. No response.

He was contacted regarding the reported idea of hiring Paul Ince as the club’s director of football. No response.

We also sought contact given the issue with late wages at the end of March. You can probably guess the outcome.

Adams, who said he didn’t have much contact with Bond Group either, repeatedly outlined that a bit more investment in either August or January could have seen the Shrimps survive.

Instead, Morecambe didn’t ‘speculate to accumulate’ and paid the price with relegation.

Should Johal’s proposed takeover be blocked, chances are that failure to invest a bit more money means Bond Group will be faced with lower bids: after all, who’d pay more for a club now operating in League Two than League One?

Unless a takeover goes through then, looking from the outside, it seems Adams will go from having arguably the lowest budget in League One to the worst in League Two.

Rather than constructing a squad capable of getting back to the third tier at the first time of asking, it’d leave the coaching staff trying to avoid consecutive relegations and a journey back to the National League.

There are good people on and off the pitch at Morecambe, who have found themselves in a difficult position because of other people.

It’s time this situation was sorted once and for all.