THE BAY DERBY AND DEREK

Football in the Morecambe town dates back to the turn of the 20th century; however, it was not until 7 May 1920 that Morecambe FC was formed after a meeting at the local West View Hotel. The club then took its place in the Lancashire Combination League for the 1920-1 season. 

Sharing grounds with Morecambe Cricket Club at Woodhill Lane during the first season, football proved popular, with crowds in excess of 3,000 for derby fixtures with Lancaster City and Fleetwood Town. Although success on the field was hard to come by, with the club languishing near the bottom of the table, at the end of the first season the club moved grounds to Roseberry Park. A few years later after the purchase of the ground by the then-President, J.B. Christie, the ground's name was changed to Christie Park in his honour. Those early seasons proved difficult, and it was not until 1924–25 that the club began to enjoy some success, claiming the league title for the first time; this was later followed by success in the Lancashire Junior Cup, beating old rivals Chorley after two replays, and in front of over 30,000 spectators.

Christie bequeathed the ground to the club in 1927 and also helped incorporate the club into a Limited Company with a then share capital of £1,000. The rest of the 1920s and the whole of the 1930s saw a constant struggle to keep football alive on the North West coast, with poor results on the field and little or no revenue off the field.

This week, winless Morecambe, The Shrimps, sought to end their longest ever streak without a victory in the EFL with a tough game, on the road, at Barrow, who have taken 13 points from five home games this season.

Morecambe have not won in 15, the "joint-longest" across the top four divisions with Cambridge United, and have taken only five points from that run. They have however won three of the past four meetings between the sides, so Saturday is obviously the day for club manager, Derek Adams' team! 

DEREK'S Managerial career
2007–2010	Ross County
2011–2014	Ross County
2015–2019	Plymouth Argyle
2019–2021	Morecambe
2021–2022	Bradford City
2022–2023	Morecambe
2023–2024	Ross County
2024–	Morecambe

Head to Head in history!

01 Dec 2020	Morecambe v Barrow	W	1-0	League Two
20 Feb 2021	Barrow v Morecambe	W	1-2	League Two
10 Oct 2023	Morecambe v Barrow	W	3-1	Football League Trophy
31 Oct 2023	Barrow v Morecambe	L	1-0	League Two
01 Apr 2024	Morecambe v Barrow	W	2-1	League Two
12 Oct 2024	Barrow v Morecambe	L	0-1	League Two today Hooray

 Derek's playing career.

Senior career
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1992–1995	Aberdeen	0	(0)
1995–1996	Burnley	2	(0)
1996–1998	Ross County	72	(41)
1998–2004	Motherwell	159	(18)
1999–2000	→ Ayr United (loan)	4	(0)
2004–2005	Aberdeen	20	(4)
2005–2006	Livingston	25	(0)
2006–2009	Ross County	36	(4)
Total		318	(67)