When he was brought in to salvage King’s Lynn Town’s season about seven months ago, Adam Lakeland denounced the situation there as “a shambles”.
After taking over for Mark Hughes while Lynn was ranked 22nd in the table, Lakeland is comfortably positioned in 17th place going into the last week of the season, five points clear of the relegation zone.
“We came in with the primary goal of keeping the club afloat because we were in a complete mess, and we were able to accomplish that,” he stated following their 1-0 loss to Peterborough Sports to end their home season.
“I don’t have any affection for the previous manager, but it was in disarray.”
“I was informed upon joining this club that Josh Coulson was not well-conditioned enough to play on Saturday or Tuesday. Despite having participated in almost every game, he was overlooked during the summer months.” That’s the only thing we encountered. And he wasn’t alone; many others, like Cameron Hargreaves, Paul Jones, Kyle McFadden, and others, weren’t where they should have been in terms of organisation, perspective, mental health, and physical health.
Since people view you as a full-time team with a bullseye on your back, we’ll be criticised for what we accomplished even though we were miles off.
Tuesday night, we witnessed a full-time team triumphing “like they won the league” against Chorley. Indeed, since you are unaware of what it was like to come into this building. So don’t comment on it.”
“I know I’ve stood here a lot and talked about the situation we were in at the end of September and the beginning of October,” he continued. “Only the people who lived in and around it on a daily basis knew how bad it was.” We were in a complete mess, and it doesn’t matter if we worked part-time or full-time to bring us from where we were to where we are. It’s difficult to turn around in those situation, but we were able to do so.
Now, Lakeland has to navigate the summertime recruiting roller coaster and assemble a team for what he hopes will be a fierce competition across the table.
“Pre-season is huge,” he remarked. “My point is that, even though the teams I’ve had in this league in the past were part-time, they were consistently among the fittest groups. I’ve always believed that we could outwork and outrun every team in the league—full-time or part-time—for more than 40 games.
Curzon Ashton, the former team, had an outstanding season; they had a fit squad with lots of legs and speed. And should they go to the playoffs, they will have a legitimate shot.
“Because we had a strong preseason, my Farsley Celtic club would consistently perform well against the all-time greatest teams. This is a critical phase in which you establish your foundation, and that’s precisely what we’ll accomplish. But next year, we’ll have more time, and I anticipate that we’ll be flying.
Michael Gash, a former Lynn favourite, curled in a beauty in time added on to carry the points back across the border, sealing the defeat on Saturday. Referee Mr. L Dawson’s decision to give striker Jonny Margetts a straight red card for a challenge on Dan Lawlor left Lynn with 10 men at the end of the game; the call is expected to be appealed.
The journey Lynn takes to Spennymoor on Saturday will have nothing riding on it, but Lakeland’s disappointment The Walks will likely only be assuaged by success in the north-east.
He stated: “It’s disappointing that we weren’t able to secure another successful outcome for them, but we’ve accomplished what we needed to accomplish. It’s good that we had a decent crowd in today because we’ll need them going forward if we’re going to be better next season.”
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