Morecambe FC edging towards takeover deal with drinks tycoon

A takeover of League One side Morecambe FC could be near, according to the club’s co-chairman, Graham Howse.

In an update on the club’s website he intimated that 20-year-old entrepreneur Sarbjot Johal is in pole position to take control.

World heavyweight boxing champion, Tyson Fury, who lives in the town, said he had been offered the chance to buy the club in October.

He sponsors the club and owns the training pitches next to the stadium.

But the latest update indicates that drinks tycoon Johal is likely to emerge as the new owner. The club has been valued at £20m.

Mr Howse wrote on the club website: “It is fair to say the sale process hasn’t progressed as quickly as we all would have liked – that said, my understanding is that exciting times are ahead both on and off the pitch.

“Sarbjot Johal is eager to start the project to take the club on to a new level, subject to satisfactorily navigating the EFL Owners and Directors’ test.

“Sarbjot, through his company Sarb Capital, has recently purchased equity in the club, injecting more than useful income into us.”

He added: “I am, along with Sarbjot, keen that the process should now move on at pace to come to a positive conclusion.”

Morecambe’s current owners Jason Whittingham and Colin Goldring from Bond Group Investments, put the club up for sale in September 2022.

They also owned rugby union side Worcester Warriors, which was wound up by HMRC last August.

The following month, the Government placed WRFC Trading Limited, the company that owned the rugby club, in administration. The Rugby Football Union suspended the club from all rugby competition

In October, WRFC Players Limited, the company that employed the players and staff, was wound up in court.

Earlier this week, administrators Begbies Traynor announced that Jim O’Toole and James Sandford’s Atlas consortium had been appointed as Worcester Warriors’ new owners.

Morecambe insist the two clubs have no connections, beyond the owners.

Birmingham-based Johal is the founder of non-alcoholic drinks brand Vitanic and also chairman of private equity firm Sarb Capital.

Johal was born in Gravesend, Kent, to an immigrant Sikh family in 2002. He began work as a construction worker, aged 13, alongside his father.

He established his first company in construction, aged 15. Two years later he developed Vitanic Grape Cocktail 0.0% Alc.