Morecambe appoints first Sikh manager in British professional football club

A historical moment has been made in English football as National League club Morecambe FC has appointed 30-year-old Ashvir Singh Joshal as its new manager, making him the first Sikh to manage a professional British football club.

The landmark decision comes 48 hours after the investment group “Punjab warriors” took over the club, completely rescuing it from the brink of expulsion from the league.

Among the top five tiers of English football, Johal has become the youngest manager in the league. His role will be pretty challenging as the club now faces significant challenges.

Due to financial instability, the club was suspended from the National League.

Upon hiring, Johal shared that he aims to resolve this issue permanently, stating that he hoped that he could contribute in a way that “it never happens again.”

“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,” Johal said.

He further added, “The short term plan this year is to make sure that we retain our place in the National League by playing exciting energetic 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.”

Despite being young, he has a wealth of experience from highly competitive environments.

He started his career as a teenage coach in Leicester City's school programme. Then, he managed Leicester's U18 side before serving as assistant to Kolo Touré at Wigan Athletic.

Johal later worked alongside Cesc Fàbregas at Como in Italy and recently managed Notts County’s B team while securing his Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Pro Licence, becoming one of the youngest coaches to hold this qualification.