Morecambe Business Hinges On Transfer Negotiations
McKiernan, who received a call-up to the Northern Ireland Under-21 squad this week, moved to Lincoln City without a settled fee. The expectation is that the matter will be resolved through a development tribunal. There’s no set date for that, and given that McKiernan spent just one season at Morecambe, the fee is expected to be modest.
However, this situation is far from ideal for the Shrimpers. Adams, the former Plymouth manager, is eager to bring in new signings before the transfer window closes and has expressed a strong preference for reaching an agreement with Lincoln City directly rather than relying on a tribunal decision.
“Both clubs are still working on that so we’ll have to wait and see,” said Adams, when quizzed on a possible fee by the Lancaster Guardian. “It’s one of those things where we could wait for the tribunal but whenever that might be is not going to be beneficial for us.
“Any money we get in would help us but I need to know one way or another today or, possibly, early Friday if we can do any business.
“If we do bring anyone in, it’s likely to only be one player. Two players would be a push.”
The 22-year-old from Southampton joined Lincoln City this summer after spending a single season with Morecambe. McKiernan, who started his career in Watford’s youth system, turned professional and had loan spells with Bohemians and Eastleigh.
His impressive performances at Eastleigh earned him a one-year contract with Morecambe, where he made history last October by scoring the club’s first-ever away hat-trick against Colchester United.
Despite Morecambe’s efforts to keep him, Lincoln City moved quickly at the end of the season, securing him on a four-year deal.
Site Opinion
There’s a huge hope here that Morecambe and Lincoln can agree a fee from Derek Adams, but it really doesn’t seem likely.
Lincoln will get the best of this, with a development fee unlikely to be large for a player who only had 12 months with the Shrimpers.
What motivation is there for Lincoln to agree? They’re a reasonable club, but if there was an agreement to be had, it would have happened by now.
