Morecambe acquisition: Story of first day of Punjab Warriors as owners

After spending more than a year to try to buy a club from the previous owner Jason Whitingham, the new owner Punjab Warriors determined to have an immediate impact on Morcambe in its first hours.

The day he arrived at the club’s stadium, Group – the first Sikhs to be the owner of a professional English Football Club – was first paid for the employees’ wages, held meetings with fans and local stakeholders to underline their plans, and announced the dismissal of the highly respected manager Derek Adams.

The BBC Sport brings you the visual look behind the Punjab Warriors on the first day to run a football club.

The BBC talks to the employees of Morekamb and learns that the Punjab Warriors are planning to travel north from London to conduct a series of meetings and formally operate a photoshoot to help in announcing their acquisition. There is no plan for a news conference, but we are informed that they may be ready to speak briefly to the media.

After arriving at Majuma Mobile Stadium, BBC talks to fans and employees after confirmation of acquisition.

Fans who collect season tickets tell us how excited they are. When entering the stadium, the loose wires are hung from the roof – a contractor who was not previously paid for his work, has already pulled the light installed in the bar and dressing room.

Inside, employees are paying attention to how many players are there in the club. The consensus is five, with some young scholars. The long -serving kit man Les Davirest is waiting for the delivery of the kit later this week.

The only remaining groundsman of the club – whose partner gave birth during the period, which became unpaid – cutting the grass of an ancient looking pitch.

Dehrest, former co-chairman Rod Taylor, head of Shrimps Trust Fan Group Pat Stoyls and local MP Lizzie Calling tells us about their relief and welcome the arrival of Punjab warriors, while they insisted that they would keep in mind the new owners.

Doubts are expressed by members of various employees whether the scheduled home match against Ultrinacham on Saturday will go ahead. Fundamentals such as steviding, insurance, kits and a large squad of players are not in place.

Various members of Punjab warriors start reaching separate cars and enter the stadium for meetings.

Among them, Kuljeet Singh is Momi – among the Panjab warriors, the majority shareholder and hence the club – and Ropinder Singh, who says that he will become the CEO of the club. Another Venice is swept away.

Some tellers enter the boardroom with the choice of stoils and calling, while other offices bring boxes of goods and documents.

At the same time, employees receive a notification for June – they have been paid for the first time since May.

Punjab warriors disagree about whether to conduct the interview. At different points, and by different people, the BBC is told that we will be able to ask them questions about their plans for the club, and also that no contact will be allowed at any point.

The group has photographed with the club scarf. They then issue a statement on the club’s official social media accounts, which confirm their acquisition.

The BBC is informed that an interview is possible. The group insists that it will only provide a pre-written details, and will not answer the questions. It eventually agrees that the question can be asked after the statement.

Ropinder Singh and Gurpreet Singh – Communication heads of Punjab Warriors – answers a variety of questions while other members of the group operate the phone calls in the boardroom. They insist that they want to be transparent as much as possible with fans.

As the interviewing, the manager Edams is being finalized to dismiss and publicly announced next door.

The BBC was aware of firing Adams and replacing him with 30-year-old UEFA Pro license holder and youth coach with Ashvi Singh Johal, who never managed a senior first-team, because we had an interview with him in this summer when he was originally expected to be declared as a manager.

Gurpreet Singh says that the club must be going through “lots of changes” that will be for its “betterment”, and inspires fans to rely on the decisions being made by the group.

The establishment of Johal as a manager is confirmed. In June, images and quotes from their original unveiling and BBC interview are used online. The BBC knows that Johal is not operating the interview this week as he focuses on trying to rebuild and prepare the Morekambay squad.

The response to Johal’s arrival among fans is divided – some find a difficult reset with a young, talented coach, while others feel that the departure of the adams and catching a more experienced manager feels that he would be more logical.

This is confirmed, to the surprise of many staff members, that Saturday’s match against Ultrinacham will go ahead. Immediate preparations should be made so that a team can be fielded and the infrastructure required to welcome fans to the stadium.

Employees receive their salary for July and all loans given to HMRC are paid.

The new manager Johal comes to the site for his first day in the job and leaves from the ash left behind from the previous ownership to reconstruct a squad.

The club announced a flash sales on season tickets – fans buying before Friday will be given a discount of 20% for a full campaign – while tickets go on sales for sales on Saturday.

Embarges placed in the club by the National League have been removed, which means that players can now be signed to strengthen the squad for a long campaign.

The kit arrives at the stadium and sets the dosest about preparing them. Once the squad is completed, they have to print the name and 120 sets of the number on the shirt.

The BBC learns that players are traveling to Morekamb to undergo medical before signing to the club. One of the first Rahm Contte is the first 22 -year -old midfielder in Cardiff City.

Now the real work of reconstruction begins.