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Football clubs in crisis like Sheffield Wednesday and Morecambe can “absolutely” be saved from the brink of collapse, says Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy.

The future of both clubs remains uncertain after a torrid summer of issues including delayed wage payments for players and staff, registration embargoes and in the case of Morecambe, suspension from the National League.

In July, a bill to establish an independent football regulator became law, granting it powers to oversee the men’s game in England’s top five divisions. However, the regulator will not be launched until later this year.

When it is operational, Nandy says the regulator will be able to make a difference.

“These clubs belong to their fans. They are nothing without their fans and we are on their side and we will always fight for them”, Nandy told BBC Breakfast.

“Nobody should have to go through this. When Bury collapsed, we were absolutely clear that that had to be the last time that ever happened to anyone again. It’s happened to far too many people since”.

Bury were expelled by the English Football League in 2019 while in League One after a takeover bid collapsed.

“Owners need to recognise that they have a responsibility to be the custodians of a club and hand it on in good shape to the next generation”, she added.

“They’re hugely important to the economic life of a town, which I know from my own experience”.

Nandy highlighted Wigan Athletic, the team she supports, as a club who were saved from the brink of collapse in 2021, but have experienced further financial challenges.

“Wigan went right to the wire, we were within hours of HMRC pulling the plug because taxes haven’t been paid, players were about to walk, the wages haven’t been paid and at the final hour we managed to achieve a resolution.

Morecambe were put up for sale by owners Bond Group in September 2022, but a deal has still not been completed, and two relegations in three seasons since have seen the club drop into the National League for the first time since 2007.

Last week the Shrimps were suspended by the league for failing to comply with their rules, while Nandy wrote an open letter to Morecambe owner Jason Whittingham urging him to sell the club.

Bury are granting free entry to Morecambe supporters for their opening Northern Premier League West game of the season against Newcastle Town on Saturday as a gesture of solidarity.

Meanwhile, Championship club Sheffield Wednesday have lost £178m between 2015, when Thai businessman Dejphon Chansiri bought the club, and 2024.

The Owls are under a transfer embargo, manager Danny Rohl left the club by mutal consent in July and the North Stand at Hillsborough has closed because of concerns over its structural integrity.

Stronger tests around potential owners and directors will be brought in by the new football regulator, which Nandy says will help struggling clubs falling into peril.

” In the case of Morecambe]the regulator] would definitely make a difference, “Nandy told Radio 4’s Today programme”. There are powers for the regulator to be able to force the owners to sell in circumstances where it would otherwise be lost.

“In the case of Sheffield Wednesday, which I know many, many people are concerned about, there are some measures in the bill that will make a big difference. Legislation, for example, gives fans much greater power over the direction of their own club”.

But with the independent regulator not yet up and running, the prospect of either Morecambe or Sheffield Wednesday, or both, becoming the next Bury is very real.

“I don’t want to sugar-coat this, people have been through it”, said Nandy.

“Bury is an example of this where they lost everything because of poor ownership. And it proves why there is such a need for the legislation that we’ve just passed.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy claims that football clubs in trouble like Sheffield Wednesday and Morecambe can “absolutely” be saved from the brink of collapse.

After a rough summer of issues, including delayed pay for players and staff, registration restrictions, and, in the case of Morecambe, a National League suspension, the future of both clubs is uncertain.

A bill to establish an independent football regulator was passed into law in July, giving it authority to monitor the men’s game in England’s top five divisions. The regulator won’t be launched until later in the year, though.

Nandy claims the regulator will be able to influence how it operates.

“These clubs are owned by their supporters. Without their fans, Nandy said, “They are nothing without us, and we are fighting for them forever.”

“No one should have to go through this,” he said. We knew right away that that had to be the last time anyone had ever experienced a collapse like Bury’s. There have been far too many cases of it since then.

In 2019 while playing League One, Bury was kicked out after a takeover bid failed, according to the English Football League.

Owners must be aware of their responsibilities as the club’s guardians and pass it on to the next generation in good condition, she continued.

They are “absolutely crucial to a town’s economic life,” I assert from personal experience.

Nandy praised Wigan Athletic, the organization she supports, as a club that was saved from a financial collapse in 2021 but who also faced additional financial difficulties.

“Wigan went straight to the point, and we were just in time to have the HMRC pull the plug because the players were walking away, the wages hadn’t been paid, and we managed to resolve the issue in the closing moments.”

Therefore, I’ve made it clear to the supporters’ groups and the local MPs to keep fighting.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer expressed his concern for the situation and suggested that the government step in.

He told Bauer Media, “There are already discussions going on.

Everyone should do the right thing and achieve the desired result, in my opinion, because there is a way out of this. It is really important.

Morecambe’s football team matters to the residents, the community, and the fans.

Owners Bond Group offered Morecambe for sale in September 2022, but a deal has not yet been finalized, and the club has since fallen into the National League for the first time since 2007. Due to two relegations in three seasons, the club has been in the National League for the first time since 2007.

The league gave the Shrimps a week’s worth of suspensions last week for breaking their rules, and Nandy urged him to sell the club in an open letter to Morecambe owner Jason Whittingham.

As a show of support for Morecambe’s opening Northern Premier League West game against Newcastle Town on Saturday, Bury are offering free entry to Morecambe supporters.

Sheffield Wednesday, a championship club, has lost £178 million between 2015, when Dejphon Chansiri bought the club, and 2024, respectively.

The North Stand at Hillsborough has closed because of concerns about the club’s structural integrity, manager Danny Rohl left the club by mutual consent in July, and the Owls are currently facing a transfer ban.

The new football regulator will conduct more thorough examinations of potential owners and directors, which Nandy claims will assist struggling clubs in getting into trouble.

The regulator [in the case of Morecambe] would undoubtedly affect the situation, Nandy claimed on Radio 4’s Today program. In situations where it would otherwise be lost, the regulator has the authority to compel the owners to sell.

There are some provisions in the bill that will make a big difference in the case of Sheffield Wednesday, which I am aware that many, many people are concerned about. For instance, laws give fans a lot more control over how their own club is run.

However, the independent regulator is still in its early stages, so the chance of Morecambe or Sheffield Wednesday becoming the next Bury is very real.

People have endured it, Nandy said, “I don’t want to sugarcoat this.”

“Bury is an illustration of how poor ownership led to their complete destruction. And it demonstrates why the legislation we just passed is necessary.

Football clubs in crisis like Sheffield Wednesday and Morecambe can “absolutely” be saved from the brink of collapse, says Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy.

The future of both clubs remains uncertain after a torrid summer of issues including delayed wage payments for players and staff, registration embargoes and in the case of Morecambe, suspension from the National League.

In July, a bill to establish an independent football regulator became law, granting it powers to oversee the men’s game in England’s top five divisions. However, the regulator will not be launched until later this year.

When it is operational, Nandy says the regulator will be able to make a difference.

“These clubs belong to their fans. They are nothing without their fans and we are on their side and we will always fight for them”, Nandy told BBC Breakfast.

“Nobody should have to go through this. When Bury collapsed, we were absolutely clear that that had to be the last time that ever happened to anyone again. It’s happened to far too many people since”.

Bury were expelled by the English Football League in 2019 while in League One after a takeover bid collapsed.

“Owners need to recognise that they have a responsibility to be the custodians of a club and hand it on in good shape to the next generation”, she added.

“They’re hugely important to the economic life of a town, which I know from my own experience”.

Nandy highlighted Wigan Athletic, the team she supports, as a club who were saved from the brink of collapse in 2021, but have experienced further financial challenges.

“Wigan went right to the wire, we were within hours of HMRC pulling the plug because taxes haven’t been paid, players were about to walk, the wages haven’t been paid and at the final hour we managed to achieve a resolution.

Morecambe were put up for sale by owners Bond Group in September 2022, but a deal has still not been completed, and two relegations in three seasons since have seen the club drop into the National League for the first time since 2007.

Last week the Shrimps were suspended by the league for failing to comply with their rules, while Nandy wrote an open letter to Morecambe owner Jason Whittingham urging him to sell the club.

Bury are granting free entry to Morecambe supporters for their opening Northern Premier League West game of the season against Newcastle Town on Saturday as a gesture of solidarity.

Meanwhile, Championship club Sheffield Wednesday have lost £178m between 2015, when Thai businessman Dejphon Chansiri bought the club, and 2024.

The Owls are under a transfer embargo, manager Danny Rohl left the club by mutal consent in July and the North Stand at Hillsborough has closed because of concerns over its structural integrity.

Stronger tests around potential owners and directors will be brought in by the new football regulator, which Nandy says will help struggling clubs falling into peril.

” In the case of Morecambe]the regulator] would definitely make a difference, “Nandy told Radio 4’s Today programme”. There are powers for the regulator to be able to force the owners to sell in circumstances where it would otherwise be lost.

“In the case of Sheffield Wednesday, which I know many, many people are concerned about, there are some measures in the bill that will make a big difference. Legislation, for example, gives fans much greater power over the direction of their own club”.

But with the independent regulator not yet up and running, the prospect of either Morecambe or Sheffield Wednesday, or both, becoming the next Bury is very real.

“I don’t want to sugar-coat this, people have been through it”, said Nandy.

“Bury is an example of this where they lost everything because of poor ownership. And it proves why there is such a need for the legislation that we’ve just passed.

An unnamed former county cricket coach has been suspended for nine months after admitting charges of sexual misconduct.

The independent Cricket Discipline Panel found the man had sent sexually explicit pictures to two female junior members of staff in the summers of 2023 and 2024.

He admitted five breaches of professional conduct regulations, including sending unsolicited sexual images to two colleagues.

The panel’s report said the second woman “was much younger than the respondent and he occupied a far more senior position than she did” at the cricket club.

He was sacked as a result of his behaviour and has not been employed in the sport since.

In submissions to the panel, it was noted the coach had “apologised for his misconduct and expressed genuine remorse”.

It said he had voluntarily taken an education course and “worked with a former professional sportswoman to understand the impact of unsolicited explicit messages”.

“He hoped that now he was emerging as a better person”, the report states.

“He had a greater understanding of workplace boundaries, the misuse of social media and what amounted to sexual harassment”.

The ban is backdated six months to the charges being served, plus three months suspended and a mandatory education course to be completed.

Chris Haward, managing director of the cricket regulator, said: “This kind of conduct is unacceptable.

” Where such instances are identified they will be investigated and those responsible will be held to account. Removing sexual misconduct from the game is a priority for the cricket regulator.

An unnamed former county cricket coach has been suspended for nine months after admitting charges of sexual misconduct.

The independent Cricket Discipline Panel found the man had sent sexually explicit pictures to two female junior members of staff in the summers of 2023 and 2024.

He admitted five breaches of professional conduct regulations, including sending unsolicited sexual images to two colleagues.

The panel’s report said the second woman “was much younger than the respondent and he occupied a far more senior position than she did” at the cricket club.

He was sacked as a result of his behaviour and has not been employed in the sport since.

In submissions to the panel, it was noted the coach had “apologised for his misconduct and expressed genuine remorse”.

It said he had voluntarily taken an education course and “worked with a former professional sportswoman to understand the impact of unsolicited explicit messages”.

“He hoped that now he was emerging as a better person”, the report states.

“He had a greater understanding of workplace boundaries, the misuse of social media and what amounted to sexual harassment”.

The ban is backdated six months to the charges being served, plus three months suspended and a mandatory education course to be completed.

Chris Haward, managing director of the cricket regulator, said: “This kind of conduct is unacceptable.

” Where such instances are identified they will be investigated and those responsible will be held to account. Removing sexual misconduct from the game is a priority for the cricket regulator.

Triumph, tragedy and turmoil.

The past decade at Leicester City has had it all.

It started with a season that delivered the most unlikely – and previously unfathomable – Premier League title to King Power Stadium in 2016.

Two years later, the stadium was also the site of the club’s most shocking tragedy, as owner and chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha died alongside four other people in a helicopter crash outside the ground.

Now, in a season where Leicester will mark the 10-year anniversary of their greatest sporting moment – which Vichai was instrumental in creating – the club finds itself back in England’s second tier after a second relegation from the Premier League in three years.

And this time they have dropped into the Championship under a cloud of uncertainty, the threat of a points penalty hanging over the club for allegedly breaching spending rules when they were promoted from the division as title winners just over a year ago.

“It’s been an emotional rollercoaster”, said lifelong Foxes fan Kate Blakemore, a regular Leicester contributor for BBC Sport.

“We’ve had tragedy thrown in there with the passing of Vichai, and winning the FA Cup is not something I thought I’d see in my lifetime, let alone the Premier League.

” We have had some amazing highs this past decade and yet here we are feeling rather glum that we have been relegated for the second time in three seasons and things seem a little bit unsettled at the club.

“We are rounding out the decade with a very different feeling to how we started it, and it’s quite tough to take for the fans really”.

The years that were bookended by Championship football in 2014 and 2023 are the greatest in the club’s history.

It started with the Foxes returning to the Premier League after a 10-year absence, included a relegation ‘ great escape ‘ under Nigel Pearson, a Premier League title masterminded by Claudio Ranieri, a Champions League quarter-final, then winning the FA Cup and Community Shield during Brendan Rodgers ‘ reign as boss.

Leicester even reached the semi-final of a European competition for the first time in 2022, losing to Italian side Roma in the Europa Conference League, a year before they became the most expensive and highest-paid squad to suffer Premier League relegation.

“You can’t predict anything with Leicester City and you can’t assume you are on any kind of trajectory, positive or negative, because they always scupper your expectations”, Blakemore said.

“Going from winning the Championship title to the Premier League title two years later, to the era of Champions League quarter-finals and getting our best, most sought-after manager in Rodgers, you could only think we were looking odds-on to be a constant top-eight kind of team.

Attempting to keep the books balanced is undoubtedly top of the list.

In his final season in charge at the King Power, Rodgers bemoaned Leicester was not the club” it was a couple of years ago “after a frustrating summer transfer window.

It was the first sign of the difficulties the club was having trying to comply with spending rules.

Flipping talent for huge profits – be it Harry Maguire’s £80m move to Manchester United in 2019 or Riyad Mahrez’s transfer to Manchester City for £60m a year before that – had helped the club establish itself as a top-10 Premier League side.

Big-money exits of recent years, however, have been timed to help their case off the field, having twice been charged with alleged breaches of profit and sustainability rules (PSR).

A club-record loss of £92.5m was made in 2021-22, followed by an £89.7m deficit a season later to take their losses over three years to £215m.

Mike Stowell was Leicester’s goalkeeper coach for 16 years from 2007 to 2023, in which time they went from winning the League One title to conquering the Premier League and reaching the knockout stages of Europe’s biggest competitions.

To Stowell, Leicester City are” family”. One with which he experienced” amazing times “but freely admits it was” never a smooth ride”.

He left the club following relegation two years ago, and says dropping out of the top-fight twice in three seasons is the main factor behind Leicester’s lack of investment.

But he also adds that is nothing new.

It is among the reasons that relegation very nearly followed their Premier League title win, and what contributed to Ranieri losing his job just nine months after the club’s crowning achievement.

” Look at Liverpool’s investment this pre-season, it’s over £200m, and they have just won the league, “Stowell said.

” And if you look back at when we won the league, our investment was very minimal.

“The Champions League was a fantastic journey, but we were turning the same team out for Premier League and Champions League games and the reality was that we weren’t big enough and strong enough to be in that pool and to sustain it.

” We managed to stay up, but we were behind again and trying to play catch-up.

It is little wonder Blakemore described being out of the Premier League even for one year as an “eternity”, with the East Midlands club quickly left behind as the level of spending by top-flight sides continues to reach new highs.

And here the Foxes are, back in the Championship, having finished 13 points adrift of safety last season only a year after clinching the second-tier title with 97 points under Enzo Maresca.

“With PSR they couldn’t invest, they gave big contracts to those players who got them back up to the Championship, but took them down from the Premier League”, Stowell said.

“Realistically they hadn’t learned from their mistake, and the team that went down and took them back up, took them back down again.

Marti Cifuentes is the manager Leicester have turned to as they attempt to again ‘ yo-yo ‘ their way back up.

The former Queens Park Rangers head coach is seen as a boss in the mould of Maresca – the manager who got the Foxes promoted last time, before leaving for Chelsea where he has since lifted the Club World Cup and Europa Conference League – with a desire to see his side press high and dominate possession.

Cifuentes ‘ arrival, the awkwardly long wait it took the Foxes to sack predecessor Ruud van Nistelrooy and the uncertainty around the club’s ability to spend also has echoes of the chaotic nature in which Ranieri came into the job 10 years ago.

Predecessor Pearson had been sacked despite overseeing seven wins and one draw in their final 10 games to achieve Premier League survival.

Ranieri picked up the pieces – and with a shrewd summer recruitment drive that brought in influential players such as N’Golo Kante, Shinji Okazaki and Robert Huth – transformed Leicester from a relegation escape-act into 5, 000-1 heroes.

Cifuentes is now picking up the pieces of a relegated side, and has so far only manged to sign free-agent goalkeeper Asmir Begovic.

The void left by former England striker and Foxes great Vardy remains unfilled, and while Cifuentes has remained coy about what he can and cannot spend, he explained to BBC Radio Leicester he is well aware of what he has signed up for.

” The fact that 10 years ago this club managed to achieve what I would say is one of the most amazing achievements in the last years of any sport, says a lot about a lot of people that are here, “he said.

Cifuentes says having Andy King, a member of the Premier League-winning team, on his coaching staff, and a number of academy graduates around the squad is vital in keeping the Foxes tethered to past glories and the identity it helped the club forge.

Homegrown defender Ben Nelson knows the Foxes ‘ pedigree more than anyone, having been a ball boy during that memorable season.

He was stood on the pitch when world-renowned Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli sang in front of a packed King Power Stadium on the iconic day they lifted the Premier League trophy.

” Being around the centre circle when Bocelli was singing and all those big moments are ones that stick with you forever, “said 21-year-old Nelson, whose only first-team appearances for Leicester came when they were last in the Championship.

” I would have been 10 or 11, ball-boying week in, week out in the Premier League, watching all the stars play, dreaming and hoping one day I’d be on that pitch and able to recreate some of those moments.