Morecambe are bottom as the new owners has had to pay off the debts of the old owners and they are three games behind the other teams. Survival is the main aim this season. We are at 8,000 because we couldn't afford to build 20,000 and we cannot afford the £50 million to finish the stadium not because we are unable to.

Lurker - see my post of 15th April... ""BACK IN TWO TICKS" brochure Sept 2015 page 8 - "...a football stadium with an eventual capacity of around 20,000...", page 11 "...eventual expansion of the stadium to around 20,000..." That's what I voted for. Maybe I missed it but I don't recall any info saying that a 20,000 capacity is no longer possible. If it's true that's because Galliard now own(?) the land behind the current east stand that's an even bigger issue than Erik moving money from the stadium budget to finance Nil's whims for expensive "championship quality" players. 15th Apr 2025 14:05:33 And yes I do realise that we can't afford any expansion as things stand."

Naz were we promised 20k straight off or ability to have 20k?

JAW, how many of the other 23 Lge Two clubs are still paying for their stadium?

$6m - " It could even mean moving to somewhere we can afford to run". So, we spend a lot of money to pay for a company to find us suitable land. We pay more money to do a deal with the current land owner to build on said land. We then pay more money for surveyors, architects, other related bods you need to design a stadium. And then pay whatever it costs to file with the council, legal fees, dealing with NIMBYS, S106s etc. It gets approved and then you have to build it with more expensive material and deal with the inevitable construction over-runs. Not to mention a little thing like getting 99% of AFCW fans to accept Plough Lane was an expensive mistake and that moving to "somewhere we can afford to run" is a much better option...

Changing something about the stadium dies not necessarily equate to expansion. It could be the opposite. It could be how parts of the ground are used throughout the year. It could even mean moving to somewhere we can afford to run.

Morecambe are bottom of the NL!

We had the highest revenue in league 2 and got promotion yet still made an expected loss of £2M+ last season. Whatever the intricacies of fan ownership we cannot afford to continue be run in the way we are [Link]

Spit - agree about capacity. The two ticks vote promised 20,000, and we have ended up with less than half that, and for some reason we never manage to get to 9,000 (segregation? third floor?).

Kind of them to take voting into consideration.

Wonderful goal for the women today [Link]

The Dons Trust had a survey about betting sponsorship in 2019. The result was two thirds of members were in favour. The DT statement about this included: "The Trust board took this voting into consideration and has on balance decided that it is content for the football club to carry on exploring a link-up along these lines.".

One thing I’ve noticed we’ve now achieved is we can sell more of the seats where opposition gave a small fan base by sectioning and sales to home fans. We’re doing a good job now IMO of trying to make money. Like more advertising on kits.

You could have a pretty good stab at seeing if Plough Lane, in it's current format, is economically viable or not. If it isn't, we will forever be chasing our tail. If it isn't, we need to change something.

BTW if you want some more free sport you can watch the NFL on Channel 5

Spot on Big Al. The nasty world is full of businesses that don't fit the narrow optic imposed. Remember the bed wetting over gambling companies?

Bigger crowds just help reduce the losses - we really shouldn’t be in a position where we come close to capacity most games but the stadium runs at a loss.

The protectionism showed by the DTB worries me. It seems to me they want a certain type of an investor. I get the wanting to remain fan owned, and I want that too, but I fear any ambition to an investor showing any remote interest at extending their share holding at a later date will be closed down pdq. Sorry to bring this up on the back of a good weekends feel good factor. But their treatment of our banned election candidate, shows they are incapable of moving on from their prejudices and having an open door policy that allows the vermin (to them) and hear people out in full before considering the merits of whast they say, have to offer and put it in the hands of the membership to decide.

Exactly nicander.

OI - Morecambe were financially stable until they were sold in 2018. This new ownership were the drivers of their current problems which has been fixed by their new owners in part.

Harrogate's success may also be down to York's difficulties in re-establishing themselves as a league club

I still think the boards can (and must if they want people to vote to sell out in part or as a whole) be clearer about all the interplay of this, though.

Morecambe had learnt how to live in League 2 and even League 1. I would bet on Harrogate being back in non-league before the end of the decade. They probably also have a stadium that is cheaper to run than ours and fully paid for.

$6m - I think it's extremely hard to disentangle: incorrect assumptions; changing global and domestic economic picture inc inflation/cost of living/tax; impact/disruption of Covid at critical time; and changing world of football.

Silk: sell