Linnets' Fans' Forum

Quote from: dillydilly on May 18, 2025, 07:44:23 PM
Hi TonyM - I probably know less than some on here about SC and his Chairmanship.  However, I think he has emptied his pockets and found others to do the same more than any previous Captain of the ship.  He also showed more ambition to pull the club as high up the Pyramid as possible, and even beyond.  His full ambition hasn't been realised, but we have certainly had more progress and success than in any previous era.  Rightly or wrongly, I think we're a fickle bunch of supporters, myself included, and crowds have not reached the level expected or needed to make the desired progress.  I still believe the potential is there, but our organisation is a lot weaker than many other clubs at this level.  It needn't stay that way, of course, but I hope we have another season with him at the helm....

Dilly, I think we view the events of SC's tenure through very different lenses.  Whilst I appreciate that the club reached the National League and we have seen some fantastic football, particularly under IC and at times TW, the club itself is a basket case, and for you to say the organisation is a 'lot weaker than many other clubs at this level' is being very, very kind to SC. 

Effectively KLTFC has been some sort of weird experiment where SC has pumped every pound he could attract into the playing budget and whilst you can point to the on field success, the truth is there would always come a day when the sources of funding would run dry, whether we are at that point just yet, time will tell, but as the Lynn News said after Thursdays meeting "Without the financial support of TSI, it remains very clear that the club would already be in liquidation for a second time in 15 years".  So forgive me if I don't share your hope that we have another season with SC at the helm as we have had claims in each of the last two years that we needed extra funds to see out the season and I think it may well turn out to be third time unlucky if we don't have a fundamental change in how the club is run.  If that means the club is still here but with ambition that is in line with the funds available then that is a trade off I am more than willing to accept to continue to have a club.

Quote from: dillydilly on May 18, 2025, 02:16:25 PM
... by stating my hope that we keep SC's interest on board!!!....

Dilly, did you read Greg's article in the Lynn News on Friday?  If not, please let me quote - "Without the financial support of TSI, it remains very clear that the club would already be in liquidation for a second time in 15 years".  Just curious as to why you would hope for the person that was responsible for getting the club into this mess to still be involved with the club going forward?

Quote from: MARCUS ROSE on May 09, 2025, 05:15:29 PM
Is this a true story, or someone muddying the waters before the meeting next week.

AL was on Radio Norfolk with Nick Bowler at 6.30.  He said playing budget for next season has been cut by 30%, obviously caught Nick off guard but he did ask what this meant for his future to which Adam was pretty honest, discussed with the club about walking away 'by mutual agreement' but not come to anything although he did say he wouldn't want to come all this way to manage a part-time side and not what he signed up to 18 months ago, felt him and Sam had kept their side of the bargain - kept us up last season, playoffs this year.  To be fair he sounded pretty gutted and said he had already had to have difficult discussions with players who wouldn't be here next year with the cuts.

Really good performance from the team today.  I haven't been AL's biggest fan but he got the formation and tactics spot on today and the players all put in a shift to fully deserve the three points.  Looks like it will go to the final day, all three of Lynn, Chorley and Curzon have bottom sides on Monday but if Lynn can see off Needham Market then a point against Chester will be enough to be in the playoff picture.

List of Agents Fees published for National League (inc North & South teams) for Feb 24 to Feb 25 which seems a strange time period as it possibly includes a few late season signings for teams trying to avoid the drop or just to give that final push for promotion last season.  Think there are only 8 NLN teams in the list and no surprise to see Scunthorpe well ahead of the rest although South Shields pushing Kidderminster for second and we come in fourth but really in the scheme of things it doesn't amount to much and plenty of teams in and around the NLN playoff picture who don't appear on the list.

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QI, please excuse the editing

Quote from: Quinn Upstone on April 01, 2025, 11:31:08 AM
...I find myself torn between the desire to get promoted and the fear of instant crash and burn at the end of that season 😏

...Personally, based on what I think and what I know, I can't see us lasting much longer as this incarnation of the club 🐦‍🔥

I think our only hope, much as it worries me, is to get promoted and trust the investors to stick with us

I appreciate we are all compromised in our support but think the above will ring true with many Lynn fans.  Ultimately SC has got many, many things wrong during his tenure but he has somehow got the club to a point where fans are thinking about getting out of NLN by being promoted and not leaving at the other end of the table, given where the old club was when it folded and where he inherited it from Chapman that is a pretty big leap.  I think many have said it is all built on sand and that may well come to be proven true but Quinn, it surely can't be right that you think the club's only hope of survival (albeit short term) is to go up and keep the investor on board, appreciate beggars can't be choosers but does reinforce my views on the benefactor model.

As for Mallard's original question?  For me, promotion shouldn't be a consideration given what happened last time and there is every indication we were actually in a better state at that point (both on and off the field) than we are now.

Quote from: Pink on March 29, 2025, 04:42:02 PM

Quote from: TonyM on March 29, 2025, 04:26:50 PM

Quote from: Pink on March 29, 2025, 02:28:57 PM
You both seem to denounce the idea of group action..but isn't that what a Community run club is all about.

The action doesn't need to be an immediate boycott of games, but perhaps a statement with signatures requesting information/meeting in return for continued support. I wouldn't have thought that unreasonable. Surely supporters have the right to know what it is they are actually supporting

Pink, I think we probably have a different understanding of community run club (which as B&G has said isn't applicable to KLTFC at present anyway).  To me, a community run club would engage with it's fanbase, sharing what information it could at an appropriate level and on a regular basis allowing for the fact that some information wouldn't be appropriate to share either due to it's commercially sensitive nature or for confidentially reasons for example.  If a community run club was receiving petitions of the manner you are suggesting then I would say it has got a long way off course or needed to work much harder to explain to it's remit to stakeholders.

Tony, I think you have missed my point completely. The club isn't community based at the moment...we all know that......I don't need you and B&G to tell me that.......but in order to change things for the better, I was just suggesting that some group activity with people coming together might be a positive way of the town coming together to give some idea of how they might like the club run, instead of individuals just bemoaning the fact that they are treated like customers and not fans. If the club was community based this issue or situation would hopefully never arise.

I think our idea of Community based is the same.......maybe you just hope that it will happen sometime in the future, somehow.......with that stance I personally doubt it ever will

Pink, apologies if we are talking at cross purposes, maybe the joys of the written word on a forum rather talking over a pint.  Just for reference, I was one of the founder members of the Blue & Gold Trust, although posting on here as an individual so please don't take anything posted as 'Trust policy' or something similar.  For me, it was a real missed opportunity that in the years since reformation there has been a growing divide between the Trust and the two owners (not apportioning blame here as that is pretty pointless and completely subjective anyway) which has not helped either entity but we are where we are. 

I would love to see the fans more actively engaged with the club, be that through forums, fan appointed director, shadow board or one of the other models out there but I think any movement towards this is extremely unlikely whilst SC is still involved with the club, sorry if that isn't proactive enough for you but having spoken with SC on numerous occasions (in a personal capacity) I just don't see how any of those models would fit with his way of running the club.  I mentioned Barrie Pierpont's time at the club in my original reply and I think that may have been the sliding doors moment where SC had the chance to change tack but for whatever reason it didn't work out.

Quote from: Pink on March 29, 2025, 02:28:57 PM
You both seem to denounce the idea of group action..but isn't that what a Community run club is all about.

The action doesn't need to be an immediate boycott of games, but perhaps a statement with signatures requesting information/meeting in return for continued support. I wouldn't have thought that unreasonable. Surely supporters have the right to know what it is they are actually supporting

Pink, I think we probably have a different understanding of community run club (which as B&G has said isn't applicable to KLTFC at present anyway).  To me, a community run club would engage with it's fanbase, sharing what information it could at an appropriate level and on a regular basis allowing for the fact that some information wouldn't be appropriate to share either due to it's commercially sensitive nature or for confidentially reasons for example.  If a community run club was receiving petitions of the manner you are suggesting then I would say it has got a long way off course or needed to work much harder to explain to it's remit to stakeholders.

Quote from: Blue_and_Gold on March 29, 2025, 01:50:43 PM

...you can feel that supporters are closer together than they have been for a long time. This is almost certainly due to concern for the future of the Club, not helped by the silence over Jo and Bal and investment which is quite clearly needed to survive at this level.

As I have only been once this season, I will take your word for this and if it is the case then that can only be a good thing, whatever the underlying reason, and might potentially be something a new owner (if that is what eventually transpires) could tap into rather than the 'divide and conquer' attitude seen by the two owners since the club reformed.

Quote from: Pink on March 29, 2025, 11:31:40 AM

Quote from: Mallard on March 29, 2025, 10:01:25 AM
When the Clubs gets the begging bowl out we are fans.  With regard to  anything to do with the internal workings of the Club we are customers. 

This line keeps getting repeated over and over.

I wonder will Lynn fans ever do something progressive about the situation........or will they just sit there, in the dark,having their noses rubbed in it and just moan every so often.

Surely if you want to know what's going on inside your club, get together, issue a statement and refuse to attend matches until you get some answers......it is your club after all.

I don't think anyone would have me down as an SC apologist but really don't think talk of refusing to attend matches does much to advance the conversation.  I know there are supporters who no longer attend regularly for various reasons, including how the club is organised, but that is their individual choice and a world away from an organised boycott.  Personally I think it would be better to positively campaign for something like what is being proposed at Scunthorpe - https://www.scunthorpe-united.co.uk/news/2025/march/become-one-of-the-voices-of-the-fans-at-scunthorpe-united/ and something similar was muted at the Walks when Barrie Peirpont was briefly involved at the club.  Maybe SC could discuss this with his Scunthorpe counterparts when they come down over Easter?

As for the SC / Jo ownership issue, all we really know is that the club was still 100% owned by Mr & Mrs Cleeve on the 14th March as this is the day the NL check club websites to ensure ownership details are up to date (they must inform the league within three days of a change but only need to have the website up to date once a year!).  Easy to speculate that maybe Jo is going cold on the deal and/or SC is still holding out for the possibility of another interested buyer should the club get into the playoffs and somehow achieve promotion but where the negotiations (if there are any) really stand is only known by the parties themselves and personally I am comfortable with that - there is no reason for a running commentary although if (say) everything is on hold until the end of the season I see no reason why that couldn't be communicated.

Quote from: Blue_and_Gold on March 15, 2025, 06:41:43 PM

Quote from: dillydilly on March 15, 2025, 05:20:26 PM
I'm here to represent the most annoying supporters - the ones who don't go as we are awaiting warmer climes and a better team.  My beef is with the manager; in a game we should certainly have looked to win to maintain any chance of a play-off place, Al, like so many managers at all levels, leaves the fastest and trickiest player, Crane, on the bench, presumably preferring some kind of Subbuteo formation to picking the players most likely to actually create chances.  I fear we have found our level.  The support, the stadium, the team, and the financial side simply don't look like an enterprise likely to go any higher.  I wish us all well, but reality is possibly beginning to surface...

Our level Dilly? For the reasons you mention (support, stadium, team), I believe that our true level maybe one step below where we are at the moment. Clubs and their supporters  can't continue to be reliant on others subsidising their Saturday afternoon entertainment by lumping loads of money in. Without the money Jo has already  donated this season, we would almost certainly have hit major financial problems a year ago.

If Jo doesn't continue next season (and I'm led to believe there's now some serious doubts he will), surely this level is too high for us to compete at financially.   

Apparently the Chairman is actively looking for investors again, as well as contacting some supporters for donations, which does make me wonder if Jo has already turned the tap off.

As for AL, I'll defend him again. I really don't think he's had sufficient funds made available to him that are required to succeed at this level.The reason being (maybe) the Club just hasn't got the funds to give him.

No shame in that in this day and age.

B&G, I agree with all of the early part of the post regarding 'our level' and the reliance on outside income. 

Where I would take issue is defending AL, even if he may not have the funds he would like (what manager ever does) he has a full time squad that he works with week in, week out and they are virtually all signings he has made.  What is sorely lacking on the playing side is any connection to the local area and whilst SC knew when he appointed AL that he was north west based, the lack of any visible link with Peterborough, Cambridge or Norwich (or indeed anyone outside of the north west) is starting to be more and more apparent.  Some stark decisions may need to be made in terms of full/part time next season and whether that process could be managed by SC is certainly open to question.

Agree with everything in WW's post.  To be honest it felt 'flat' on Boxing Day which has been my only trip to the Walks this season and I can't say anything that day (other than missing the blokes I stood with) or since has made me regret ceasing to be a 'regular'

I didn't mean to excuse the club's lateness and yes you would expect a well run business to file these things on time.  As it turns out it seems there was nothing to report anyway as the situation on the 11th December remained unchanged as per the Confirmation Statement filed today.  Maybe something has or hasn't happened since then which supporters may or may not be informed of at some point?

Quote from: Blue_and_Gold on January 01, 2025, 12:08:54 PM
Lynn FC Ltd (07102863) Confirmation Statement for Companies House is overdue. It should have been filed on the 11th of December.

Whilst the form must be made up to 11th December, it was only due at Companies House by the 25th so just a week overdue which with Christmas holidays etc doesn't seem quite so bad.  I had hoped for some clarity in the Boxing Day programme notes but can't imagine SC has ever written a more bland two pages in his life although I haven't seen any other examples from this season so maybe it's been par for the course?

Quote from: happymondays on November 13, 2024, 07:12:48 PM
Would a large investment into the club be visible on the clubs books on Company's House ?...genuine question.

Not immediately, the latest set of accounts on Companies House are up to 31st May 2023 so well before Joe's involvement.  The 31st May 2024 figures have to be filed by 28th February 2024 so something may be clearer then.  Currently SC is the only listed director and the Sports Council loan is the only listed charge so difficult to see how Joe's 'investment' has gone into the club (unsecured loan?) although it could just be the club is a bit behind on filing the information.