Harrogate Town to offer free tickets to Morecambe supporters

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Harrogate Town are offering free tickets to Morecambe supporters in light of the Shrimps’ current financial woes.

Irving Weaver’s club today announced it would offer free tickets to Morecambe season ticket holders for Harrogate’s home fixture against Grimsby this weekend.

In a post to its social media pages, the club said, “We stand in solidarity with our friends at Morecambe FC”.

The Lancashire-based side is in danger of going out of business after 105 years in existence, due to financial difficulties brought on by owner Jason Whittingham’s Bond Group Investments. 

Mr Whittingham is also associated with the demise in late 2022 of the rugby union club, Worcester Warriors. He was found guilty of failing to file accounts for the club and disqualified from being a company director for 12 months.

The problem has been brewing for some time; Morecambe first received a point deduction for paying players late in March 2023.

A failure to pay players and staff has endured in the years since, and now – multiple sanctions later – the club looks to be on the brink of extinction.

After being relegated to the National League for the first time in 18 years last season, the Shrimps have now been temporarily suspended from that league due to Mr Whittingham’s failure to sell the club.

Harrogate Town are not the only club to show support for Morecambe.

Northern Premier League side Bury FC has also offered free entry to Morecambe fans for their first game of the season. In a post on its Facebook page, the club wrote: “We’ve been where you are. We stand with you”.

Bury FC were expelled from the English Football League in 2019 – the first club since Maidstone United in 1992. After Bury entered administration in 2020, Bury AFC, a so-called 'phoenix club', was established by the fans of the dissolved club. The club has since returned under its original name.

Harrogate Town’s fixture against Grimsby this weekend will kick off at 3pm on Saturday (August 9). To claim free tickets, Morecambe fans should bring their season ticket from this season or last.