Chris Lakey report today.

[Blue_and_Gold]

King's Lynn Town host high-flying Fylde today at the end of another week of confusion at The Walks - CHRIS LAKEY reports

Joe Simpson can be forgiven for his touch of sarcasm as he surveyed the damage of King's Lynn Town's gutting FA Cup exit at National League Scunthorpe.
"We've got another nice easy one next Saturday at home to Fylde," he said, quickly adding, "But we'll look forward to it and we'll go and try and be competitive and see what we can do."
A week on and Simpson has had to mix preparation for the game with personal emotions after a club statement which did little to answer any questions about the caretaker manager's job status or future.
Simpson stepped into the breach as 'interim' following the messy departure of James Rowe. Today, he is either still interim or possibly permanent, depending on how you interpret the aforementioned statement.
Here's the evidence: "After careful consideration, the club has decided to continue with Joe leading the team, supported by an experienced structure around him. Paul Jones has returned to assist on the coaching side, and an experienced external advisor has joined to support Joe across all areas of management.
"This approach provides stability and continuity while ensuring Joe has the right backing to keep the team moving forward. We'll continue to review the situation on a week-to-week basis and make decisions in the best interests of the club."
No mention of who the experienced external advisor is or why he is there. And no clear reason why the set-up 'provides stability and continuity' while the situation will be reviewed on a 'week to week basis'. Hardly a resounding endorsement of Simpson's work, just PR guff which if you look at social media, hasn't pulled the wool over any discerning fans' eyes.
The reading-between-the-lines suggestion is that Simpson lacks experience, despite the fact a big chunk of his coaching career has been spent working alongside Ian Culverhouse, who arguably brought more success to the club than any other manager – the caveat being, of course, that he endured bad times as well. But which manager hasn't?
Bringing Paul Jones back after the fiasco of loaning one of the best keepers in National League North to Spalding for a month is a wise, inevitable, move. But don't confuse that for the return of an experienced coach: Jones is in the twilight of a long playing career but coaching a team hasn't been prominent on his CV.
What Jones' presence will do is reassert some of the character in the squad that was eroded before his temporary departure when players like Josh Coulson and Kyle McFadden were 'allowed to leave' by Rowe. The club mission may be to improve young players into saleable assets, but that doesn't exclude experienced players from the basic tenet which is to win football games. As it turns out, Coulson and McFadden were pretty good at that.
But those particular Linnets have flown the nest and Simpson will have to make do with what he has got. It's a good squad, with a couple of recent young additions on loan from Peterborough United and Norwich City – players who will hope their futures are a lot clearer than their manager's.

[Blue_and_Gold]

King's Lynn Town host high-flying Fylde today at the end of another week of confusion at The Walks - CHRIS LAKEY reports

Joe Simpson can be forgiven for his touch of sarcasm as he surveyed the damage of King's Lynn Town's gutting FA Cup exit at National League Scunthorpe.
"We've got another nice easy one next Saturday at home to Fylde," he said, quickly adding, "But we'll look forward to it and we'll go and try and be competitive and see what we can do."
A week on and Simpson has had to mix preparation for the game with personal emotions after a club statement which did little to answer any questions about the caretaker manager's job status or future.
Simpson stepped into the breach as 'interim' following the messy departure of James Rowe. Today, he is either still interim or possibly permanent, depending on how you interpret the aforementioned statement.
Here's the evidence: "After careful consideration, the club has decided to continue with Joe leading the team, supported by an experienced structure around him. Paul Jones has returned to assist on the coaching side, and an experienced external advisor has joined to support Joe across all areas of management.
"This approach provides stability and continuity while ensuring Joe has the right backing to keep the team moving forward. We'll continue to review the situation on a week-to-week basis and make decisions in the best interests of the club."
No mention of who the experienced external advisor is or why he is there. And no clear reason why the set-up 'provides stability and continuity' while the situation will be reviewed on a 'week to week basis'. Hardly a resounding endorsement of Simpson's work, just PR guff which if you look at social media, hasn't pulled the wool over any discerning fans' eyes.
The reading-between-the-lines suggestion is that Simpson lacks experience, despite the fact a big chunk of his coaching career has been spent working alongside Ian Culverhouse, who arguably brought more success to the club than any other manager – the caveat being, of course, that he endured bad times as well. But which manager hasn't?
Bringing Paul Jones back after the fiasco of loaning one of the best keepers in National League North to Spalding for a month is a wise, inevitable, move. But don't confuse that for the return of an experienced coach: Jones is in the twilight of a long playing career but coaching a team hasn't been prominent on his CV.
What Jones' presence will do is reassert some of the character in the squad that was eroded before his temporary departure when players like Josh Coulson and Kyle McFadden were 'allowed to leave' by Rowe. The club mission may be to improve young players into saleable assets, but that doesn't exclude experienced players from the basic tenet which is to win football games. As it turns out, Coulson and McFadden were pretty good at that.
But those particular Linnets have flown the nest and Simpson will have to make do with what he has got. It's a good squad, with a couple of recent young additions on loan from Peterborough United and Norwich City – players who will hope their futures are a lot clearer than their manager's.

I don't know why they haven't named who the "external adviser" is as it's no secret amongst the players or officials and numerous supporters.

I don't believe he's contractually obligated elsewhere either.

[Linnet465]

  well who is the mystery adviser. If he helped selecting the team in the first half his advice is not worth a salt.
The team plays best when we swarm like bees and quickly play the ball out of defence to each rather than boot it as to the opposition aswe saw so often today.

[Blue_and_Gold]

well who is the mystery adviser. If he helped selecting the team in the first half his advice is not worth a salt.

Presumably a Bal appointment, like everything else is at the moment, so probably best to email him and ask.

[Walks In The Sunshine]

I don't know why they haven't named who the "external adviser" is as it's no secret amongst the players or officials and numerous supporters.

I don't believe he's contractually obligated elsewhere either.

Who is it then??

[Mallard]

When it says The 'Club' has decided to continue with Joe Simpson.  Who actually is the 'Club' who have made this decision?   Is it Bal or is he taking external advice as he's not sure which way to turn.   As far as I can see The 'Club' is Jo with Bal running the show in his name as CEO

[TonyM]

It's a sh*tshow.Jo needs to look at the appointment he made!Is he rarely up to the job?How long is Jo going to let him keep making bad decisions before he acts?The season is just about over for us all ready!

Guess it's a glass half full or half empty moment although not sure how our 'season is just about over' when we are only four points off the playoffs (with a better goal difference than the team in 7th) and with a new manager still trying to adapt a squad to his style of play.  I really do think people need to consider what a realistic expectation for this season is, personally I would be happy top half / in the playoff mix come the end of the season and seeing some entertaining football which to me is far more important than a pipe dream promotion that almost certainly couldn't be paid for next season. 

This league has been and continues to be a tough environment to throw money at and get results so far better to consolidate and just enjoy being at NLN with some entertaining football to watch most weeks

[Blue_and_Gold]

......................far better to consolidate and just enjoy being at NLN with some entertaining football to watch most weeks

Nice thought, won't happen.

 

[Blue_and_Gold]

I don't know why they haven't named who the "external adviser" is as it's no secret amongst the players or officials and numerous supporters.

I don't believe he's contractually obligated elsewhere either.

Who is it then??

Mark Robinson.

He's the one sitting in the Stand with the ear piece in, communicating with the bench.

I didn't think he was contractually obligated elsewhere, but maybe he is.   

Presumably future Director of Football, when the club wishes to announce he's part of the set up.

[A Well Wisher]

......................far better to consolidate and just enjoy being at NLN with some entertaining football to watch most weeks

Nice thought, won't happen.

 

What won't happen B&G? 

[Blue_and_Gold]

......................far better to consolidate and just enjoy being at NLN with some entertaining football to watch most weeks

Nice thought, won't happen.

 

What won't happen B&G? 

Supporters accepting this idea.

[dillydilly]

We have a set of aggressive energetic triers, but very little cohesion affording passing movement in midfield between players. That showed Fylde to have those team players while we had individuals having to fight for the ball all the time following too many punts neither to players nor into anticipated spaces.  Crane and Wilson will improve us, but we'll often still be short of the skill needed.  Nyahawema improved us, but our team play doesn't often match that of opponents.  Effort isn't lacking, but team play is.  I excuse Williams from my (friendly) criticism....

[TonyM]

We have a set of aggressive energetic triers, but very little cohesion affording passing movement in midfield between players. That showed Fylde to have those team players while we had individuals having to fight for the ball all the time following too many punts neither to players nor into anticipated spaces.  Crane and Wilson will improve us, but we'll often still be short of the skill needed.  Nyahawema improved us, but our team play doesn't often match that of opponents.  Effort isn't lacking, but team play is.  I excuse Williams from my (friendly) criticism....

Dilly, I agree to a point but it was a new system on Saturday so maybe needs a bit of time to bed in, also it was difficult to play passing attacking football in the first half with a front three of Gold, Kamara and Lambert and yes I agree that too much was in the air but maybe that was where JS thought we could find success?  We looked a lot better second half with roughly the same shape but with better movement and players capable of receiving a pass.  Hopefully Crane returning from suspension will help tomorrow evening