Morecambe: Diego Lemos delays Joseph Cala takeover with court order

Morecambe's takeover by businessman Joseph Cala has been delayed, after Diego Lemos obtained a court order preventing the sale.

Cala is waiting for EFL clearance to purchase Abdulrahman Al-Hashemi's stake in the club's owners, G50 Holdings.

Lemos bought a share in G50 in September, but 99% of that share was transferred to tax consultant Graham Burnard on 11 January.

Subsequently, Durham-based Burnard claims he is the club's owner.

Players and staff at the League Two club are yet to be paid. and Burnard says he is looking to oversee payments to staff and players within the next week.

Brazilian Lemos, who bought a controlling stake in the club in September, also claims he owns G50, and says the order means he has to be "engaged with" by the relevant parties before any shares are sold.

His spell at Morecambe, which began in September, has been criticised by the club who claimed he had not been present for 10 weeks and Companies House records show that his shares in G50 Holdings, which were used to purchase the club, had been transferred.

Confusion

Uncertainty over who owns the club has added to the confusion relating to Lemos' court order, which Shrimps director Rod Taylor says they are yet to fully understand the implications of.

"What they're saying is there's no prospect of an immediate sale of the football club," Taylor told BBC Radio Lancashire.

"We're trying to make sense of this, and we're making representation to the other parties, and to the Football League most importantly, to try to understand what's going on."

Italian businessman Cala hopes to purchase the stake in G50, after the Qatari businessman Al-Hashemi returned to help the club earlier this week.

There are also concerns that Morecambe's next home game against Cambridge United might not go ahead.

However, Cala says he has resolved a problem with access to adjoining land, which was operated by a separate company - PMG Leisure - which is now in administration. The land includes the matchday control area.