Jason Whittingham

[dazza]

RR says It wouldn't surprise me if DA decides to stay and relish a new challenge and successfully deliver a more than competitive squad.

wake up and smell the coffee pal,,, we said this when we were relegated to league 2 - its fantasy

if the club gets parachute payments that will go on the club running not the team , the club will have to continue to hope for funding from the owner who takes ridiculous interest amounts , its not going to happen it will be a budget squad at best till the club is no more, thats the plain simple truth

[BerlinWaller]

Spot on Dazza. Nothing changes whatever league we are in whilst Whittingham is in charge.

[KenH]

RR says It wouldn't surprise me if DA decides to stay and relish a new challenge and successfully deliver a more than competitive squad.

wake up and smell the coffee pal,,, we said this when we were relegated to league 2 - its fantasy

if the club gets parachute payments that will go on the club running not the team , the club will have to continue to hope for funding from the owner who takes ridiculous interest amounts , its not going to happen it will be a budget squad at best till the club is no more, thats the plain simple truth

Can't imagine the club will even get the parachute payments to keep. It's obvious from the Jan transfer window that Derek didn't get all the cup run money. It'll be sleight of hand by Jason. No, he won't physically draw out the parachute money, he'll just reduce the loans he'll put it to cover costs for the coming year. Same result, club doesn't benefit.

[Wild Bill]

I think there's every chance Derek will be with is next season, if relegated. His stock will be low with another relegation, so unlikely to find another club. More likely he will go if he pulls off a miracle and keeps us up.

[redrobo]

....and if 'not a penny more' is actioned by a section of the fans...who will make up for the loss of revenue coming from the fans......oh the BoDs..... who will have to go to the owner cap in hand for more funding who will then as we all know charge an excessive interest rate.

The club will be the ones to suffer NOT the owner that's for sure.

Plenty will not agree with my assessment BUT we are all entitled to an opinion without it getting personal.

[vvm]

Actually no idea if Derek would stay. He has done well for us generally but I'm not sure there will be many clubs lining up to take him off our hands. His last couple of jobs have been a disaster for him and whilst we are all aware of the mitigating factors, he's about to have 2 relegations in 3 seasons on his cv.

I like him but it will probably come down to if he can be arsed with the hassle any longer. It took no time at all for Ged to jump ship and that was a man who'd just been given his first opportunity in management. As I type all this out I'm actually started to realise how much respect we should have for Derek in coming back and sticking out this hopeless situation.

In terms of players, I know almost all of them have 1 year optional extensions but there is probably a date where these need to be activated or they can just leave, I'll be surprised if we can prove we have the financial means to activate many (or any) of these extensions. Is anybody confirmed to be signed on longer? Gwion maybe?

[Redalert1970]

Doesn't the budget have to be announced soon for next season. !!!

[Billy bodger]

Spot on Dazza. Nothing changes whatever league we are in whilst Whittingham is in charge.

That is it in a nutshell, is he intent on destroying the Club? slowly and agonisingly?? Unless the Club is sold he will carry on exactly as he has for the last 3-4yrs. He is an owner who cannot properly fund a football club and nothing can be done under the current EFL rules that makes him sell his shares if he doesn’t get the price he wants.

Company Bloody Law!!

[Billy bodger]

Doesn't the budget have to be announced soon for next season. !!!

It is typically done just before the end of the current season.

If I remember properly, at the Fans Forum it was briefly mentioned that next year’s budget is being worked on. On the other hand Jason in a radio interview said he wasn’t thinking about it. Silence from the proposed buyers, so I don’t think anything will be announced until we know our fate (mathematically impossible to stay up).

Unless Jason funds the Club at least to the same level as this year, next season (it would have only been the 10th highest this season in the National League!!), it could be another case of releasing everyone and starting afresh with a new squad next season.

[Hodgie1978]

....and if 'not a penny more' is actioned by a section of the fans...who will make up for the loss of revenue coming from the fans......oh the BoDs..... who will have to go to the owner cap in hand for more funding who will then as we all know charge an excessive interest rate.

The club will be the ones to suffer NOT the owner that's for sure.

Plenty will not agree with my assessment BUT we are all entitled to an opinion without it getting personal.

Bingo!
I suggest the board ring Jason up tomorrow and ask him what's the likelihood of you being here next season because it's gonna cost you big time.

[Billy bodger]

Hi Hodgie 1978, Do you accept the ‘not a penny more’ protest may well harm the Club and what level of harm to the Club would be acceptable?

If you follow my posts you will know I’ve stated I will hold back on purchasing a season ticket for next season. I am still making my mind up if I will join the ‘not a penny more’ protest, I just need more information about the reasoning behind it, as probably others will. I just don’t know if it will have any effect on what Whittingham will do next.

I don’t think Whittingham will be quaking in his boots?

If my memory serves me right at the Fans Forum in January wasn’t it stated that it is hoped another one will be held before next season. I wonder if that happens?

[Hodgie1978]

I think nothing fans do will cause more damage than what Jason has done to our club.
Morecambe have lost 600 fans on average from last season so we can't be nieve to think it isn't gonna happen again.
The 1920 Union are using their platform to highlight this.
Remember this boycott could be called off but that needs Jason to come to talk to his people. As the custodian of the club that is what he should do.
The ball is in his court.
This is gonna be the hardest thing I've ever done but the reality is we are passed the point of no return. 1000 days in May of being up for sale while 18 clubs have had new owners in that time.

[BerlinWaller]

Protests and boycotts aren't for everyone and that is totally their choice.

My question to those people is, what is the alternative?

[CityShrimp]

Some good points being raised here… I guess the risk with the ‘not a penny more campaign’ is that Jason just deals with it by saddling the club with more debt, laying off half the staff and giving us a NW counties playing budget in order to stay solvent, thus staying in charge and defeating the point of the boycott.

Worth thinking about.

[Redalert1970]

If fans want to boycott or protest that is their choice

If fans want to buy season tickets and carry on watching the team that's their choice also

I for one will be buying a season ticket next year and every year we have a club going forward

[black morse]

I think what you have to ask yourself if we get relegated is...Is it better to continue under Jason with the debt situation rising each year (and having to scrape together a team each year from virtually nothing) whilst Jason continues to get his interest given to him on the money he has so generously loaned the club or is it better to make it impossible for the club to repay Jason which would lead into Administration. Jason would be gone and the club could then be sold for whatever the Administrators could get for it.

Administration would probably lead to National League North but so would paying Jason his pound of flesh every year. He's never going to find an 'acceptable' buyer now and we'd end up in Administration or worse after one or two years of torture for the fans.

As I've said in a post above there is no satisfactory way out of this now!

[Hodgie1978]

One thing for sure is as a club we should be talking with fans. The discussion of a boycott or where do we stand as a club if relegation/Jason still here should be talked about in a forum. You're meant to have 2 a season.

[Billy bodger]

I think what you have to ask yourself if we get relegated is...Is it better to continue under Jason with the debt situation rising each year (and having to scrape together a team each year from virtually nothing) whilst Jason continues to get his interest given to him on the money he has so generously loaned the club or is it better to make it impossible for the club to repay Jason which would lead into Administration. Jason would be gone and the club could then be sold for whatever the Administrators could get for it.

Administration would probably lead to National League North but so would paying Jason his pound of flesh every year. He's never going to find an 'acceptable' buyer now and we'd end up in Administration or worse after one or two years of torture for the fans.

As I've said in a post above there is no satisfactory way out of this now!

An interesting post, black morse, you put a credible scenario, if it would work? Whatever happens it’s not going to be pretty Morecambe FC will no doubt suffer.

I think one of the only ways to get rid of Jason is to go into administration, I’ve been totally against and I’m still not sure that’s a good option, as it relies on rising from the ashes further down the football pyramid, maybe further down than people may well think. It will rely on money to rise again and will that be forthcoming?

[redrobo]

One thing for sure is as a club we should be talking with fans. The discussion of a boycott or where do we stand as a club if relegation/Jason still here should be talked about in a forum. You're meant to have 2 a season.

We can agree that our club should communicate better than it does. Maybe this is something our GM should take up.

A forum to discuss together the current stalemate and what as a collective we should do going forward
is an excellent suggestion.

[BerlinWaller]

One thing for sure is as a club we should be talking with fans. The discussion of a boycott or where do we stand as a club if relegation/Jason still here should be talked about in a forum. You're meant to have 2 a season.

We can agree that our club should communicate better than it does. Maybe this is something our GM should take up.

A forum to discuss together the current stalemate and what as a collective we should do going forward
is an excellent suggestion.

Zero chance of this happening. The club have already gone back on their promises to communicate with fans at the Forum. The GM just seems to be nothing more than an empty suit

[Billy bodger]

We will be dropping in to Non league football with no Manager, 2 contracted players and the usual hassle with the budget.

Nobody wants to boycott, we all love the football club and just want to go back to being supporters again. We will never have our club back whilst Whittingham owns the club so we need to take direct action against him.

Football is nothing without fans.

I can assure you I am struggling what to do, my mindset has changed from being totally against the ‘not a penny more’ protest, but for instance Blackpool did it while they were in the Championship, it looks like we will be in the National League and Blackpool got relegated!! Is that the right time to do it? We were all great full for our seasons in League One but that’s when the rot set in with Whittingham antics, were we all wrong not to do it then, while we had the safety of a league Two? I know that is with hindsight but I’m struggling to support something that might not affect Whittingham the same as the Oystons if we go down to Northern League Premier or lower.

Please somebody explain the thinking behind the protest, black morse gave an insight can others develop it? You never know it might persuade others to join in.

I’m not trying to be pedantic or have a go, but you put ‘Football is nothing without fans’ and yet in another post you are saying it’s time for fans to cut the head off the snake, ‘not a penny more’ away days only.

Well then with the ‘not a penny more’ protest’ what will home games be like? Nothing??

[dazza]

for me the whole GM topic is a total new subject in its self

how does a club in the situation of mfc go out and hire a new GM what is he actually managing ??( this is not personal about the guy in situ , its the situation im bemoaning )

its a salary that the club does not need to be paying , and whilst the club is in such financial turmoil that will be adding to the losses that we are having to borrow money from the owner to fund, that we pay back at such a stupid interest rate, that for me is absolute madness , hes not going to be here on a minimum wage i suspect he will be in the higher pay bracket, so thats wages , car ?? national insurance, pension
has any one seen anything that hes doing - is he negotiating new contracts ( he cant we dont know a budget ) is he dereks boss ? is he negotiating sponsorships ( we already have a guy in situ ) is he hosting match day hospitality in the w+l , no we pay someone else to do that
why oh why, are we paying this salary, this budget could easily have gone on player budgets, is he full time ? what exactly is his role im bemused - i arrived at the last home game he was stood in the corridor behind the match day mc in the w+l not even greeting people

[KenH]

is he full time ? what exactly is his role

The club needs someone to manage it, especially with the different income streams, i.e. hospitality, bar, shop, reception, etc., It's far more than the football side of things. You can't run all the different areas on "front of house" staff. It's a very big operation - probably too big for the size of club we are to be honest. Someone has to be negotiating employment contracts, controlling the finances, supervising and managing the department heads, etc. Rod and Graham can't keep picking up the pieces and it's probably why Graham has said he's standing back a bit as he'll be expecting the GM to take over everything he's been doing free of charge for the last few years!

All that said, I am disappointed that our new GM is completely invisible and/or hiding from the fans. I can only hope he's busy beavering away in the background making changes and improvements. It may be that he's been appointed with the sole purpose of the management/admin/improvement behind the scenes and was never intended to be "front of house".

[al1]

Well said Dazza! The only thing I know that he did was to close the refreshment shop on the berlin wall for a recent home game!The steward and SLO were told it was due to staff shortages,which was not true.It was an experiment to try to save money.It meant that kids/fans where expected to go to behind the home end for their refreshments,fortunately some fans complained about this situation and were told it would not happen again.But I would imagine if the club is relegated he will close the berlin wall terrace next season!

[Old Man Kensey]

Well said Dazza! The only thing I know that he did was to close the refreshment shop on the berlin wall for a recent home game!The steward and SLO were told it was due to staff shortages,which was not true.It was an experiment to try to save money.It meant that kids/fans where expected to go to behind the home end for their refreshments,fortunately some fans complained about this situation and were told it would not happen again.But I would imagine if the club is relegated he will close the berlin wall terrace next season!

Only guessing but I would imagine that with Jason starving the club of funding they will be looking at every possible means of saving.

Relegation will only mean further cuts, so not opening an area of the ground when it is not running at capacity is probably quite sensible.