Football Season Guide

The Shrimps will be relieved to have enjoyed a relatively peaceful summer after enduring a season of turmoil in 2016/17. Jim Bentley has grown well used to battling against the odds with Morecambe and despite the off-field problems he guided them to an 18th place finish in the League Two table. There was an immense sense of relief early this summer when a court case dismissed claims from Diego Lemos over ownership and confirmed that G50 Holdings Ltd owns an 82% stake in the club. Financial support is provided by Abdulrahman Al-Hashemi and he is hoping this will allow Bentley to concentrate on ensuring Morecambe remain a Football League team again this season. Bentley is currently the third longest serving manager in English football, behind Arsenal's Arsene Wenger and Exeter City's Paul Tisdale but it will have come as no surprise to anyone that the club have lost two of their best players again this summer. Central defender and player of the season Ryan Edwards joined promoted Plymouth Argyle whilst striker and joint-leading goalscorer Paul Mullin has signed for Swindon Town. A trio of loan players have returned to their parent clubs whilst midfielder Peter Murphy has been forced to retire after suffering another serious knee injury. Bentley will be delighted to have kept a hold of influential midfielder Michael Rose, who signed a new deal this summer and has added to his squad by paying a rare undisclosed fee to sign striker Vadaine Oliver from York City. Winger, Adam Campbell, has joined from Notts County whilst Garry Thompson has re-joined the club from Wycombe Wanderers after nine years away. Bentley is likely to still be working on strengthening his squad in August, especially in defence, and Morecambe will need to punch above their weight again if they are to avoid a relegation battle this season.