INTERVIEW: Football merch boss backs crisis-hit Morecambe FC amid massive demand for new kit

The boss of Morecambe FC's kit suppliers has spoken about the incredible demand from fans for the club's new football strip during the current crisis.

Carl Sewell, director of Terrace, said "four months' worth of stock in a normal season" was sold at the kit launch on Tuesday evening as fans clamoured to get their hands on the 2025/26 Morecambe football shirts and other Shrimps merchandise.

Supporters queued for hours along the Promenade to get into the pop-up shop at the former Beach Cafe.

Speaking on day two of the launch on Wednesday, Mr Sewell said: "Half an hour before opening the doors (on Tuesday evening), to then look out on the Prom and see a queue of three, four, five hundred people, was just absolute madness."

LISTEN to Carl Sewell talking to Beyond Radio

Mr Sewell explained the thinking behind launching the new kit, at a time when the club's very existence is under threat amid a financial and ownership crisis.

"The kit has been with us for eight to 12 weeks now," he said.

"When the problems arose with staff not getting paid and where the club was heading, we didn't feel right releasing the kit even though fans wanted it.

"We said no because we didn't feel right putting the pressure on club shop staff who hadn't been paid, so we sat on it. All of that stock, and it's not just our stock we're releasing here for retail. Back at the warehouse is the full first-team order for the season, the academy, the women, everything.

"We sat back, and waited. But while we're waiting, we're losing money. The club hadn't paid their bill for their order.

Below, Morecambe FC shirts at the pop-up shop on Wednesday.

"We were putting everyone else first and rightly so. The club is bigger than us.

"But ultimately, you have to start thinking of yourself. We have factories to pay. If we don't pay that factory for the Morecambe order, that brings our entire business operation to a halt. That factory produces for other clubs. We've got staff to pay, kids to feed.

"So we consulted with the fans, the Shrimps Trust, and the club, and we decided we'd release the kit.

"Lancaster City Council got in touch with us and said let's find you a pop-up (premises). They haven't charged us for it. And here we are now.

"We've opened the doors to the Beach Cafe with an amazing team. The whole team from the club have been helping us.

On Wednesday, he said: "We're sold out in pretty much all of the home (kit). Starting to get that way with away (kit).

"It was a bitter pill to swallow last night there had been people at the back of the queue (on Tuesday) who'd waited for three or four hours and they got in and the home kit wasn't even available any more.

"So we are releasing all the replica shirts for pre-order online.

"We wanted to put Morecambe fans first, that's why we didn't go online (on Tuesday).

"Last night in four hours we sold four times as much as we did on kit launch last season. Four times is a serious increase. We went through stock that we had brought in for four months' worth of sale in a normal season."

Below, fans queueing outside the Beach Cafe on Tuesday. Photo: The Sultan Experience.

Carl also explained the thinking behind the design of the new home shirt, which has been getting great feedback from supporters.

"The home shirt is red and black stripes, with some really cool features in it.

"We clocked it had been quite a while with solid red, so let's bring the black stripes back.

"The floral pattern that runs through the red stripes is the pattern across the bay. There's a lot of little Easter eggs in that shirt that people will discover."

Carl said that the Oxfordshire-based Terrace started in the corner of a living room, and within two or three years was in warehouses with 10 staff.

The firm is now a thriving football merchandise and gifts business, selling kit from clubs across the football pyramid as well as running several club shops.

"We put the fans first and we wanted to put that cliche to true words, and we do," he said.

"Morecambe fans have seen that more than anyone.

"I'm not a Morecambe fan from young, but I've become a Morecambe fan. Working with the club, I got sucked in, and I wouldn't change anything.

"This event has shown us truly what is going to be ripped out of the community if this sale doesn't go through, It's catastrophic.

"It's literally going to rip a community apart. It's unthinkable."

The club pop-up shop is open again today (Thursday) but is expected to close at around noon.

*Morecambe Football Club is currently suspended from the National League. The men's first team are unable to start the new league season this weekend, and has been removed from this season's National League Cup.

The club could be expelled from the league altogether after a meeting on August 20. 

Staff at the club were paid only a third of their salaries in June and none in July, and a proposed sale of Morecambe FC has stalled.

Bills have been unpaid amid the financial crisis gripping the club, and the Shrimps are under a transfer embargo, preventing them from signing new players.

But the club remained open on Wednesday, with a small number of staff still at work inside the Mazuma.

For more on this week's kit launch and the latest on the crisis at Morecambe FC, see here.

Morecambe FC fans queue for hours in show of unity amid huge demand for new kit - Beyond Radio