Sarah Lomas
It’s been a steady start for Morecambe in their first season as a Football League club, nearly two months into the 2007/08 season and they’ve achieved a steady flow of results and a respectable mid-table position, especially considering they’re newcomers to the world of Football League.
Morecambe haven’t really struggled to gain results, unlike most clubs who make the step up, gaining wins away at Wrexham and Chester, and at home to Mansfield. Their first League match was at home to Barnet, going away with a much earned point from the meeting.
Perhaps most impressive is Morecambe’s League Cup run in which they’ve seen off not just one, but two Championship League clubs, both away from home. In the first round, Morecambe made Preston North End look like the lower league side as they came away as 2-1 winners with goals from Jim Bentley a few minutes into the game and David Artell scoring minutes from time.
Into the second round and Morecambe travelled to Wolverhampton Wanderers where they came away 3-1 winners after extra time. A penalty from Baker, and goals from Newby in the dying seconds and Thompson in extra time sent them through to the next round where they’ll face Sheffield United.
With such an illustrative start to their first season in the Football League, Morecambe are hoping to build on what they’ve already started.
Plying their trade at Christie Park, Morecambe’s ground holds approximately 6,400 with a seating capacity of 1,200. The unusually name Car Wash Terrace is the only area of the ground which isn’t covered and away fans are held in the Umbro Stand.
However, with their rise into the Football League and their hope to stay there, the club announced plans on July 17, 2007, to move to a new multi-million pound stadium in the Westgate area of the town. With an expected capacity of 6,000, the new stadium will also include a community area, hotel and fast food outlets. The club chairman hopes that the new ground will open in the 2009/10 season and attract top class players, as well as benefit the club financially.
Morecambe’s football history dates back to the turn of the 20th century and after a meeting in the West View Hotel on May 7, 1920, Morecambe Football Club was formed and they entered the Lancashire Combination for the 1920/01 season sharing a ground with the local cricket club in their first season. Despite being a rugby town, the club proved popular and achieved crowds in excess of 3,000 for the derbies with Lancaster and Fleetwood.
In 1927 the President Mr J B Christie bequeathed the ground to the club. The following years had both ups and downs, but they had a steady rise through the leagues and won promotion into the Conference in the 1995/96 season. Morecambe became one of the leading teams to have an unbroken membership in the league, with Wrexham only spending longer in the division.
In the 2004/05 season a poor start was reversed after the Christmas spell when they climbed the table, but their hopes of gaining promotion from the Conference were dashed on the final day of the season when a draw with mid-table Tamworth meant they would spend another season as a non-league team. The Shrimps’ hopes in the cups didn’t evolve either as they were knocked out in the first rounds.
Morecambe’s hopes were also dashed the following season as they lost 4-3 on aggregate in the 2005/06 Play Off Semi Final against Hereford United in a match that went to extra time with over 12,000 watching both games.
The 2005/06 season had been somewhat of ups and downs as in the first half of the season long serving manager Jim Harvey suffered a massive heart attack. However, Morecambe fought back under caretaker manager Sammy McIlroy and his assistant Mark Lillis. He took over from November until the end of the season and went on to have a run of eight games unbeaten at the end of the season with five of these wins.
At the end of the season, the club directors decided to terminate the contract of Jim Harvey and Sammy McIlroy took charge of the playing team permanently. The same season saw cup action as they were knocked out of the FA Cup by promoted Northwich Victoria and Morecambe were kept out of the FA Trophy by Conference North Play Off winners Stafford. The LDV Trophy saw more success as the club won on penalties against Grimsby only to be knocked out in the next round with a last minute goal from Bradford.
After two seasons of dashed dreams, Morecambe finally achieved promotion into the Football League as on May 20, 2007 at Wembley, over 11,000 Shrimps fans saw them win 2-1 against Exeter City taking them into League Two. Over 40,000 came to the game with Thompson and Carlton scoring the most important goals in the club’s history. They’d finally reached their dream after winning the semi-final 2-1 on aggregate against YorkCity. Morecambe also reached the second round of the FA Cup being knocked out with a last minute penalty for SwindonTown.
All the success in the 2006/07 season had come when Sammy McIlroy took charge, he’d turned a small Conference club dreaming of promotion into a football club plying their trade in the Football League…just as he had done with now League Two club Macclesfield.
However, credit must be given to all the managers who built the foundations for McIlroy to take onto the next level. Morecambe have been Lancashire Trophy Winners in dozens of seasons, 10 to be exact, with the last being in the 1998/99 season. In the 2003/04 campaign they came as runners up in the competition. The club have also got through to the FA Trophy Semi-Final in recent years, losing out to Stevenage Borough in the 2001/02 season, and having won it back in the 1973/74 campaign.
On the first day of the 2007/08 season, Morecambe ran out at Christie Park to face their first League Two game against fellow recent newcomers to the league Barnet. They secured their first point of their Football League career in a 0-0 draw on August 14, 2007.
Morecambe boss McIlroy strengthened is squad in the lead up to the first fixture with a number of well established and experienced signings. David Artell from Chester, Simon Grand from Grimsby and Damien Allen from Stockport all signed on a free transfer for the Shrimps, along with Carl Baker from Southport who joined the club in their step up to the Football League. Morecambe also signed Norwich’s Joe Lewis on loan from Championship side Norwich City.
Despite the club making the step up the leagues, Morecambe’s Chris Blackburn was snapped up by SwindonTown on a free transfer.
Although traditionally seen as a lower league football club, Morecambe in fact has a number of well known names on their books, many of which have been subject to transfer speculation.
Prolific forward Wayne Curtis as been chased by a number of lower league clubs, particularly Rochdale who have made their interest known a few times. Other names that catch the eye are defender Jim Bentley, midfielder Michael Twiss, forward Garry Hunter and ex Liverpool youngster Jon Newby.
With so many well known names in the lower leagues gracing the teamsheet at Morecambe, particularly plenty of strikers, it’s no wonder the club has started the season in such a positive manner, as well as retaining a respectable mid-table position two months into the season.
A planned new stadium, a fantastic selection of top rate lower league players and a manager who really knows how to turn things around, Morecambe certainly have all the right ingredients to create a League Two team who will not have thoughts of fighting relegation come the end of the 2007/08 season.
