D3D4 Morecambe correspondent Roger Fitton hopes that the Shrimps can maintain their league status against all odds in 2018/19…

Food For Thought.

Well the result we have all been waiting for since the summer and possibly even longer is finally in. As millions turned on their televisions or other electronic devices right across the nation yesterday afternoon, the First Night Nerves and familiar smell of embrocation filled the tunnel as the players waited to see what fate had in store for them and their team-mates once the referee finally blew his whistle to start the game.

But what would happen ninety minutes or so later when he blew it again for the final time?

Would it be a Bronze medal? Or just nothing at all after all that expectation and effort?

As we all now know, it was nothing at all.

But let’s be brutally honest – a Friendly at Giant Axe involving a mix of triallists and possible first-teamers against Lancaster City would tell nobody a lot about Morecambe’s possible fate in the imminent League Two campaign. But for the record, the game was cancelled anyway – the pitch was deemed too dry and too hard to play a football match on.

As the trial of strength which was due to take place in North Lancashire fell by the wayside, most people’s minds were understandably focused fifteen hundred miles away or so on the World Cup clash between England and Belgium in Moscow. As England fans have watched Gareth Southgate and his team gradually progress through the competition, Global attention has been focused on Messi, Ronaldo and other superstar multi-millionaires.

“What does the future hold for them?” shrieks the international media at full volume en masse as if this is a question of life and death for all of us.

The answer is – according to some sources – a £22 million signing-on fee for the Portuguese megastar alone just for moving from Real Madrid to Italy to settle the tax bill he tried to avoid in Spain by nefarious means.

Forgetting what would happen to lesser mortals like you and me if we tried to screw the Revenue out of even trivial amounts – just imagine for a moment what this amount of money could do down in the basement of the Football League and elsewhere in this country. (Or virtually anywhere else for that matter…)

But in another Globe to be found far away on the North Lancashire coast (and actually another Universe to be totally honest as far as money at least is concerned), life continues in parallel in a much humbler way…

The transfer business …

Things moved quickly at the Globe Arena after the vital final game of last season at Coventry City, where Morecambe gained the point they needed to assure their future in the Football League. No less than eight players were released – including Captain Michael Rose – within four days of the match.  These were Vice-Captain Dean Winnard, Rhys Turner, Steven Yawson, Reece Deakin, Patrick Brough, Adam McGurk and Luke Jordan.

(Forget Neymar Junior, Dele Alli and the other overpaid prima donnas and professional cheats poncing about on a foreign field – what happens to decent men like these finding themselves suddenly effectively on the scrapheap? Whatever the future holds for then will most assuredly not include what amounts to a multi-million pound fee as a reward for attempting to cheat the taxman…)

Loanees Callum Lang; Max Muller, Mitchell Lund and Gregg Wylde also all returned to their parent clubs – young Mr Lang in particular will be missed. Shortly afterwards, much-improved defender Aaron McGowan left of his own accord to join Scottish League side Hamilton Academical. Manager Jim Bentley lamented, as far as this move was concerned:

“We’ve offered him a deal but he has decided to move on after a successful time at Morecambe FC. He’s been a pleasure to work with and improved year on year and now he will have the opportunity to prove he can step up to a very good level. I’m disappointed though that under the ruling of players moving cross border that we won’t receive any compensation for him though. If he moved to an English club we would receive a fee but that is not the case for moves to Scotland. We’ve seen this happen at other clubs and it’s very hard to swallow after all the hard work that people at Morecambe FC have put in to develop Aaron over the years. But it is the rule so that’s that. I’m sure our supporters will be disappointed as he became a fans’ favourite but it’s my job now to make sure I replace him with a good player. It’s disappointing that Aaron will leave us but we wish him well.”

A further blow to the club was the decision of promising but apparently severely homesick reserve goalkeeper – Danijel Nizic – to leave not just the country but also the Western Hemisphere and return to his native Australia, where he has subsequently signed for Sydney Wanderers.

In the meantime, ageing stalwarts goalkeeper Barry Roche – who basically kept the club in the EFL almost single-handedly last season – and leading scorer Kevin Ellison were also offered further twelve-month contracts. Kev will therefore spend his fortieth birthday with the Shrimps. He has been honest enough to admit in recent times that life so far as a professional footballer has not been without its strain on his own mental health:

“I’d become a very good actor in hiding my problems,” he told the BBC’s Sports website over the summer. “I am quite loud and a prankster but you don’t know what people are going through on the inside. I’ve had one or two people say to me ‘I’m sorry, if only I knew’. But how were they meant to know? I lived at my ex-partner’s for 18 years – and the last six years I lived with her she didn’t know I was going to seek help. If she couldn’t see it, how were team-mates who were there for a season or two meant to pick up on things?”

Good question. Not necessarily any easy answer. I’m sure we all wish him well and respect his bravery for broaching a subject which most people would prefer to keep hidden.

On 27th July 2018, the Shrimps signed Stockport’s Player Of The Year, 25 year old Jason Oswell. He has scored bucket loads of goals for Welsh non-League sides such as Rhyl and Newtown and also played for Inverness Caledonian Thistle after starting as a trainee at Crewe. Much is expected of him next season if Morecambe are yet again to confound the Bookmakers and actually remain in the EFL.

30-year old Geordie James Sinclair was recommended by the Shrimps’ own much improved central defender New Zealander Steven Old who played with James at Ostersunds in Sweden. This journeyman has played in places as far apart as Puerto Rico; Israel; Poland and Bolton – where his career started – and in positions as varied as centre forward and right back. He has been signed on a 12 month deal as from July 1st 2018.

Defenders Zak Mills (26) and Jordan Cranston (24) have also been signed on similar contracts having been released by Grimsby and Cheltenham respectively at the end of last season. Ex-Blackpool goalkeeper, 27  year old Mark Halstead has also been offered a twelve-month deal by the club.

27 year old Andrew Tutte was signed on a two year contract from the same date. He played for Bury in their promotion-winning season a couple of years or so ago and – like the Manager Jimbo himself – is a graduate of Manchester City’s Academy. He will wear the number 6 shirt but the boss describes him as a midfield player. Forward Rhys Oates has been offered a similar deal after having being released by non-League Hartlepool.

21 year old forward Ian Mandeville has also been signed on a season-loan from Doncaster Rovers. Doubts have been expressed – possibly wrongly – about the attitude of this player, if not his skill. Will he fulfil his potential in a Morecambe shirt? Time will tell…

On paper, the omens are not brilliant: with the exception of Oswell, these signings have all been released by clubs on a par or even lower in the football pyramid than Morecambe are themselves.

This is the reality that Morecambe Football Club live with year in and year out: the club lack the funds to attract a more promising type of player. But Jim Bentley – aided and abetted by ex-non League Manager and long-term assistant Ken McKenna – has a track record of turning pigs’ ears into silk purses over the years. The most obvious example of a player in recent times whose career Jim and Ken have helped to turn around being Preston’s star performer Tom Barkhuizen. Not all the footballers taken under the Morecambe wing have worked out as well but more often than not, players have left the Globe Arena in a better place than they were when they started. It is just a shame that Barkhuizen left for peanuts and McGowan departed for no fee at all…

But – as the Manager himself never tires of telling anyone who will listen: “It is what it is” and he just has to get on with it.

The season starts for real in just under three weeks’ time at Gresty Road, where Jim Bentley’s latest line-up will face those players collected by former team-mate Dave Artell . Dave will also be doing his best to assemble what he sees as his club’s best bet – Motley Cru I suppose; sorry: Motley Crew (please bear with me, I’ll get it right eventually) Motley Crewe – to try and also progress in League Two.

My expectation for the coming season is …

So what do I, as a Morecambe fan, want from the season to come?

Same as ever, really.

More than anything else, I want us to stay in the EFL: anything else will be a bonus.

If my team were a foot they would be…

If my team was a food, they would have the noses of Vegans and veggies turned-up before we even started. Living creatures and all that.

Shrimps are not for everyone after all…