17-08-2025, 15:33
Take over approved
Why should a man go to work, if he has the health and strength to stay in bed?
Tick Tock
![[Image: 2ZJuVRk.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/2ZJuVRk.gif)
Yesterday, 10:03
Might be me but alarm bells are ringing already
Just two days before potential expulsion from the National League, and the extinction which would almost certainly have followed, Morecambe FC's financial crisis has finally led to a completed takeover.
New owners Panjab Warriors arrived at the club's stadium for their first day in charge on Monday, having purchased the shares of former owner Jason Whittingham.
The group had initially agreed a takeover deal in June, before a protracted period of flurried public dispute between the two parties led to widespread concern that the club would not be sold and ultimately cease operations.
Now that the club's new ownership is official, BBC Sport returned to the town to ask Panjab Warriors, club staff, and the fans about what has been going on behind the scenes and how they are approaching the future.
Morecambe's groundsman mows the stadium turf
Image source,BBC Sport
Image caption,
Morecambe's pitch was being mowed on Monday by a groundsman whose partner gave birth during the period in which the club's staff went unpaid
"We can't thank everybody here enough because it's been a difficult and very long journey," Morecambe's new chief executive and Panjab Warriors member Ropinder Singh told BBC Sport. "The last seven, eight weeks have been horrendous for everybody involved, ourselves included, but it's shown a lot of collectiveness, a lot of true grit.
"At first [completing the deal] was a sense of relief. It's now turned into a feeling of pride, and a sense of gratitude and humility. We feel blessed to be given the role of custodians of this club.
"We don't want to go too much into how the takeover process [was finalised], but this is a nightmare that has finished. Now we move forward, we don't look back."
Panjab Warriors must now pay off various debts and creditors in order to fully resolve Morecambe's financial issues.
The BBC was told by staff that they received their June wages on Monday – the first time they have been paid their salaries in 10 weeks - and that they expect to be paid July's instalment later this week.
"First and foremost we wanted to make sure that all the staff, players, everybody involved, is paid their wages because that has been so long overdue," Ropinder Singh added. "Then it is the liabilities with HMRC and other stuff.
"Nine o'clock on Tuesday morning the real work starts, turning things around on and off the pitch."
Shrimps' trust chair Pat Stoyles talks to the BBC
Image source,BBC Sport
Image caption,
Shrimps' Trust Pat Stoyles says that the work fans have put in to save the club from going under is a source of huge pride
That will be no easy task given that Morecambe currently have a squad of five first-team players, no manager, and are due to face Altrincham at 12:30pm on Saturday.
The BBC was informed that the team's kit will only be delivered later this week, and that players are still not insured to play or train, meaning that a postponement - just like their opening three fixtures of the season - is possible.
Earlier this summer, when Panjab Warriors first agreed to take over the club, the BBC learned that the group planned to remove manager Derek Adams from his position and replace him with 30-year-old former Notts Country, Wigan Athletic and Como coach Ashvir Singh Johal, who has never managed a senior first team side.
Singh Johal even conducted an interview with the BBC in which he thanked Panjab Warriors for hiring him. But the takeover wasn't completed at the time, and so Adams remained in post, unpaid and with no squad to coach.
Adams has now been removed from his position, with his sacking announced while the BBC was interviewing the new owners on Monday evening. Singh Johal is expected to be his successor.
The 50-year-old Adams has become a hugely popular figure among the fanbase, having managed the club three times and led them to League One for the first time in their history.
When asked on Monday - while Adams' sacking was being finalised by another member of the ownership group in an adjacent room - whether they still planned to let him go and install Singh Johal in his place, Panjab Warriors head of communications Gurpreet Singh said: "All we want to say is, trust us.
"There are going to be changes. We went from League One all the way down to the National League. But we are here for the betterment of the club, so trust us."
Just two days before potential expulsion from the National League, and the extinction which would almost certainly have followed, Morecambe FC's financial crisis has finally led to a completed takeover.
New owners Panjab Warriors arrived at the club's stadium for their first day in charge on Monday, having purchased the shares of former owner Jason Whittingham.
The group had initially agreed a takeover deal in June, before a protracted period of flurried public dispute between the two parties led to widespread concern that the club would not be sold and ultimately cease operations.
Now that the club's new ownership is official, BBC Sport returned to the town to ask Panjab Warriors, club staff, and the fans about what has been going on behind the scenes and how they are approaching the future.
Morecambe's groundsman mows the stadium turf
Image source,BBC Sport
Image caption,
Morecambe's pitch was being mowed on Monday by a groundsman whose partner gave birth during the period in which the club's staff went unpaid
"We can't thank everybody here enough because it's been a difficult and very long journey," Morecambe's new chief executive and Panjab Warriors member Ropinder Singh told BBC Sport. "The last seven, eight weeks have been horrendous for everybody involved, ourselves included, but it's shown a lot of collectiveness, a lot of true grit.
"At first [completing the deal] was a sense of relief. It's now turned into a feeling of pride, and a sense of gratitude and humility. We feel blessed to be given the role of custodians of this club.
"We don't want to go too much into how the takeover process [was finalised], but this is a nightmare that has finished. Now we move forward, we don't look back."
Panjab Warriors must now pay off various debts and creditors in order to fully resolve Morecambe's financial issues.
The BBC was told by staff that they received their June wages on Monday – the first time they have been paid their salaries in 10 weeks - and that they expect to be paid July's instalment later this week.
"First and foremost we wanted to make sure that all the staff, players, everybody involved, is paid their wages because that has been so long overdue," Ropinder Singh added. "Then it is the liabilities with HMRC and other stuff.
"Nine o'clock on Tuesday morning the real work starts, turning things around on and off the pitch."
Shrimps' trust chair Pat Stoyles talks to the BBC
Image source,BBC Sport
Image caption,
Shrimps' Trust Pat Stoyles says that the work fans have put in to save the club from going under is a source of huge pride
That will be no easy task given that Morecambe currently have a squad of five first-team players, no manager, and are due to face Altrincham at 12:30pm on Saturday.
The BBC was informed that the team's kit will only be delivered later this week, and that players are still not insured to play or train, meaning that a postponement - just like their opening three fixtures of the season - is possible.
Earlier this summer, when Panjab Warriors first agreed to take over the club, the BBC learned that the group planned to remove manager Derek Adams from his position and replace him with 30-year-old former Notts Country, Wigan Athletic and Como coach Ashvir Singh Johal, who has never managed a senior first team side.
Singh Johal even conducted an interview with the BBC in which he thanked Panjab Warriors for hiring him. But the takeover wasn't completed at the time, and so Adams remained in post, unpaid and with no squad to coach.
Adams has now been removed from his position, with his sacking announced while the BBC was interviewing the new owners on Monday evening. Singh Johal is expected to be his successor.
The 50-year-old Adams has become a hugely popular figure among the fanbase, having managed the club three times and led them to League One for the first time in their history.
When asked on Monday - while Adams' sacking was being finalised by another member of the ownership group in an adjacent room - whether they still planned to let him go and install Singh Johal in his place, Panjab Warriors head of communications Gurpreet Singh said: "All we want to say is, trust us.
"There are going to be changes. We went from League One all the way down to the National League. But we are here for the betterment of the club, so trust us."
Why should a man go to work, if he has the health and strength to stay in bed?
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