Exclusive: Luke Hendrie says Morecambe Takeover Out of Players' Control

Luke Hendrie stressed Morecambe’s players can only focus on playing football amid the club’s takeover saga.

Owner Jason Whittingham put the club up for sale in September 2022 and fans have been left frustrated by the drawn out process of finding a buyer as they desperately look towards the future.

Earlier this month, Whittingham claimed there were “four credible” buyers and stated a potential suitor, with proof of funds, pulled out after comments on social media. 

There have been a number of fan protests this season with a ‘Save Our Shrimps’ fund set up by a fan group in the new year.

“The takeover stuff isn’t a distraction for us as players,” the defender stressed to SportsBoom.com. 

“We just come in everyday and focus on working as hard as we can to get a result at the weekend.”

“All of that stuff away from the club is out of a lot of peoples control and certainly out of our control. All we can do is try to get the fans on our side, and to be fair they’ve been amazing even when results haven’t gone our way. They’ve really stuck by us.”

“There might be stuff going on at a lot of clubs, but as players you have to focus on what you can control.”

SQUAD OPTIMISTIC

The Shrimps have struggled for results this season and are languishing in the League Two relegation places.

Maintaining their Football League status is the top priority for the club, who have seen the likes of Scunthorpe United, Oldham Athletic, Rochdale, Yeovil Town and Southend United fail to regain their place in the 92 after being relegated.

But Hendrie stressed that morale levels among the squad remained high despite their form. 

He added: “The one thing that’s been a constant has been the positivity in the dressing room.”

“There have been so many times in games where we’ve come away with more positives than negatives, even though we haven’t got the results.”

“The dressing room has real togetherness. That hasn’t wavered one bit to be honest and we’re going to need that this season.”

“I’ve been involved in campaigns where sometimes the dressing room can begin to get despondent with results and get bogged down, but full credit to the staff and the players because we’re really together and hopefully that will stand us in good stead.”

“There have been so many tight games this season where we’ve just fallen on the wrong side of the result.”

“There’s not much in the games at this level, there are really fine margins.”

FOOTBALL A FAMILY AFFAIR

Hendrie comes from a footballing family. His dad John Hendrie played for the likes of Bradford, Newcastle, Leeds and Middlesbrough with John’s cousin Lee being a one-cap wonder for England and other cousin Stuart also previously played for Morecambe.

On his route into football, Hendrie junior said: “It was probably just luck really. It was nothing that was pushed towards me. But my mum always said I was kicking a ball about as a kid.”

“My two brothers played. My younger brother was at Bolton as well and obviously my dad played, his uncle and his cousin Lee also played for Aston Villa as well.”

“I vividly remember when my dad was at Barnsley. I can’t remember him playing but I remember going to Oakwell - I think he was player-manager at the time. It’s my earliest memory of football and it’s the smell of Deep Heat in the dressing room.”

“It’s quite weird what you remember. Every time I smell it in a dressing room it takes me back to that.”