Morecambe’s MP Lizzi Collinge said on Monday that Bond Group should “get on with” the deal to sell the 105-year-old club.

On Tuesday, the directors initially released a statement saying they would give Whittingham until 16:00 BST to sell his shares, before allowing an extra two hours after “new information came to light”.

This second deadline passed without the sale going through and in a third statement of the day, the board said that they would be contacting administrators “at the earliest opportunity”, on Wednesday.

Whittingham then released a statement of his own, external on Wednesday saying he had “started the process to dismiss the board of directors with immediate effect in order that we can take control over the situation”, while denying claims he was stalling on the deal.

Whittingham, who oversaw the takeover of the club in 2018, previously told BBC Radio Lancashire that he “could not wait to get out” of the then League Two club in an interview in January.

Since then the club, which reached League One in 2021, have been relegated from the EFL, meaning they will play in the National League next season for the first time since 2007.

The deal to sell the club to Panjab Warriors was approved by the EFL earlier in June.

Panjab Warriors said last week they had already paid £3.8m to Bond Group, alongside a separate payment of £630,000 to clear outstanding loans against the club.

The group claimed they had also loaned a further £1.7m to the club over the past 14 months to “ensure its ongoing survival”.