Man Utd legend begs for help as EFL club left with no manager, only five players and facing expulsion from League Two
MANCHESTER UNITED legend Sammy McIlroy has insisted it would break his heart if troubled League Two club Morecambe went out of business.
The fourth-tier side finished 15th this season but were deducted three points back in August for failing to pay their players on time.
Following the conclusion of the campaign, manager Ged Brannan, chief executive Ben Sadler, and 16 players left the Mazuma Stadium.
It means Morecambe are without a head coach, chief exec. and have just FIVE players on their books.
Directors on the board fear for the club’s future if owner Jason Whittingham does not sell to an interested US-based buyer.
That is despite sponsorship from Morecambe resident Tyson Fury – who has chipped in to try and save the club.
And McIlroy, 69, is the latest to call for change at the Lancashire-based side.
The ex-Man Utd midfielder was the last of Sir Matt Busby’s signings at Old Trafford.
He went on to win the Second Division in 1975 and FA Cup in 1977, while he also scored in a 3-2 defeat to Arsenal in the 1979 FA Cup final.
McIlroy, who played more than 400 times for Man Utd, retired in 1990 and became head coach of Morecambe for six years between 2005 and 2011 – his last managerial role.
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His stint in charge included helping them gain promotion to the Football League through the League Two play-offs in 2007.
But their financial turmoil is now worrying McIlroy.
Speaking to The Mirror, he said: “It would break my heart to see Morecambe being chucked out of the League, having points deducted or, worst of all, going to the wall because it’s such a long way back.
“It would be a terrible shame if nobody comes to the rescue.
“I hope they are not just waiting for Tyson Fury to bail them out because he’s got other things on his mind at the minute, like trying to win his world title back.
“Hopefully someone from the business community will step in and see the potential.
“It’s a smashing little club and they may not have a big-city following in numbers, but the supporters are loyal and passionate about their club.”
The board of directors penned an open letter to Whittingham advising him to do business with the “US-based potential buyer” to save the club from potential extinction.
It read: “We are writing this open letter to reiterate what was said to you during the meeting we held with you today, during which you updated us on the critical matters of funding and the sale of the Football Club.
“Sadly, your future funding assurances have now failed to come to fruition so often that, in the absence of substantial funds from Bond Group landing in the Morecambe Football Club account, they come across as meaningless, and we must take them as such in order to be responsible.
“As for the Middle East-based potential buyer you first told us was interested in buying the Club approximately a year ago, you have provided no tangible evidence or introduction during this time to enable us to consider them serious or credible.
“You have one apparently serious offer on the table from a US-based potential buyer which, based on what we know, is the most credible which has been made since you placed the Club up for sale over 20 months ago.
“Please accept this second offer now, so that there is a chance that a sale might be completed, and a catastrophic outcome be avoided.”