'Positive progress' made towards Morecambe sale
Morecambe's board of directors say that "positive progress" has been made towards the sale of the club.The Shrimps' relegation from League Two was confirmed with defeat to Salford City on Monday.They will now play National League football for the first time since 2007 after a tumultuous 12 months.Owner Jason Whittingham, in charge since 2018, is very keen to sell the club and in a statement, the directors said, external: "The process of selling the club is ongoing and, as things stand today, there appears to have been real, positive and recent progress within the last two weeks."
For Morecambe and their manager Derek Adams, this season has been a struggle from the moment the last one ended.A transfer embargo was only lifted in early July and it meant Adams had to quickly scramble a squad together.Problems with the club's owners again came to light in January as transfers were blocked until funds to see out the season were guaranteed.They have spent virtually the whole season in the bottom two and four successive defeats confirmed a second relegation in three seasons.The directors describe relegation as a "profound disappointment" but are calling upon fans to keep their "belief and support" ahead of National League football.They added: "We are confident that, together, we can rise above this latest challenge in our 105-year history and reclaim our place in the higher echelons of English football."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
32 minutes ago
- Reuters
Nvidia, Perplexity partner with European firms to boost local AI models
SAN FRANCISCO, June 11 (Reuters) - Nvidia and artificial intelligence search firm Perplexity on Wednesday said they are partnering with more than a dozen AI firms in Europe and the Middle East to refine those firms' AI technologies and distribute them to local businesses. Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab said it will work with model makers in France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and Sweden to help make AI models in local languages become what are called reasoning models, which are capable of carrying out more complicated tasks. AI technologies built in English and Chinese have started to shift to that technology, but that transition is more difficult in languages where less training data is available. Kari Briski, vice president of generative AI software for enterprise at Nvidia, said the company will help model makers generate new data - known as synthetic data - in local languages to help improve them. "We're doing a lot of synthetic data generation to bring to these low-resource languages and translating our reasoning data so that they can train on it," Briski said in an interview Tuesday. "Europe needs strong models that reflect each nation's unique language and culture." Once those local models are trained, Perplexity will help distribute them in Europe, where businesses can run them in local data centers and use them to carry out business tasks such as researching a new topic. Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas said Germany is already Perplexity's second largest market by revenue. "That's the kind of system we are heading to in the future, where models are basically doing a few hours' worth of work in one single prompt," Srinivas said. The deal was part of a number of announcements Nvidia made at an AI conference in Paris on Wednesday. Nvidia and Perplexity did not disclose any financial terms of the deal.
Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Daily Mirror
Wrexham 'will break financial rules' with promotion as Ryan Reynolds warned
Wrexham's Hollywood owners have been told they face an uphill challenge in reaching the Premier League in the near future without being punished over financial breaches Wrexham's Hollywood owners have been warned they will struggle to reach the Premier League in the next couple of years without breaking financial rules. The Welsh side have enjoyed enormous success since being bought by actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney more than four years ago. Under the management of Phil Parkinson, Wrexham have achieved promotion in each of their last three seasons, lifting them from the National League into the Championship. The Red Dragons have been backed in some quarters to challenge again in the second tier next term as the co-owners look to achieve their dream of taking the club all the way to the Premier League. However, a football finance expert has now cautioned the A-list pair that a short-term push for the top flight will be difficult to achieve without contravening profit and sustainability (PSR) rules. Dr Rob Wilson said he believed a mid-table finish would be more realistic for Wrexham as they look to establish themselves at the next level. He told BettingLounge: "I don't see how Wrexham can get into the Premier League in a season or two without breaching the financial regulations that exist within the division. However, you would probably argue given their trajectory that if they were to get into the Premier League, they would probably stay there for a little while. "Then they could afford to take any hit if they were then ultimately relegated at some point. I think mid-table is probably where I think you'd see an incredible amount of investment to try and protect that. It links with the new stadium and with some of the broader plans to activate the commercial and the broadcast opportunities. "Probably mid-table would be a good shout, but they'll have to invest heavily to achieve that. I'm probably with some of the Championship club chief executives and I think it'll be incredibly difficult for them to do that mainly because of parachute payments. "All those clubs coming out are three times more likely to be promoted next year than anybody that doesn't have a parachute payment. The odds are heavily stacked against them, but who'd have thought Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney would have owned Wrexham a few years ago." Last week, it was reported that Reynolds and McElhenney are seeking fresh investment in Wrexham in a move which could see the club's value soar to as much as £350million. It's claimed that bank advisors have been instructed to find potential new investors and to discover if there is a demand. The new suggested valuation of around £350m would make Wrexham the highest priced team in the Championship. For context, Sheffield United were bought in December by an American consortium for roughly £111m. However, Dr Wilson has expressed scepticism over the lofty figure, despite admitting to being impressed by the amount of money the two actors have been able to generate. He said: "It's bonkers, it's just a massive valuation and reflects the Disneyification of Wrexham. It reflects the blend of their asset base, their projected earnings and their projected media exposure based on what they've been able to get through the Disney+ series. "The global following and the promotion boost that they will have achieved really helps just amplify it. That valuation is nuts. But then football as a product is nuts sometimes. If people want to be involved in that story then it's a great way of raising an additional bit of capital. It's a great way of accelerating your team's progression. "But they are running a very smart business operation behind the scenes, which is naturally amplified because of the ownership. I don't know what the ceiling is but a club valuation three times that of Sheffield United is really optimistic." Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. Sign up to our newsletter! Wrexham is the Game is great new way to get top-class coverage Wrexham AFC is the arguably the fastest-growing club in the world at the moment thanks to a certain Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. The Dragons have achieved two consecutive promotions and are cheered on by crowds from not only North Wales but also from all over the globe, thanks to the success of the Disney+ documentary 'Welcome to Wrexham'. But does it have a dedicated, quality source of information piped through to your inbox each week, free of ads but packed with informed opinion, analysis and even a little bit of fun each week? That's where Wrexham is the Game steps in... Available every Wednesday, it provides all the insights you need to be a top red. And for a limited time, a subscription to 'Wrexham is the Game' will cost fans just £15 for the first year.
Metro
an hour ago
- Metro
Tottenham star reacts to Frank rumours after 'strange' Postecoglou sacking
Tottenham defender Micky van de Ven says he found Ange Postecoglou's dismissal 'strange' given the Australian proved his 'winning mentality' by ending the club's 17-year wait for a trophy. Spurs chairman Daniel Levy decided to bring Postecoglou's tenure to an abrupt halt last Friday, just 16 days after the north London outfit edged out Manchester United in an all-English Europa League final. The scrappy 1-0 victory secured Tottenham a place in the Champions League for the first time since the 2022/23 campaign and Postecoglou would no doubt have been looking forward to leading his side into Europe's premier competition next season. But Spurs' woeful domestic campaign – their worst-ever in the Premier League – ultimately cost Postecoglou his job and the search is ramping up for his successor. Brentford head coach Thomas Frank has emerged as the overwhelming favourite to take over the reins at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Spurs' talks with Brentford are progressing at a pace. It's understood Tottenham will have to pay a compensation fee of £10million to get a deal over the line for Frank. Asked for his thoughts on Postecoglou's sacking after the Netherlands' 8-0 thrashing of Malta, Van de Van told Voetbal Zone: 'That was ultimately a choice from the club. 'We, as players, have little to say about that. Of course, he is the first coach in a long time who has won a trophy has had success at Spurs. So if you look at it that way, it is of course a strange choice. 'It is a choice from the club about which we have little to say, so we will see what happens now.' Van de Ven admits it looks likely that Frank will be named as Postecoglou's replacement in due course. 'Of course, we see some rumours about the Brentford head coach, who it will probably be,' he added. 'So yes, a choice from the club about which we have little to say.' The Dutch centre-back believes Tottenham players must accept much of the responsibility for their 17th-placed finish which led to Postecoglou being fired. 'I think many of the players got along with him well and, of course, what I say is that he is the first coach who has brought success to Spurs in a long time,' he continued. 'That also shows that he has a certain quality. It also means that he has a winning mentality, 100 per cent. More Trending 'From that, you would of course say that it is strange that he was fired. 'What we have shown in the Premier League is, of course, unacceptable. That would, of course, have been a factor, but that was not only down to the coach.' The leading candidate to replace Postecoglou, Frank, is said to be eager to push through a switch to north London and has reportedly told the club to make Bryan Mbeumo their first summer signing. But Mbeumo is also attracting strong interest from Manchester United this summer, with the Red Devils lodging a second offer worth more than £60m for the Cameroon forward in recent days. Should Spurs have kept Ange Postecoglou? For more stories like this, check our sport page. Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. MORE: 'I would love that' – Liverpool urged to hijack £60m Manchester United transfer MORE: Chelsea banish four players from Club World Cup squad but hand chance to young star MORE: Benjamin Sesko's manager tells him to reject one club after Arsenal and Man Utd talks
