Morecambe Football Club. Totally Unofficial Review of the Season 2025-2026. Part Two. From Fairyland – to Lakeland.

We start again with a look at Morecambe’s third Manager of last season and the Poisoned Chalice he was offered by an ownership who finally accepted that their experiment with Sikh Wunderkind Ashvir Singh Johal and his Fairyland Football had failed – but far too late to change the downward trajectory of the doomed club.

Jim Bentley.

The club legend was faced with an impossible position when he arrived in February 2026. The team were next to bottom of the National League with just 21 points from 28 games; had scored a pathetic 33 goals but conceded a simply staggering 60. (Rochdale, by comparison, had conceded just 16 at this point in the season.)

Immediately, Jim questioned the squad’s fitness. He talked about trying to break a negative mindset in his players’ heads and bad habits that had been systematically coached into them. He complained, for example, about their instinct to play the ball sideways and backwards instead of forwards. He identified a lack of commitment and too many weak backbones in the side. Once the club had been absolutely hammered by Southend early in his spell in charge, he went on to question whether individual players even had it in their DNA to roll their sleeves up and fight against the seemingly inevitable:

“It’s down to individuals at times; a mentality to defend and dig-in. We’re going to have to find that within us and roll our sleeves up and battle and compete. Make sure your opposite number’s not getting the better of you. Is it in them? If we’re going to bring that to the party, we might just as well pack up now and go home – it’s as simple as that!”

Before his fifth game in control – a 4-4 draw at Gateshead – he said:

“We’ve over-defended: honest lads running towards the line when they should really be running towards the player in the box and picking him up. I said to them on Friday: “Players score goals; not space – so mark players and not space” We have a tendency to go away from the danger in regards to covering-up in and around the goal mouth. I don’t think it was a good enough performance. We’ve got to defend better. We’ve got to get back to doing what we’ve done previously.”

But he didn’t have time to get this through to them and they continued to be far too easy to play against right until the end of the season as more precious points continued to elude his men: and the Goals Conceded column went into the red with a truly humiliating three figures: 103 in 46 games. This is far more than any other club in the National League conceded: bottom club Truro City, for instance, let in a massive 31 goals fewer and the average was just 67. This statistic should be written on Ashball’s gravestone: it is truly shameful and only people who don’t know the first thing about Association Football would have allowed any team to even approach such an appalling total without taking remedial action far earlier then they did.

Jim also complained about the size of a squad which was both too big and loaded with dead wood. Immediately, he got rid of possibly the worst offender – Rolando Aarons – and it is clear that he would have got rid of a lot more of them as well if he had been able to. As the inevitable fate of his team was confirmed, Jimbo made this brutally honest assessment of what he had inherited after his team was hammered 5-1 at Woking to end any lingering hope of survival in the National League:

“I’m gutted, I have to be honest. It’s a sad day for the club. I think the game typified where we’re at for the season. I didn’t see enough if I’m being perfectly honest. That typified where we’re at. Some players have had a decent enough season; there’s some that’s average; there’s some have been poor. There’s some that aren’t good enough and there are some that have contributed nothing at all. You can’t expect to be up the table if that’s the case – and it’s been the case. I need to choose my words…”

Nobody can blame Jim for what has happened. Once again, the fault lies with the owners for persisting with a fellow-Sikh for whatever reason or reasons when all the evidence from Day One of his appointment was that he wasn’t even remotely up to the job.

The Players.

We’ve just seen Jim Bentley’s assessment of the men he inherited:

“Some players have had a decent enough season; there’s some that’s average; there’s some have been poor. There’s some that aren’t good enough and there are some that have contributed nothing at all.”

I’ve mentioned one who contributed nothing at all but Mr Aarons was far from being alone. I would say that at least a third of Ashvir Singh Johal’s squad either weren’t good enough to play National League football – or were here just for the pay cheque. They didn’t try – and some of them clearly didn’t care either.

More experienced Managers – indeed, Managers with any experience at all – would never have signed them, despite the urgency of Morecambe’s situation of having to start the season late with a handful of men on the books.

The best of Derek Adams’ remaining squad – Tom White and Harvey Macadam, for instance – had already gone. This left a rump, some of whom – Paul Lewis and Ben Tollitt immediately spring to mind – already weren’t good enough to play at this level in my opinion. One lacked the skill but can’t be faulted for at least trying; the other had the skill in spades but lacked the commitment – and the bottle. I will leave it up to you to decide which was which.

Some of those men who were given contracts by the new owners did not get a fair crack of the whip under the Johal regime. Dan Ogwuru was immediately farmed-out to Workington, for whom he scored goals from Day One. Dan is a far better player than those left behind to lead the line in his absence as his goal-return before he left right at the start of the season (one) and that of Aarons’ (0); Harrison Panayiotou (0); Joe Nuttall (2) and even the marginally better Admiral Musque (4) tells us all too clearly.

Goalkeeper Archie Mair was initially dropped and then sent to Coventry – sorry – Carlisle. Poor old Archie was probably in pieces after his baptism of fire with a Morecambe team not managed by Derek Adams – as had been his previous experience here.

He made mistakes then, as any young keeper inevitably will. But Derek and Goalkeeping Coach Barry Roche encouraged him to learn from these and he visibly improved. In the Ashball version of the Shrimps, though, Archie found himself out on a limb and left to fend for himself.

Trying to play progressive football from the back with players who either didn’t understand what they were supposed to do – or simply couldn’t do it – meant that Archie played the part of Aunt Sally in the team. He was constantly in the firing line as his team-mates played him regular Hospital Passes or just left him to deal with on-rushing forwards who had won the ball from them by pressing high up the pitch.

Ash should have changed the system which constantly allowed this to happen.

Instead, he changed the player. Was Jamal Blackman any better? Not in my opinion. He was clearly never fit enough to fill the role properly for a start. But, to be fair to the lad, who could be comfortable put in such an exposed position as Mr Johal’s utterly hopeless tactics guaranteed week after week?

Jamal also made some exceptional saves – particularly from penalties – during the campaign which ensued. Sadly, he probably also gave away as many points as he saved by regular unforced errors or poor positioning (how many times did he allow himself to be lobbed?) even when he wasn’t being constantly made to play as the only thing between the opposition and an easy opportunity to score.

Emergency Signing Myles Boney looked rusty and made a few mistakes as well once he was brought-in to cover an injury to big Jamal. He hadn’t played for a while but as the season progressed, I at least thought that he showed signs of being a really capable keeper.

Other players who could offer more than the men who appeared in the team week-in and week-out regardless of their form – or lack of it – were similarly excluded by the rookie Manager.

Jim Bentley waxed lyrical about Lewis Payne from the moment he took over – with good reason: Lewis is a decent full-back but his wing-back skills are exceptional – and he not only set-up plenty of goals for the likes of Jack Nolan in the Bentley Era, he scored them too.

Yet he rarely featured when Ash was in charge.

Raheem Conte was another player who was largely ignored by Mr Johal. But – playing as a Wing Back – he steadily improved under Jim’s tutelage as his confidence clearly returned into the bargain: this guy can clearly play.

Inevitably, loan players were withdrawn by their clubs as the damage that being allegedly coached by Ash with his Football Manager video fantasy ideas was stripping their confidence and tactical nous was recognised and remedied before it got any worse. So we lost really good players like Emmerson Sutton and Maldini Kacurri at a time we really couldn’t afford to do so. This was entirely the Manager’s fault too.

But he can’t be blamed for the inevitable injuries that all football teams are faced with over a long season. Morecambe had their fair share.

For me, the greatest loss to the side was the absence of Jake Cain for most of the season. Jake was the best signing Ash made in my humble opinion. He reminded me of Aaron Wildig – who was one of the best midfield players Morecambe have ever signed. Like Aaron, Jake could see opportunities; pick a pass – and score goals. In my opinion he was a far more rounded player than, for example, Miguel Azeez. Miguel’s older brother – Femi – is a fantastic footballer. If Millwall had actually made it to the Promised Land of the Premiership this season, Femi Azeez would be the major reason they had done so. But Miguel isn’t in the same class – and very far from it. For Morecambe, he made the occasional wonder pass and scored the occasional exceptional goal. But he didn’t do either of these things consistently or often enough. His commitment to the cause on the field – particularly when the going was tough – was questionable in the extreme and he made far too many serious blunders. I suspect that he set-up more opposition goals – with poor or ill-judged passes which he never tried to recover – than he actually scored for our team.

So what does that leave us with? Basically Old Hands Yann Songo’o and Gwion Edwards.

Gwion has been, in my opinion, by far the best player at the club ever since Ged Brannan signed him three years ago. He’s got the lot: skill; determination; intelligence – goals!

I really hope we are able to keep him: his leadership when Yann has not been on the field and his obvious understanding of the Beautiful Game cries-out for at least another contract as a player. If he has the requisite Coaching Badges, he could contribute even more, given the chance.

Just like Jim Bentley, Yann Songo’o has become an icon at our club and for largely the same reasons. Just like Jim, Yann never knows when his is beaten. As a player, he is totally committed. As a Captain, Yann is a natural leader. Last season, he was often to be seen coaching our players from the side-lines on occasions when he wasn’t on the pitch. They responded: viewed from outside, he seems to have an influence among his fellow-professionals which people like Ashvir Singh Johal could only dream about.

I suspect I am far from being alone in hoping to see him retained at the club in some capacity. He understands Morecambe. As is the case with Gwion, I don’t know how far his Badges as a Coach have progressed. But – if he has the relevant ones – I thought that the ownership could do a lot worse than give him the Manager’s job next season than they did when they put their own man in charge at the beginning of this one.

But they didn’t: instead, they released him altogether…

The Retained List.

The reason that this final part of the Review of the Season has effectively appeared late is that the list of players the club wants to keep – and thus those who are going to be released for whatever reason – wasn’t published until late in the day on Friday, 15^th May 2026. This is what the club’s official website told us:

“Morecambe Football Club can confirm its retained list following the conclusion of the 2025/26 season. 

The club would also like to thank supporters for their patience regarding the timing of the retained list announcement.

New manager Adam Lakeland wanted sufficient time to properly assess each member of the squad before making decisions and to speak personally with the vast majority of players to clarify their status moving forward, which the club felt was the most professional and respectful approach.

The following players remain under contract for the 2026/2027 season:

Miguel Azeez, Lennon Dobson, Liam Hogan.

The club has exercised options to extend the contracts of the following players for the 2026/2027 season:

Adam Fairclough, Alfie Scales.

The club has offered a first-year professional contract to the following player:

Oscar Wright.

The club remains in negotiations with the following players:

Myles Boney, Jake Cain, Gwion Edwards, Paul Lewis, Jack Nolan, Lewis Payne, Ben Williams.

Loan Players returning to their parent clubs:

Timmy Akindileni, Tommy Fogarty, Chris Popov.

The following players will depart the club upon the expiration of their contracts:

Terrell Agyemang, Jamal Blackman, Ma’kel Campbell, Raheem Conte, Harlee Dean, Joshua Eppiah, Ludwig Francillette, Kyle Jameson, Archie Mair, Admiral Muskwe, Joe Nuttall, Daniel Ogwuru, Harry Panayiotou, Mohammed Sangare, Alie Sesay, Yann Songo’o, George Thomas, Ben Tollitt.

Everyone at Morecambe Football Club would like to place on record our sincere thanks to all departing players for their efforts, professionalism and commitment during their time at the Mazuma Mobile Stadium, and we wish them every success in the future.”

I was surprised and disappointed to see that Yann Songo’o, Raheem Conte and Archie Mair have been released. There may be non-footballing reasons that could explain some of these decisions: the players may not have wanted to stay for personal, professional or family regions, for instance. As already mentioned, Yann at least will be missed.

However, it’s good to see some of the young lads being appreciated by the new Manager.

Time will tell if the players involved in negotiations will re-sign but there is only one – and possibly two – of these names I was personally surprised by.

However…

Professional football is the released players’ chosen career. You would have to be a very mean individual indeed not to wish these men all the best in the future. Some of them have very good reason to hope for very promising years yet to come as soccer players – good luck to them all.

The New Manager.

The club announced the appointment of Lancashire lad Adam Lakeland on Thursday, 30^th April 2026. He has been poached – along with his long-time assistant, Sam Walker – from Halifax and offered a three-year- contract.

This is what he had to say about himself on his Linked-in profile on the day he was appointed:

“I was most recently Manager of Kings Lynn Town FC, who play in the National League North, from 28th September 2023 – 14th May 2025. Within that time I saved them from relegation and reached the playoffs in the following season.”

As far as Shrimps’ fans are concerned, there was the usual and predictable corporate bullshit on the club’s website once this appointment had been confirmed:

“Chairman Kuljeet Singh expressed the owners’ enthusiasm about the appointment, highlighting Lakeland’s ambition, professionalism and, importantly, alignment with the Club’s long-term vision and values both on and off the pitch.”

Well – let’s hope that Adam knows what `the Club’s long-term vision and values both on and off the pitch’ are – because I don’t think anybody else does.

The new man just has to be a far better choice than the Warriors’ first stab at choosing a Manager. Not that the threshold for passing that test is particularly high…

The local paper across the Pennines in Yorkshire – the Halifax Courier – announced this development in these widely parodied shock/horror terms:

“In a shock announcement tonight, it was confirmed that Lakeland was leaving Halifax after one season in charge to take the reins at Morecambe, who were relegated from the National League last season.

Former Halifax manager Adam Lakeland says he couldn’t turn Morecambe’s offer down after accepting the chance to become their new boss.

Lakeland said:

“Despite dropping down a league on a personal level, if I didn’t believe I could return to the National League quickly, I would not have considered this project. There are no guarantees, and the National League North is a very difficult division to get out of, but I believe I will be given the tools to build something here and that excites me.””

In an article penned just a year ago as Mr Lakeland took the reins at the Shay, the Courier told their fans the following about the background of our new 41-year-old boss:

“Lakeland, who achieved his UEFA A Licence aged 26, began his coaching career with Blackburn Rovers Women in November 2006, staying until April 2011.H e combined this role with a position as head of men’ football at Runshaw College, near Preston, from October 2010 to May 2017.

His next role in football was as first-team coach at Curzon Ashton, from June 2013 to July 2015 where, in his first full season, they won the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League, and the following season, they achieved promotion via the playoffs from the Evo-Stik Premier Division into the National League North.”

In common with the Warriors’ first choice as Manager, Adam hasn’t played the game professionally. But – unlike Ashvir Singh Johal – he clearly hasn’t learnt the Beautiful Game from video games and has had hands-on experience of managing players. Not only that; this man has a track record of turning clubs around and actually achieving promotions in northern English non-league football.

This time around, he led Halifax to eighth position in the National League – just outside the Play-Offs, having beaten our Ash-managed team home and away – hardly the greatest of his achievements for the Town, no doubt.

Before he arrived – a year ago – the Shaymen ended-up sixth – and were beaten 4-0 by eventual winners Oldham Athletic at the Quarter Final stage of the knock-out competition. The Halifax Board sacked Chris Millington as a result. But they clearly had no intention of getting rid of our Adam even though this season’s campaign for the Yorkshiremen was worse – on paper at least – than last. In fact, they clearly didn’t want him to go. This is how the club’s official website announced his departure:

“It’s with disappointment that we confirm, Manager Adam Lakeland has decided to leave FC Halifax Town and take up the role of First Team Manager at Morecambe FC.”

Let’s all hope that their loss is our gain. In his first interview as the new boss, Mr Lakeland presented a realistic scenario for what he has in mind for next season. He said he wouldn’t have taken the job – which meant dropping down a division for him personally:

“If I didn’t think we could very quickly return to the National League and then – obviously – try and kick-on from there. There’s no guarantees. Just because we’re a big football club at National League North level, we’re going to be a scalp for everybody – and every game is going to be so difficult. I’ve managed over two hundred and thirty games in that league and it’s a really difficult division to get out of.  If anybody thinks we’re just going to rock-in to that division and just walk out of it then they don’t understand what we’re going into. But I have every confidence in my own ability; the ability of Sam (Walker), my Assistant. I think we can put together a team that’s hungry and hard-working; fit; has a true identity – and has that burning desire to win and work hard. Then I’m confident we can be right at the sharp end of that league and hopefully, that will be enough for us to get out of it.”

In this, Adam very much echoes the words of his predecessor, Jim Bentley:

“Don’t expect to just think ‘All right; we’ll drop down; we’ll re-set; we’ll just bounce back’.’ It’s a tough level. There’s a lot of full-time clubs; difficult place. Soon, we will become everyone’s Cup Final: we’ve got the best stadium in the league. We will be one of the fancied sides. So it’s going to be a tough, tough season. But if you do get it right, obviously you do have a better chance on and off the field; you do have a chance of bouncing straight back. It has happened before and that has to be the mentality going into next season.”

In stating his desire to produce a team which has a winning mentality, Adam Lakeland made it plain that some of the players on the books at Morecambe were clearly not up to the task. He added:

“We’ve just got to work quickly now to make sure that we keep – it’s not just the right players; it’s the right characters. The game’s about character. It’s about having personalities. It’s about people who want to come here and represent the football club for the right reasons: they want to come here; they want to work hard; they want to win. We don’t just want to bring people here who see it as an opportunity to get a good deal. Everywhere I’ve been throughout my career I’ve had limited resources; I’ve had limited budgets and I’ve had to recruit well. In the main, I feel like that’s been one of my strong points and I’ve got every confidence that we can do that again and build a good side.”

Amen to that. If Jim Bentley’s replacement turns-out to be even half as good as the last Manager at our club with Adam in his name, we are in for a real treat…

An Alternative View.

What I have presented so far is a pretty scathing account of Jason Whittingham and his Bond Group ­and a hardly more positive assessment of their successors, the Panjab Warriors. I have listed just some of the endless mistakes made by a group of people who have never owned a football club before but now have their hands very firmly on ours.

There are at least two conclusions you could draw from this.

The harshest is that they are clearly not fit to do so as the string of errors made whilst they have been learning on the job has seen our club go backwards instead of forwards on and off the field.

A less damning indictment is that despite their disastrous performance so far, they are still there, picking-up the bills and so far at least living-up to one of their initial promises: the be in the project they have in mind for our club (whatever it is) for the long haul.

They have put their money where their mouths are by supporting the club financially in a way the Bond Group never did.

They have so far at least also fulfilled their commitment to keep a club now plying its trade in regional football full-time professional.

Not only that, they have tempted a promising Manager with a track record at this level to leave a secure post at a higher-grade club to throw his lot in with the Shrimps next season.

If they actually continue to learn from previous mistakes – by communicating better with the fans, for a start – we could be in for a far more positive future.

But let’s step back a minute and look at a view of our situation as seen from afar.

After our 5-0 hammering at Southend, two of their fans took the trouble to enter the online forum for Morecambe fans – Shrimpsvoices – to put in their penny’s worth of what they saw happening here.

We must remember that the Shrimpers are themselves no strangers to the sort of experiences we have endured in recent times: successive relegations from League One to the National League in just three seasons; constant threats of Winding-Up Orders; turmoil in the Board Room and the almost endless threat of United going out of business altogether etc etc etc.

This is what RootsaHallBloke wrote:

“Morning Shrimps, I’m not going to comment on yesterday’s result, but I do want to say good luck for the future. We, at Southend, know the pain you have been through to still survive, and it’s not nice. I hope you can all come to terms with your current owners and things work out ok in the end. Whilst results may be painful, your Club is still alive and available to watch, and, as we discovered, that is priceless in itself.”

Very true. But one of his fellow Shrimpers put a totally different spin on things:

“Think that completely misses the point when it comes to their struggles. They struggle because they started the season a month or two after everyone else. That’s on their former owner, not their new owners.

They’ve been on a hiding to nothing ever since. Starting that late a team starts short on fitness, with little coherence and by the time the players get up to a reasonable level of fitness and have got acquainted with the play of their new team mates they’re already adrift and confidence is shot to bits.

They’ve been as good as down since they failed to start pre-season.

They actually looked worse than they did at their place. Other than a shot from distance they didn’t test us at all. Not surprising though as the constant losing – not just third season but for the past few years – takes a toll.

To turn things around you need a solid base to build from. They have an opportunity to do that this off-season but the owners may have lost heart (as well as several million pounds) already.

Their 8 (Azeez) is an excellent player. He constantly played team mates into space but he needs better players around him to capitalise. Have someone else on his wavelength next season and they’d be a menace going forward. Need a good coach to tighten them up at the back though. We scored five without getting out of third gear and still their keeper was their man of the match.”

Maybe he’s right. Looked at objectively instead of emotionally, maybe we didn’t stand a chance right from the beginning of the last campaign for all the reasons he lists.

I still think, though, that a better and more experienced Manager than the utterly hopeless one chosen by the ownership to do the job could have overcome these difficulties and at least kept us in the division. Jim Bentley showed signs of doing it. Derek Adams would have probably succeeded if he had kept his job.

Whatever – we shall never know what might have been and it’s all water under the bridge now in any case. Let’s give Jimbo the last word:

“It is what it is. No use feeling sorry for yourself. You just have to dust yourself down – and go again.”

Ok – almost the last word…

Soap Opera.

Earlier in the season, I wrote a parody of some of the things that have happened at our club, called it The Shrimpleton Family and published it.

This was actual therapy for Yours Truly: I felt that if yet another thing went wrong after all these years of relentless bad news, my always unreliable blood pressure might blow a gasket in my brain unless I found a means to vent it.

I got a very favourable reaction – for which I’m suitably grateful – from those who read it so I decided to carry on.

I have subsequently slightly re-written my original offering and extended it.

My intention was to provide something with all the ingredients needed for a Soap Opera featuring soccer: something nobody else has ever attempted to the best of my knowledge.

I’ve re-named what started life as a straightforward parody of what has happened to our club The Sensational Shrimpleton Saga – and it’s taken on a life of its own…

It features such unlikely characters as a Sikh organisation which owns a British football club: Shrimpleton Town.

They are known as the Khalistan Warriors a.k.a.The Khalli Scallies.

Plus the idiotic and delusional James Churchill Proudfoot (a.k.a. Threefeet of the Yard), the new Chief Operating Officer of Shrimpleton Town Football Club.

Not to forget the C.E.O. of the club, Ranjit Singh Chopra – known to the rest of the world simply as the pretty scary `Chopper’ Chopra because he will chop some of your bits off if you really upset him…

Then there’s the beautiful Lady Lynne Shrimpleton herself; the mysterious Special Ops Soldier known only as `J’ and – last but not least – people like the Irish Drug Lord Joe-Boy Kelly and Russian secret agent, the very delectable Natasha Yurievna Kravtsova.  

Please join them all in a version of the Soap Opera nobody has made (yet) which is coming to this website very soon:

The Sensational Shrimpleton Saga.

In the absence of any Match Reports – why not?

Have a great summer everybody.