A Plea to Morecambe Chairman Kuljit Singh Momi.

I wrote at the end of last night’s match report (the 6-2 hammering of Morecambe  by lower league Kidderminster) that I would update it if and when Shrimps’ Manager Ashvir Singh Johal came out of his bunker to speak to the media after it. Predictably – as far as the club’s website is concerned at least – he didn’t. Instead, he gave a typically numb and dumb `interview’ to one of his assistants, who read-out pre-scripted questions for him to answer.

This is not acceptable. What the website needs to do is reflect reality: it should show Ash fronting-up to the media in general and having the guts to defend himself and his appalling performance as our so-called `Manager’ so far. We shall come back to that in a moment.

It’s only about a month ago since Morecambe Chairman Kuljit Singh Momi told us all:

“You will see us more.
You will hear from us more.
And you will see improvements quickly.”

None of these things have happened and that is unacceptable as well.

So what does Mr Momi think about the position Morecambe Football Club are in at the moment?

In case anyone needs reminding, we are in the relegation zone of the National League and have been for most of the season. We have been dumped out of the FA Cup by lower-league club Chester. We were absolutely humiliated last night by another lower league club – Kidderminster this time – in the FA Trophy. All the Shrimps have to play for now is to try and escape the clutches of the National League North next season.

If this isn’t a crisis, I don’t know what is.

So why has Mr Momi failed to do what he promised? We don’t see him; we don’t hear from him and there have been no improvements as promised. On the contrary, things have got much worse: on the field at least.

So let’s return to Mr Johal and what he said last night. Normally very fair Beyond Radio Morecambe correspondent Dave Salmon couldn’t hide his own irritation and frustration during his commentary on Morecambe’s latest `horror show’, as he has described it subsequently. He called the performance `gutless’ and `pathetic’ – among other things, such as that the players showed no commitment to the cause.

However, he was present as BBC Correspondent Derek Quinn spoke to the Manager after the game. Ash told us, using his own MMM Lexicon of Football Terminology (MMM meaning Meaningless Managers’ Mumbo-Jumbo including such classics as `non-negotiables’; `system’ and `process’ as usual) that what had happened was basically the fault of the players for not carrying out his `game plan’:

“Today, we were completely outclassed. I’m really disappointed with the mentality and the intent. We really let ourselves down. The question now is, tomorrow, did we not prepare well enough; the group thought they would turn-up and win easily- it would just be a given – or were they actually better than us in those moments? That’s the thing we need to find out.”

Personally, I think it’s obvious without any inquisition that all the things he mentioned – and more – applied to the team’s abject performance on the night. To be telling people five months after his first game in charge that he basically doesn’t understand the dynamics of his own team simply beggars belief. What does he expect to change after his latest `analysis’ of last night’s appalling performance? Does he think that things are suddenly going to click if the team sit down – presumably in the Video Room – and have a seminar about it? He’s been telling anyone who would listen that the team would do this previously: in November; then by Xmas and presumably now sometime in the unforeseeable – and unspecified – future. But he’s been wrong every time: the team’s got worse and last night’s performance was not worthy of a full time professional football club. The actual question he needs to address is: what is he going to do to stop the unacceptable level of performance week-in and week-out actually happening in the first place?

But instead of explaining either the `process’ or the `system’ which he keeps bleating on about and the unspecified positive `things’ that are implied by them, he retreats into a fantasy world instead:

“One thing I’ve realised for sure is that against the big teams or the teams at the top of the table; the big-name teams in our league, we do these things. We look at all our performances against teams which are similar to us; teams that are towards the bottom of the table or the league below, we don’t do those things.”

This is wishful thinking at best – and self-deluded nonsense at worse. Let’s look at Morecambe’s results against the `big teams’ in the National League. York are currently top. They beat us 4-2 at their place. Carlisle are second. We lost 1-0 at Brunton Park. Boreham Wood are third. We lost 3-0 away to them. Forest Green Rovers are fourth: they beat us 1-3 at the Maz. Fifth place Rochdale also won at our place: 1-2. Sixth-place Scunthorpe also beat us – 3-1 in Lincolnshire. Seventh placed Southend United – who had never beaten us in a league game previously after years’ of trying to in the EFL – ran away with the game in Lancashire by three goals to nil.

So that’s all the teams currently in the Play-Off positions in the National League: seven games played; seven games lost; not even a single point on the board to show for it. But, apparently `we do these things’ that his `process’ and `system’ dictates in these matches. Conclusion: when we don’t do these things, we lose. But when we do… we also lose.

And Ashvir is seemingly happy with that. No wonder we are at the bottom of the table.

What kind of philosophy is that?

He needs to go – and as soon as possible. He’s single-handedly made Morecambe FC a laughing-stock. The Board need to take some responsibility at long last and get rid of him. Mr Johal said himself he should be judged by his results by the end of last November. He was found Guilty On All Counts then. But he’s still there and his performance has got worse, not better since that time. The Board’s failure to act – along with their failure to keep the promise of greater accountability – is an insult to the fanbase and a dereliction of their primary duty to do what is best for the club, not what they misguidedly think is best for Panjab Warriors or the wider Sikh community.

So how about a statement on the club’s website, Mr Momi? Why not fulfil your promise that we would all `hear from you more’?

What do you make about the situation – and what are you going to do about it?