Who is Ashvir Singh Johal? Know About New Morecambe Manager Tactics and Playing Style

Morecambe have been in the Football League since 2007, but they were relegated to the National League at the end of the 2024-25 season following a home defeat to Salford City. Morecambe FC have faced months of uncertainty over their long-term future due to concerns over the club's ability to meet their financial obligations under their previous owner, Jason Whittingham. The Bond Group announced that they have been in talks with Panjab Warriors, an investment company which was looking to finalise a deal to take over the club and solve their ongoing financial instability.

On 14th August 2025, Morecambe Football Club confirmed that the acquisition of the club by the Warriors was officially completed, upon National League formal approval for completion of the sale to take place. Before the takeover, the club was facing suspension from the Nations League. Things changed on 17th August, the League's club compliance and licensing committee said the suspension would be lifted once paperwork was received regarding the sale to Panjab Warriors. Following their takeover, Morecambe's new owners made their first significant move since taking ownership of the club by making the decision to sack Derek Adams, and now they followed that up by swiftly unveiling their new manager.

Who is Morecambe's new manager?

Morecambe have appointed Ashvir Singh Johal as their new manager, making him the first Sikh to manage a professional British club, as well as being the youngest manager in the top five tiers of English football. The 30-year-old was confirmed after the investment group Panjab Warriors completed its takeover of the Nations League side. Johal will be in charge of the Shrimps in their 102nd appearance since the formation of the club.

Johal became one of the youngest coaches in the history of English football to gain his UEFA Pro License earlier this summer. He had this to say after becoming the manager of the club: “I'm extremely proud to be the manager of Morecambe Football Club and I can't wait to meet the fans and show them what an exciting team we can build that represents them and the town on the pitch…” He also laid down what his short-term plan this year would look like, saying: “The short-term plan this year is to make sure that we retain our place in the National League by playing an exciting and energetic brand of football and working hard. We want to make sure that the situation that happened in Morecambe over the last couple of years never happens again because no club, no town, no people deserve that.”

Ashvir Singh Johal's style of play and tactics

Even though Johal has never held a first-team managerial role before, but has built an impressive CV since the beginning. He started as a teenage coach in Leicester City's school programme, after rising to take full-time charge of the Foxes' under-18 side. He then followed Kolo Toure to Wigan as his assistant and later went to Como, where he worked alongside Cesc Fabregas. Johal, with little knowledge of managing a senior team by himself, could try to incorporate the playing style and tactics of Cesc Fabregas, who was a part of Barcelona's famed La Masia Academy and has the experience of playing under the legendary Arsene Wenger at Arsenal, who had a style similar to the Spanish giants' tiki-taka brand of football. Johal could go with the 4-3-3 or the 4-2-3-1 formation, which have replaced the 4-4-2 formation as the standard formation these days. These formations allow the midfielders to penetrate while giving stability in the defence and also proving to be vital in the attacking third as well.