“If it’s carnage off the pitch, I think it’s very hard to be great on the pitch”: Adam Lakeland looks for stability at Morecambe this season
New Morecambe manager Adam Lakeland wants to bring together everybody associated with the Shrimps in the search for a more stable club in future.
Lakeland and assistant boss Sam Walker joined Morecambe at the end of April, penning a three-year deal in moving from FC Halifax Town.
They are the eighth different management team at the Mazuma Mobile Stadium in the last six-and-a-half years: a huge contrast to the three managers the club had employed between 1994 and 2019.
As well as a third relegation in four seasons on the pitch, there is also the need for some stability off the field in 2026/27.
Morecambe are preparing for a second campaign under Panjab Warriors’ ownership, having also seen the first marked by winding-up orders and fan unrest.
Speaking at a fans’ forum last Thursday, Lakeland said: “We’ve signed and committed for three years. If it’s carnage off the pitch, I think it’s very hard to be great on the pitch.
“It’s a team effort so, from the top down, to the players, to the supporters, I think there’s so much potential here but what we’ve got to try and do is pull everybody back together – we want to win, we know what we want to do and we’re all in it together.
“We can’t have it fragmented, we can’t have staff that don’t get on, players who don’t get on, ructions between certain players and the fanbase.
“That isn’t going to get you success, you need everybody aligned, working hard together, supporting one another whether you’re having a good run, whether you’re having a bad run, and hopefully that’ll bring that stability any club craves or needs really.”
The new manager also explained his willingness to get out into the community and engage with the Morecambe supporters, having done so at his former clubs.
He added: “Everywhere we’ve been, any way we’ve needed to engage with the local community we do it.
“When we go in somewhere, you fully submerge yourself into it. We got to know some of the regulars.
“We need everybody together so anything we can do to support the community, the town, the football club, that’s what we’re here to do.”