Courtesy of the Lynn News:

https://www.lynnnews.co.uk/sport/linnets-announce-retained-list-of-players-9255407/



The Linnets have released the quartet of Joe Gascoigne, Jak Hickman, Arthur Iontton and Cameron King.

The club remain in contract negotiations with the "big four" of Ross Barrows, Michael Clunan, Aaron Jones and Paul Jones, for next season.



Grapevine around the Leagues is saying that the only one likely to stay is Paul Jones, but time will tell on that one. 

Some Clubs still appear to be offering silly money to get the signatures of the players they want.

The mistakes made in recruitment continue to hang over the club with the retained list presumably being those offered multi year deals at the start of last season / when they signed:
Baris Altintop, Josh Barrett, Pierce Bird, Daniel Bowry, Kyle Callan-McFadden, Ken Charles, Gold Omotayo, Munashe Sundire
Of those, you would imagine TW would be looking to offload a minimum of Altintop, Bird and Bowry plus question marks remain over McFadden's fitness and whether we really want to go into NLN with a strike force of Omotayo and Charles?

Perhaps more surprising (at least to me) is those who were out of contract that have had their contract extended.  I think Denton and Scott did enough to warrant extensions and Fleming is probably worth looking at for a place in the squad at NLN level, likewise Knowles.  Gyasi seemed to do well with more minutes at Dover so no harm in extending his contract as we drop down where he may be more of a threat or alternatively we may get a fee for him, the exact opposite would be true for Walker who did nothing when on loan and then even less when signed for the latter part of the season.  The extension of TW juniors contract isn't much of a surprise but think there would be better options as he always looked like a stop gap signing

The strength (or otherwise) of the squad does look to hinge on those contract negotiation players and keeping Paul Jones would be a huge positive.  Pretty resigned to Barrows leaving (deserves to stay NL), actually surprised to see Aaron offered a spot as TW tried all and sundry at right back and then there is Clunan - TW continued to play him out of position to facilitate jnr getting a game and he was comfortably player of the season in most peoples eyes but will he and the others from the Culverhouse era think now is the time for pastures new?

All in all, I would have preferred to see less on the retained / extended lists but maybe dropping down to step 2 will mean more are playing at 'their level'?

In fairness every NL Club only finished their regular season on Saturday.  Kings Lynn finished theirs a week earlier.   Plus 6 teams are  now involved in the Play-offs, so hardly going to be releasing players.

A few more NL clubs have started to release their lists, SC has posted on Twitter that we will remain full-time next season which will probably mean the likes of Omotayo and Barrett (who I think were both on multi year deals) will be retained unless a NL side comes in for them.  In terms of players we might be interested in, McGavin has been released by Ipswich although he might think he could get a spot back in the NL and Coulson has been released by Southend which is no great surprise and is probably more likely to be open to NLN football next season.

Positive noises from BP on Twitter:

"I am looking forward to meeting all fans and supporters at an Open Meeting in early June, more details to follow.
Looking forward to working with you all."

Hopefully he gets a good turnout and becomes the start of a new relationship between club and the fanbase as a whole

TONYM  there are no exact choice of genre, music, etc. But being a member of a regular social club involving live music, this is definitely the best choice out there to get punters in...they have a hard core off  followers and guarantee a decent turnout.. Well done everyone involved 👏👏👏

Appreciate we all have different tastes, I wouldn't imagine we would pack out the B&G with my choice of music and pleased to hear that you think IV Geezers are a good choice and should get a crowd in which is what we would all like to see.  I guess this is the sort of band we are looking for with their 'own' following rather than having to rely on FotL members, hopefully those who go will enjoy themselves and the B&G can become a viable venue on the local music scene.

Quote from: TonyM on May 16, 2022, 01:25:42 PM

..............................I see one of the things on the new CEO's 'to-do' list is to have an open forum with fans, lets hope that is sooner rather than later,

He'll come across very well in that environment. I'm sure people will be impressed with his "on stage" performance.

I believe he still has his own business interests, so the question is if this is a part time gig for him?   

To be fair, there probably isn't really a full-time CEO position so part-time might suit both parties and will add to the off-field experience at the club, something that has been sorely lacking since reformation.

I guess you could argue most in football are part-time compared to normal jobs and I am not sure how many are on 52 week contracts so that probably accounts for the bulk of those that we think of as full-time during the season.  The 45 is an interesting number, I guess that is football staff (players, management, support staff) and then the next biggest group being matchday catering staff as I thought most of the stewards, etc were volunteers.

Ignoring the loanees for the time being.  Still seems to be up in the air between full-time (TW's preference?) and part-time (financial sense?) which may have a bearing on some players willingness to stay

Keeper - Jones by far and away the best keeper we have had at the club since Scott Howie, certainly one to keep if we can

Defenders - Not sure Jones & TW see eye to eye and his performances dropped off with change in management, proved he was good enough for NLN but might not see him return.  Scott did well having proved himself with a free trial, no local connections so may look elsewhere next season?  Hickman didn't look good enough for NLN but still somehow kept getting minutes, hopefully not retained for 2022-23.  Denton has done well since his return from injury and would presumably want to stay full-time, assume Bird and Bowry will both be off.  Question marks remain over McFadden's fitness.  Would obviously like to see Barrows back at the Walks but performances wouldn't have gone unnoticed and would think he could get a place at another NL team if he wanted it

Midfield - Clunan outstanding in spite of being played out of position for many games under TW (looked his best as part of a midfield three with Hargreaves and McGavin), hopefully his work will mean we can hold on to him but can't stand in his way if he gets an opportunity back at NL level.  Theo looked like a step 3 player (the level he was playing at) when he joined, improved over time but not sure he adds that much to the squad, even at NLN.

Forwards - no doubt Barrett looked better against lower league / bottom third NL sides but questions have to be asked about fitness and commitment, would obviously be one of the best technical players in NLN but personally I wouldn't be disappointed to see him leave.  Omotayo has had a very good end to the season under TW and you would hope he would cause more problems for defenders at step 2 but still not sure how you get goals and/or assists out of him.  Walker did nothing in his loan spell which proved more than he did in the second half of the season once we signed him.  Charles never really got a run of games so not unreasonably looked off the pace when he did get an opportunity but didn't force his way into a team that couldn't buy a goal at times this season.  Gyasi offers that 'something different' but again wouldn't be upset if he didn't return

So to sum up, keep Jones (P), Barrows (if possible), Clunan, personally I would try and hang on to Aaron but don't think TW will and that is probably it.  Of the loanees, Fernandez has been released by Stevenage and could be OK at NLN, you would imagine McGavin, Linton, Hargreaves, Phipps (if fit) and K-B will be back to their parent clubs but can't see Southend keeping Coulson so would be a good signing at NLN level although I wouldn't have him and McFadden together with their lack of pace.  Plenty of squad places for TW to fill and make it 'his' team for next season, just a question as to whether he has the contacts you would hope that someone working previously as a scout should have

And so the lobbying begins, as the Premier League fights to water down any proposals.  Unfortunately I can see Wild etc (my MP is Truss for my sins) being on the wrong side of this