Season 1956-57 Season 1957-58
The club were looking forward to the opening of the new South Stand. Costing £27,000 the money had been raised by the Supporters' Club and the Supporters' Club run West Norfolk Benevolent Fund.
June saw the announcement of plans to build terracing at either side of the stand as soon as the new stand was complete with the Tennyson Avenue side also to cater for handicapped people.
Among other proposals for the future were new terracing at the Seven Sisters end and a canteen and possible improvements to the Tennyson Avenue end terracing and car park.
Besides a canteen on the ground floor of the stand it was reported another may be installed on the floor above the club offices.
On Saturday 18 August 1956 the new grandstand was opened by Mr Arthur Drewry, the Chairman of the Football Association and President of FIFA. Over six thousand attended the opening and the Midland League game that followed (a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Rotherham Reserves).
The club had recorded a loss of £1,000 on the previous season, having set a budget based on an average gate of 5,000 but attendance had been some 1,200 below.
Lynn's entry into the Norfolk Senior Cup had been a loss maker and they were successful in their request to the Norfolk FA Council to limit entry to professional clubs - Norwich, King's Lynn, Yarmouth and Gorleston.
Supporters' Club chairman, Mr Len Hall, said that the supporters' club would have to assume responsibility for more of the football clubs' commitments and that the date for floodlights would largely be governed by the income from gate during the early part of the season.
Ground admission prices for the new season remained at 1s 6d but some season ticket prices were reduced. The Supporters' Club were also willing to pay half the price of season tickets for those aged between 65 and 70 and all of the price for those over 70.
New signings were George Ryan (Wisbech), George Patterson (Hull City), Bobbie Herbert (Doncaster), Peter Vickers (Leeds), Cecil McCormack (Notts County), Johnny Neal (Hull City) and Alan Bean (Gainsborough). Returning to Lynn after a season's absence with Wisbech was Terry Ryder.
McCormack was injured in the opening game of the season and missed the following six weeks. He went on to score 62 goals although most of these were with the reserves.
For the fourth season in succession Lynn were removed from the FA Cup by March Town.
October saw the Supporters' Club present the club with a 14 seater Austin bus painted in the club colours. The bus cost nearly a thousand pounds but it was anticipated it would save the club in transport costs between £300-400 a season.
Lynn Supporters' Club announced their intention to build a new canteen at the corner of the south stand and Seven Sisters end at an estimated cost of £3,000.
The planned canteen was to have a long counter and there was to be an area 6tf by 30ft in front of it that would be completely covered.
This contribution would make the total cost of buildings erected by the supporters on the Walks to £43,000 in the past three years
On 7th January player manager Paul Todd told Lynn FC's management committee that he would not be seeking to renew his contract which was due to expire in June.
Jack Selkirk of Rotherham United, Bill Brown of Grimsby Town and former Mansfield Town manager Stan Mercer were announced as being on the shortlist at the end of February.
Following a meeting attended by over 100 supporters it was also decided that with the club having a turnover between twelve and thirteen thousand pounds there was a need for a full-time secretary/treasurer - a post subsequently give to Mr Charles Bew.
On March 11th Jack Selkirk was announced as the new player manager with a two year contract beginning April 8th although his managerial duties would only begin when Todd either took up a new post or at the end of the season.
It was Selkirk's first managerial appointment, he had been a regular first team player with Rotherham for 13 years making over 500 appearances.
In February Lynn went to the assistance of Norwich City who were having financial problems - playing at Carrow Road at their own expense and raising £400 for Norwich's Appeal Fund
A benefit match was staged for Peter Robinson who had made 167 first team appearances for Lynn since signing in 1953. Notts County, then playing in Division Two, provided the opposition. Robinson spent three years with County having started as an amateur with Manchester City before turning professional and captaining Chesterfield.
Over 7,000 turned out for the game with reports that people were sitting in the gangways of the grandstand, many hoping that Stanley Matthews and John Charles would be included in the Lynn line-up. Although their names appeared in the programme Lynn's two guest players on the night were Roy Paul, the Manchester City captain and Welsh international who filled the left half role and fellow Sky Blue, Bert Trautmann, who was in goal.
Trautmann's performance in the 1956 FA Cup Final had made him a legend.
With City leading 3-1 and 17 minutes remaining Trautmann dived at the feet of Birmingham City's Peter Murphy and was knocked unconscious.
Despite being injured he played on and it was not until three days later an X-ray revealed his neck was broken.
Lynn won the match 1-0 with Bill Edwards heading the winner in the 50th minute.
On May 4th the canteen in the club's grandstand was used to show the FA Cup final between Aston Villa and Manchester United using "a giant screen about four feet by three feet" provided by High Street shop Easter's.
Lynn applied for admission to the Football League in the hope that Middlesbrough's tabled proposition be accepted. Their proposal was that the Third Division should be in three sections which would mean an extra twelve clubs being promoted to the league.
The idea was rejected. For Peterborough it was their seventeenth application for membership and they were in the "hat" along with Lynn, and Norwich City who were applying for re-election having finished bottom of Division Three South.
For entry to Division Three South, Norwich received 48 votes (out of a maximum of 49) Swindon 42, Peterborough 7 and Bedford 1.
Lynn, Headington, Kettering, Worcester and Yeovil received no votes.
Lynn ended the season in eleventh place in the Midland League and the list of players released included the top five goal scorers.
Silverware was won in the shape of the Lynn Hospital Cup and the George Miller Shield.
A strong Lynn XI won the Pamella Cup on 5 April defeating Sutton Bridge (A) 5-2. Scorers McCormack 2, P Todd, Dryburgh, Selkirk
The reserves were winners of the Peterborough League, one victory being over Upwell Town (16 Feb) when Lynn won 15-0, Cecil McCormack scoring 9 (att 964).
Income from Midland League gates were showing a downward trend from £8,000 for the season 1954-55 and £6,900 1955-56 to £6171 for 1956-57.
There were similar falls in the income from cup competitions apart from the East Anglian Cup where Lynn had reached the final.
Thanks to a record contribution of £5,500 from the Supporters' Club the club was able to show a profit for the first time since 1950 - £20.
Links: League table 1956-57 Results 1956-57
The club were looking forward to the opening of the new South Stand. Costing £27,000 the money had been raised by the Supporters' Club and the Supporters' Club run West Norfolk Benevolent Fund.
June saw the announcement of plans to build terracing at either side of the stand as soon as the new stand was complete with the Tennyson Avenue side also to cater for handicapped people.
Among other proposals for the future were new terracing at the Seven Sisters end and a canteen and possible improvements to the Tennyson Avenue end terracing and car park.
Besides a canteen on the ground floor of the stand it was reported another may be installed on the floor above the club offices.
On Saturday 18 August 1956 the new grandstand was opened by Mr Arthur Drewry, the Chairman of the Football Association and President of FIFA. Over six thousand attended the opening and the Midland League game that followed (a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Rotherham Reserves).
The club had recorded a loss of £1,000 on the previous season, having set a budget based on an average gate of 5,000 but attendance had been some 1,200 below.
Lynn's entry into the Norfolk Senior Cup had been a loss maker and they were successful in their request to the Norfolk FA Council to limit entry to professional clubs - Norwich, King's Lynn, Yarmouth and Gorleston.
Supporters' Club chairman, Mr Len Hall, said that the supporters' club would have to assume responsibility for more of the football clubs' commitments and that the date for floodlights would largely be governed by the income from gate during the early part of the season.
Ground admission prices for the new season remained at 1s 6d but some season ticket prices were reduced. The Supporters' Club were also willing to pay half the price of season tickets for those aged between 65 and 70 and all of the price for those over 70.
New signings were George Ryan (Wisbech), George Patterson (Hull City), Bobbie Herbert (Doncaster), Peter Vickers (Leeds), Cecil McCormack (Notts County), Johnny Neal (Hull City) and Alan Bean (Gainsborough). Returning to Lynn after a season's absence with Wisbech was Terry Ryder.
McCormack was injured in the opening game of the season and missed the following six weeks. He went on to score 62 goals although most of these were with the reserves.
For the fourth season in succession Lynn were removed from the FA Cup by March Town.
October saw the Supporters' Club present the club with a 14 seater Austin bus painted in the club colours. The bus cost nearly a thousand pounds but it was anticipated it would save the club in transport costs between £300-400 a season.
Lynn Supporters' Club announced their intention to build a new canteen at the corner of the south stand and Seven Sisters end at an estimated cost of £3,000.
The planned canteen was to have a long counter and there was to be an area 6tf by 30ft in front of it that would be completely covered.
This contribution would make the total cost of buildings erected by the supporters on the Walks to £43,000 in the past three years
On 7th January player manager Paul Todd told Lynn FC's management committee that he would not be seeking to renew his contract which was due to expire in June.
Jack Selkirk of Rotherham United, Bill Brown of Grimsby Town and former Mansfield Town manager Stan Mercer were announced as being on the shortlist at the end of February.
Following a meeting attended by over 100 supporters it was also decided that with the club having a turnover between twelve and thirteen thousand pounds there was a need for a full-time secretary/treasurer - a post subsequently give to Mr Charles Bew.
On March 11th Jack Selkirk was announced as the new player manager with a two year contract beginning April 8th although his managerial duties would only begin when Todd either took up a new post or at the end of the season.
It was Selkirk's first managerial appointment, he had been a regular first team player with Rotherham for 13 years making over 500 appearances.
In February Lynn went to the assistance of Norwich City who were having financial problems - playing at Carrow Road at their own expense and raising £400 for Norwich's Appeal Fund
A benefit match was staged for Peter Robinson who had made 167 first team appearances for Lynn since signing in 1953. Notts County, then playing in Division Two, provided the opposition. Robinson spent three years with County having started as an amateur with Manchester City before turning professional and captaining Chesterfield.
Over 7,000 turned out for the game with reports that people were sitting in the gangways of the grandstand, many hoping that Stanley Matthews and John Charles would be included in the Lynn line-up. Although their names appeared in the programme Lynn's two guest players on the night were Roy Paul, the Manchester City captain and Welsh international who filled the left half role and fellow Sky Blue, Bert Trautmann, who was in goal.
Trautmann's performance in the 1956 FA Cup Final had made him a legend.
With City leading 3-1 and 17 minutes remaining Trautmann dived at the feet of Birmingham City's Peter Murphy and was knocked unconscious.
Despite being injured he played on and it was not until three days later an X-ray revealed his neck was broken.
Lynn won the match 1-0 with Bill Edwards heading the winner in the 50th minute.
On May 4th the canteen in the club's grandstand was used to show the FA Cup final between Aston Villa and Manchester United using "a giant screen about four feet by three feet" provided by High Street shop Easter's.
Lynn applied for admission to the Football League in the hope that Middlesbrough's tabled proposition be accepted. Their proposal was that the Third Division should be in three sections which would mean an extra twelve clubs being promoted to the league.
The idea was rejected. For Peterborough it was their seventeenth application for membership and they were in the "hat" along with Lynn, and Norwich City who were applying for re-election having finished bottom of Division Three South.
For entry to Division Three South, Norwich received 48 votes (out of a maximum of 49) Swindon 42, Peterborough 7 and Bedford 1.
Lynn, Headington, Kettering, Worcester and Yeovil received no votes.
Lynn ended the season in eleventh place in the Midland League and the list of players released included the top five goal scorers.
Silverware was won in the shape of the Lynn Hospital Cup and the George Miller Shield.
A strong Lynn XI won the Pamella Cup on 5 April defeating Sutton Bridge (A) 5-2. Scorers McCormack 2, P Todd, Dryburgh, Selkirk
The reserves were winners of the Peterborough League, one victory being over Upwell Town (16 Feb) when Lynn won 15-0, Cecil McCormack scoring 9 (att 964).
Income from Midland League gates were showing a downward trend from £8,000 for the season 1954-55 and £6,900 1955-56 to £6171 for 1956-57.
There were similar falls in the income from cup competitions apart from the East Anglian Cup where Lynn had reached the final.
Thanks to a record contribution of £5,500 from the Supporters' Club the club was able to show a profit for the first time since 1950 - £20.
Links: League table 1956-57 Results 1956-57