Morecambe manager claims ‘we’re going to have one of the best footballing teams in England’

Morecambe manager Ashvir Singh Johal claims ‘we’re going to have one of the best footballing teams in England’.

The comments that has got everyone talking came following a entertaining 4-4 draw away at Solihull on Saturday afternoon.

Jamey Osborne put Solihull ahead on 25 minutes, but Jack Nolan levelled 5 minutes later. Jacob Wakeling put Solihull ahead again before half time.

Admiral Muskwe’s quick double gave Morecambe the lead after the break. Brad Nicholson had Solihull level again, before Miguel Azeez made it 4-3 for Morecambe.

Wakeling’s second goal secured a point for Solihull, to leave them 20th in the table with 7 points from 9 games, while Morecambe remain bottom of the table with 4 points, but from 6 games played, and have three games in hand on those above them.

Morecambe: Mair, Conte, Francillette, Azeez, Cain, Muskwe (Sangare 85′), Sesay (C), Williams (Campbell 90+1′), Lewis (Tweedy 85′), Tollitt (Panayiotou 90+5′), Nolan (Nuttall 85′).

Subs not used: Scales, Panayiotou, Ogwuru.

Goals: Nolan 30′, Muskwe 49′ 52′, Azeez 75′.

Bookings: None.

Red Cards: None.

Solihull Moors: Walker, Clarke, Green, Osborne, Whitmore, Nicholson, Creaney (Bowen 82′), Worman, Wakeling, Rutherford (McFarlane 82′), Stevenson (Whyte-Hall 70′).

Subs not used: Brown, Jackson, Tipton, Sonupe.

Goals: Osborne 25′, Wakeling 43′ 77′, Nicholson 61′.

Bookings: None.

Ashvir Singh Johal said while speaking to BBC Sport Lancashire: “Extremely disappointed not to win. So it’s a draw, it’s a point gained but it feels like a loss. Listen, with four days of training, if that’s the performance the players can put out, I’m so proud of them. It’s an amazing group. They’ve taken on board the ideas. We saw the attacking football we can play.

“I know after Woking and Forest Green there was a lot of people questioning the style of play and are we too negative or… listen, hope everybody saw with a week of training that’s how we can play. The style of play is not going to change. We want to be an attacking team, playing behind score goals, but everything’s got to be with a purpose. We can’t just kick it and hope for the best or have a ball that’s a 50-50. It’s got to be precise. And today we saw after four days we can achieve that.

“So after four months we’re going to have an amazing team. Not just for this league, but we’re going to have one of the best footballing teams in England. I’m confident on that.

“But the priority now is we’ve got to identify how do we stop conceding so many chances. So we defended well in some bits. Some bits from a principal point of view we need to get better. But the players have shown a lot of growth in the last four days with the ball.

“I’m sure by this time next week it’s going to be the same without the ball. like I’ve said, it’s almost like we’re building the plane whilst it’s in the sky.

“We’ve not had the luxury of a pre-season. So we’ve got to tailor our training to the game demands. We can’t physically exert the players too much, but we’ve also got a balance where they need to get fitter, which we saw a little bit today. So I still think we’re on track for a good team by the end of October. We’ve got a lot, a lot of improvement to do, a lot. We can’t get ahead of ourselves and think we played very well today because we didn’t. We did in some bits, some bits we didn’t.

“But listen, by the end of October we’ll have a team that understands everything in every phase of the game and a team that performs really strong. For the players to put that performance after the situation we’ve been in, it’s really good.

On Jack Nolan: “We identified him as a player we wanted to bring in quite early on. We weren’t able to do the deal whilst he was at his previous club and now to have him here, that’s exactly what I want from a wide player. Someone who can cut in and finish, someone who can run in behind, who can link the play, who can press. For me the priority now is we have competition for places. The players that perform the best in training and games will play.

“We’re in the process of recruiting some more players. So early next week we’ll have some more players with EFL experience, considerably for EFL experience then I’m going to have some tough decisions because we’ve got a great group who are honest, they train hard, they work hard.

“So from next week to leave players out of the squad is going to be difficult for me. But if we want to go in the direction that we want to go in, we need that competition for places and players need to be hungry to perform in training and earn their place. Nothing’s just going to be given. But I’ve got a group that gives their all. And today I think everybody saw that.”

On Admiral Muskwe: “Someone that I’ve worked with for a number of years. I worked with him when he was younger in the academy at Leicester, all the players that I’ve brought in, know what they can do. If they’re not showing that immediately, it’s because of external factors, whether it’s fitness, whether it’s lack of understanding, the uncertainty they’ve had of not being in the club, it all affects them.

“But once they train and psychologically everybody’s in the right frame of mind, they’re fit, and they understand what we want from a tactical technical point of view. Saw today, Admiral was a threat all game. There was one way he shoulder barged their player, after the ball it wasn’t a foul, it was strength. That’s exactly what I want from my players, but listen, how people have seen Admirals performance today, my ask is that be patient with the players, they’re all good players, that’s why I’ve recruited them otherwise they wouldn’t be here. By the end of October you’ll see a really exciting team.

“Free week, but a lot of improvement. So free week doesn’t necessarily mean a good thing, it means now we’ve got to get the laptop open, work out what we need to improve from watching the game, from looking at the data of the game, so where did we get hurt, where did we hurt them, putting that into place, so improving our game but at the same time looking at Wealdstone and where we can hurt them. So it’s a busy week. The players again will have another full training week. They’ll have a couple of days off. But for me, it’s going to be laptop open from as soon as I finish this interview and making sure we’re by the end of October, we have a team that’s really good and I’m confident we’ll get there.”

On a few more faces for next week: “Yep, that definitely will be Monday, Tuesday, maybe a little bit later in the week, but we’re hoping we get everyone in Monday, Tuesday. So we have a full training week. There’s some really exciting players, ah players that are going to help us be a good team, keep our place in this league this year, but next year really push on to get promoted back into the league, so I’m really confident we can do that.”

Here’s how fans reacted as the Morecambe manager confidently claims ‘we’re going to have one of the best footballing teams in England’…

@jamezymaryan: Be sacked in a couple of months then with stupid comments like that

@AdamRM1_: …. You what?

@JakeW2311: I get ambitions but saying stuff like that this moment in time could be sabotaging. They’re about 2/3 months behind everyone else. Focus on the here and now. Staying up should be the only target this season I’m 95% confident Morecambe fans would say the same

@nlmusings: Ashvir Johal setting some ballsy heights to hit. I love the confidence. I worry his own words will be used against him if they fall short of his proclamations. #UTS

@cylertarter: Fully behind him 🦐🦐🦐🦐 funny seeing opposition fans comment when they don’t have an inkling of what’s had to happen behind the scenes

@mitchgravesy: “Gonna have one of the best footballing teams in england” 20 seconds later says they can’t get ahead of themselves 🤦‍♂️

@Chris_CA2: Hahaha roll on January

@Matt3298: Talking through his arse. “One of the best footballing sides in England”.. mate, Solihull Moors scored 4 against you.

@CalYCPfc: Theyve gone from nothing to scoring goals. Yes it was solihull but theres improvement. Ive put a tenner on them avoiding relegation. So many games left and theres glimpses of a good side.

@Alex_Jordan85: He needs to calm it down abit, he’s put himself under pressure from the get go there with big statements like that. Like he said at the end, stabilise and survive and go again.

@ProsightMatt: That is an um… brave statement. I will say, I think they’ve picked up some of the best free agents from the PFA camp for this level, not all their recruitment has hit the target (Terrell Agyemang for example) but considering the quick turnaround, it’s been solid.

@joemills27: What the fuck 🤣🤣🤣

Oof.

A classic case of “Outlandish tagline that will come back to bite him on the whotsit” in a year or so time.

“One of the best footballing teams in England” – well, he has certainly raised the expectations. https://t.co/oZxyABPSMu pic.twitter.com/UtXqk4dBov

— Off The Line Blog (@OffTheLineBlog) September 13, 2025