Morecambe FC CEO quizzed on future of manager Ashvir Singh Johal at fans' forum

The CEO of Morecambe Football Club has responded to fans on the future of under-fire manager Ashvir Singh Johal.

Ropinder Singh, Chief Executive Officer of the Shrimps, spoke to supporters at a Fans' Forum held at the club on Wednesday evening.

Many of the questions concerned Morecambe's poor season to date, which sees them lying third from bottom of the National League with only five wins out of 25 matches, out of the FA  Cup at the first hurdle, and out of the FA Trophy after Tuesday's 6-2 drubbing at Kidderminster Harriers, who are in the league below the Shrimps.

Social media has been awash with demands from supporters to replace the manager and there have been chants of 'ASHVIR OUT!' at games.

One fan said on Wednesday night that Singh Johal, who was appointed in August after new owners Panjab Warriors took over, was "totally out of his depth" and called on the club to "do something about it, radically and quickly".

"Everything is being looked at continuously," said Mr Singh.

"People are being picked because we think they're the right people for the job.

"When things don't happen the way we want them to happen on the football pitch, obviously we have to look at the person and say, is he capable? Are the staff around him capable? Are the players the right players? What are we going to do to change that?

"Rest assured, we are looking at that and it's evolving on a daily basis."

Below, Ashvir Singh Johal.

Mr Singh also rubbished claims that Singh Johal's family had helped finance the takeover of the club.

"Ash's family has got nothing to do with the running of Morecambe Football Club," he said.

"They've never parted with a penny. I was the first person who met Ash back in April last year, because we'd seen the CV. It was through an agent and a recommendation. He wasn't the only person. There were at least three to five (candidates), if I remember it correctly.

"Some of these guys had slightly different CVs to Ash, some were similar. But we believed in the project. We had a couple of sit downs with Derek (Adams) the previous manager as well.

"With Ash in particular, he's not related to any of us. His family are not related to any of us. I met his dad once. His mum and dad are in Leicester. It's got nothing to do with family connections or money coming in from his family whatsoever. He was picked on his credentials. He was picked because we really believe he has the capacity to take the club where we want to take it."

Mr Singh also said: "None of us ever expect our club to be struggling on the pitch. We could never have envisaged this.

"After that first game (a 2-1 win over Altrincham in August), we thought this is going to be too easy. But the reality of football is, it changes every day.

Below, Shrimps fans celebrating the late winner in Morecambe's first game of the season on August 23 2025.

"I'm more concerned about, how do we get to the solutions. You can't be put to the gallows for trying something. The guys who are putting the money in are more worried than anybody. What can we do to get the results to turn it around.

"Nobody is guaranteed anything. We've been on a really crazy journey to get here. We all went through hell to get here. The ideology is to put what we can resource wise into the club, into the team, to try to get the best success.

"Our aim (this season) was to get promoted back to the EFL. It doesn't look like it now, we know that. The ownership and myself, 24/7, our attention is on how can we improve the situation with results, be it players, the manager, coaching staff, facilities, anything.

"We've got six to seven (new players) that we've been heavily involved with in the last five to seven days. We know where it's going wrong. If results are not good, there's only two aspects, it's the players, or manager and coaching staff.

"We are looking at everything all the time. The ideology is to turn it around. Football and non-football, as the CEO, the buck stops with myself."

Singh Johal, 30, became the youngest manager in the top five leagues of English football when he was appointed.

This is his first full management role, after previously working as a coach at Leicester City, Wigan Athletic, Notts County and as assistant to Cesc Fabregas at the Under 19 team of Italian club Como.

Also during the fans forum, when one fan asked if Morecambe FC was a 'vanity project' for Panjab Warriors, Mr Singh said: "I'm taking this damn serious.

"There is no vanity involved when the ownership have to fork out £200,000 a month. They are in London working. They are businessmen, built their businesses, saw an opportunity and invested in the club. It's definitely not a vanity project."

Below, members of Panjab Warriors, representatives of the Shrimps Trust, and Lizzi Collinge, MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale, pictured after the takeover was finalised in August 2025

Mr Singh also spoke more about his own background and that of the owners.

"I'm a crazy football fan of 51 years," he said.

'"I love the football. I was given a challenge. I will carry on doing that until the last drop.

"My personal career and life has been in financial services and corporate banking, I know how to take businesses and turn them around. I'm trying to make sure we are sowing the seeds for financial stability. I'll carry on doing that.

"I got involved about 19-20 months ago and Panjab Warriors were literally just starting to talk to the previous ownership.

"I had a big hand in speaking to the previous ownership and getting us through the EFL (ownership tests).

"They are fully committed and totally believe that this is a project where you have an amazing club, community and fan base, that we can collectively, in time, uplift to a better standard."

When asked about how the club is being financed, Mr Singh referred to Panjab Warriors passing the Owners and Directors' Test with the English Football League before they were allowed to take over the Shrimps.

"The EFL went to town, they took nearly eight to nine months on one simple application and went with a fine toothcomb.

"They left no stone unturned. (Panjab Warriors) put in £1.45m before the guys had their name over the door. The EFL were flabbergasted when this came out. They couldn't believe they'd parted with so much money

"The EFL have made sure that the funds are there and the source of those funds are totally legit and are sufficient to carry the club based on League 2 budgets.

"It makes me laugh when everybody has gone through all the regulatory processes and still people doubt where that money is coming from.

"Sometimes, and I don't like saying it guys, but I think hang on, are we seeing a different colour of skin, a different appearance? I'm being honest to you."

A fan then replied: "That's not what we're about."

Mr Singh said: "I agree with you. I appreciate your comments, I wasn't talking about Morecambe fans.

"All we can do is go through a process. When the club was £200,000 short every month, Panjab Warriors were paying that money.

"I apologise if it's been said wrong. I don't look at any human being, Morecambe fan, as being racist."

WATCH the Fans' Forum in full here.

During the fan forum, Mr Singh and Tarnia Elsworth, director of fan engagement, answered other questions from supporters.

PIES

One supporter, in criticising the catering behind the Halo Terrrace at the Mazuma Mobile Stadium, said: "We prided ourselves on producing quality pies that are now that bad, they are inedible."

Ms Elsworth said: "I went to the catering staff and I was told there was an issue with how early they are heating the pies before they are then served to you on a match day.

"As I understood it, that process changed and then the pies improved. Is there still an issue with the pies?"

She then said a "significant show of hands (in the room) show that hasn't improved" and said she would look into it.

IMPROVEMENTS AT THE GROUND

Mr Singh said plans for a new community training facility and Fan Zone are ongoing.

He said he'd had talks with the local council, the Chamber of Commerce and the Eden Project team, on a training hub which could be used by residents as well as the club.

"A specific hub like this is definitely in the plans," he said.

"We have a lot of space around the stadium and we are looking at other sites as well."

He said it would be "not just for the club but for the Morecambe community".

"It's in the pipeline, towards the end of this season, early next season, we hopefully will have made some in-roads."

On plans for a Fan Zone outside the Mazuma, he said: "We want it asap.

Below, Morecambe FC mascot Christie the Cat with members of the Beyond Radio team outside the stadium before the Altrincham game on August 23.

"It's about the interaction with fans on match day and trying to bring in more members of the Morecambe-wide community into the ground.

"Not everybody is into football but I still want them into the ground. Hopefully it's not too far away.

"Financially the club will be in a much better place if things like a Fan Zone and other areas of the stadium, we can make them more accessible."

He also talked about general "TLC" needed at the ground, saying: "I agree (areas) are looking a bit rundown.

"There are plans for improvement and adding facilities around the stadium. We want to use the club's facilities every day of the month."

LACK OF COMMUNICATION

Mr Singh, responding to criticism from fans that there has been a lack of communication from Panjab Warriors, said:

"I missed the Rochdale game (on Boxing Day) but other than that I've been to every home game. I'm more than happy to talk to anyone.

"We have a media team, they are very active. We put everything to do with the club on the social (media), We can endeavour to try to give more.

"But there is so much going on at the football club, on or off the pitch. We can't be airing that to everybody all the time.

"Anybody that has any specific worries or questions, come through the right channels, I'll guarantee you can have access to myself, we'll have a conversation. I can't do any more than that."

CLUB FINANCES

Mr Singh was asked about the club losing money.

"The football club has been losing money for a long time," he said.

"The ripples of the previous ownership are so detrimental, we are still feeling them. We have a lot of situations. We have put steps into action to try to stop the club losing money. We can only try to do what we think is best at the time. I do believe that we have the means to turn this around."

Read more from February 2025: Co-Chairman issues warning as Morecambe FC announce £1.2m loss for second consecutive year - Beyond Radio

PLAYER RECRUITMENT

Mr Singh praised Patrick Noubissie, the club's head of recruitment who was appointed in August.

He gave, as an example, the work Noubissie did to bring promising defender Maldini Kacurri to the club on loan, before he returned to Arsenal earlier this month.

"Patrick works full time and has a couple of freelance consultants who work alongside him.

"Maldini was on some big wages but Patrick was able to convince Arsenal that we'd guarantee him the playing time and his advancement, and we didn't pay a penny towards those wages.

"It really hurt when he was pulled back (to Arsenal). It was amazing that we managed to get somebody like that to come here.

"But the recruitment side, we have total faith in who we gave the job to."

OFF-FIELD INCOME and MANAGEMENT ROLES

Mr Singh was asked what the club was doing to improve the off-field commercial side at the club, and said they would be filling key vacant positions following the recent departures of the General Manager, commercial manager, head chef and head of finance.

"We are always looking at more income streams to get more money into the club," he said.

"The commercial department at the moment, there are two or three different schemes were are trying to roll out. There are clubs in our league who do pull in bigger brands than we do at the moment. We've got more to offer, why are we not pulling in those bigger brands?

"On the commercial side, the vacancy came up, one of the people is on the second interview stage, and soon, I'm hoping in the next seven to 10 days, we can announce that individual as well. It will be a different role but still heading up the same department.

"Behind the scenes, internally, the staff who are here, have clubbed together and done an amazing job, the commercial side hasn't gone to any kind of standstill."

On the general manager role, which will now be known as Chief Operating Officer, he said: "We've had a couple of applicants on that side" and  "I'm quite confident in the coming weeks we will have somebody in place for that".

EMERSON SUTTON

Mr Singh explained why Emerson Sutton, who had been at the Shrimps on loan, has now returned to QPR just 24 hours after it was announced that his loan at Morecambe had been extended.

"We had total clearance from QPR yesterday and that's why we announced it," he said.

"We get something early this morning and later on this afternoon to confirm that they have to call him back.

"I was quite surprised and amazed that we managed to get Emerson in the first place."

THE FUTURE

Mr Singh was asked if Panjab Warriors were the right people to run Morecambe FC.

"I myself would not have got involved if I didn't think they were the right people," he said.

"I passionately believe that Morecambe FC is in the right hands.

"There are hurdles and knockbacks. It doesn't mean we give up. We roll our sleeves up, we get our hands dirty, I'm more than determined to turn this around.

"I see a lot of potential on and off the pitch. But it's going to take time."

Read more: Panjab Warriors interview: "Morecambe FC will never be in danger while we are owners." - Beyond Radio