Ashvir Singh Johal, born on March 29, 1995 in Leicester, is a young professional football coach who was recently appointed in August as the new coach of the club Morecambe FC, a team in the fifth tier of English football, after the club’s new owners fired their former coach, Derek Adams, following the Shrimps relegation to National League this year.
After this, Johal has become the youngest coach in the 5 divisions of English football, at just 30 years old and is even younger than some players in the squad he manages. Johal is also the first Sikh manager in the English league.
Johal was previously a footballer and later a coach for GNG Leicester, a non-league team affiliated with the local gurdwara. He then spent 10 years with Leicester City in their development centers before eventually coaching at the academy through the U-18s. During this time, he learned a lot from Brendan Rogers, whom he considers the greatest influence on his career.
At the end of 2022, Johal joined Wigan Athletic, then managed by former defender Kolo Touré. He remained there for a very short time, as Touré was sacked following very poor results. In 2023, he played for Como 1907, led by Cesc Fabregas, and for Notts County in the B team.
Ashvir Singh Johal Makes History as First Sikh Manager in British Professional Football pic.twitter.com/Qvb71pU6Y5
— fulltimereport (@Fulltimereport8) August 19, 2025
Finally, as we said before, Johal would become for the first time the coach of a professional team, Morecambe FC, in August 2025, after the team was purchased by the Panjab Warriors.
Many Morecambe FC fans are a little puzzled by Johal’s signing, which is understandable, but the problem is that many have used the news of his signing to racially abuse the young coach due to his skin color and his religion.
Racist comments already!
— Antoine Allen (@AntoineSpeaker) August 19, 2025
Ashvir Singh Johal made history as the first British Asian to manage in the top 5 tiers of English men's football.
News celebrated by many, but used as an excuse for racism by some.
Another story of racism in ⚽️ in a month that's seen more incidents pic.twitter.com/Odj0EfNt8t
Racism remains a problem in Europe, and horrific cases have been seen not only in England, but also in Italy, Spain, and many other countries. It’s something that should have ended a long time ago, and although football organizations have fought to end racism, it still exists.
dude you don't have to turn white just to get a manager role
— #1 Superstaker (@MuslimIntern) August 19, 2025
The good news is that, despite everything, there are those who defend Johal for achieving all this in such a short time. As we mentioned before, he worked for Kolo Toure and Cesc Fabregas and is the youngest coach in history to earn a UEFA Pro License.
If you want to see how big the problem of racism is in the UK, just look at the reaction to this.
— Out of Context Football Manager (@nocontextfm1) August 19, 2025
He’s worked under Kolo Touré and Cesc Fàbregas, and he’s the youngest coach in English football history to earn his UEFA Pro Licence.
Give him some damn respect – and time – to… https://t.co/iNZ31NVyvq
But there are also those who disapprove of his hiring, not because of who he is or his skin color, but because of who they fired to hire him. Derek Adams is considered the most successful coach in Morecambe FC’s history, and they got rid of him to hire a coach with little experience, which is a very valid point.
Whether he’s black, white, or blue, this isn’t a reason to racially abuse him. This continues to be a seemingly endless problem in Britain. We just hope Johal has a very successful season with Morecambe FC so he can silence his doubters and insulters once and for all.
