King's Lynn Town: Rising from the Ashes

King's Lynn were finally put out of business in 2009, wound up with £77,000 in debts it was over. Just a few years prior to this the Linnets hit the dizzy heights of the Blue Square North with Julian Joachim leading the line. In 2010 out of the ashes King's Lynn Town FC were formed they had a successful debut season as they reached the quarter finals of the FA Vase and finishing runner ups to St Neots in the United Counties Prem. They were unlucky to have not won the league having accumlated 103 points in any other league and they certainly would have won the title! With last seasons near miss behind them they are favourites to go up this season.

The only current squad players I plan on using are

Jack Defty - The clubs all time top scorer, will need him to fire them in to get us up.

Luke Thurlbourne - Ex-Southend youngster, also had a spell in the BSS with St Albans. Combatative midfielder will be a certain starter.

Patrick Bexfield - Full back equally adept at playing on the right in midfield.

Callum Reed - Full back who can also play in the centre, will likely be deployed at right back allowing Bexfield to play in midfield.

Jamie Thurlbourne - Left sided player can sit at full back or wide midfield.

Seeing how small the squad is I need to bring in reinforcements soon. I need urgently a goalie, some centre halves, a couple of central midfielders and someone to partner Defty up top.

I have a wage budget of £1,000 a week.

My Aims

Club To Turn Professional - Completed 2019

To Get Promoted to the Football League - Completed 2019

To become the bigggest club in Norfolk

To Win The Premier League

To win the Champions League

To win the World Club Cup

To get a stadium named after me

To produce a future England Captain from my youth set up

To get to top of the hall of fame

To break the world transfer record

International

To win the African Nations Cup - Completed 2023

To win the Copa America

To win the Gold Cup

To win the Asia Nations Cup

To win the European Championship

To win the World Cup

Some of the new signings

The non-league Rory Delap

Veteran striker and penalty taker

Finnies partner at the back

My playmaker

The complete list of signings

The squad according to my assistant

My First 11 will be

GK Atkinson

RB Reed

CB Abraham

CB Finnie (Limited)

LB Waters

RM Heath (Support, Wide Midfield)

CM Barrett (Support, Advanced Playmaker)

CM L Thurlbourne (Support, Ball Winning Midfielder)

LM J Thurlbourne (Support, Wide Midfielder)

FW Thoma (Attack, Target Man)

FW Adeyinka (Attack, Poacher)

6th August

Wellingborough 0 King's Lynn 3 (UCL)

A winning start as manager, Adeyinka made an instant impression scoring in the first five minutes. He added a second and then substitute Killian Gallagher tapped in from Luke Thurlbourne's corner, i'm not sure what was worse our corner routine or their defending. Either way three points on the board now!

13th August

King's Lynn 4 S & L Corby 0 (UCL)

We played superb they didn't even get a sniff, Atkinson didn't make a save all game. It was Adekinya who was on hand to put the ball in the back of the net again as his brace set us up for the win. We added goals through Thomas and Abraham.

20th August

King's Lynn 5 Corsham 0 (FA Cup)

The board want us to reach the 4th qualifying round and a cup run would be ideal as it would boost the finances. We duly delievered and picked up a £750 winners cheque. Over 1,000 fans sawus demolish Corsham with veteran Craig Thomas bagging a hatrick. Colin Heath tapped in from close range and then new signing McGhee headed in the 5th from late on. I was delighted with the 5th goal as it was from a long throw from Finnie.

27th August

Thrapston 1 King's Lynn 1 (UCL)

We conceded first and we looked horribly out of depth against them we only had one chance in the first half and thankfully we converted it. Atkinson pumed the ball up the pitch, Adekinya ran through and as all four of their defenders chased him he squared it just behind them and Craig Thomas managed to just slide on the end of it to poke it in. We clung on or the point in the second half.

League: 5th

Some fairly achievable goals there.

September 2011

3rd September, FA Cup

Prescot 1 King's Lynn 1

I am banking on a bit of a cup run as I remember on a similar game to this on FM10 they were the only thing that stopped me going into the red. We had a dream start when Adeyinka scored a diving header in the 4th minute but we couldn't hold onto the win, I would fancy my chances at home.

6th September, FA Cup

King's Lynn 2 Prescot 1

We deserved the win and the £1,500 we picked up will pay for nearly half a months wages. Plus we managed to get in over 2,000 people for the cup game so that should see us make some decent cash this month. Adeyinka scored the opener again with a close range effort, Killian Gallagher added a second late on when his toe punt went in off the post. Presot pulled one back late on but it was too late.

10th September, UCL

Daventry Utd 0 King's Lynn 3

Our first league game in a few weeks and a good win, Abraham was the star of the show as he once again showed his danger from set pieces as he headed in twice. Carl Thomas added the third with a powerful shot from close range as he latched onto a ball from Heath.

17th September, FA Cup

King's Lynn 3 Northwood 0

Back to cup action and Northwood were the favourites and they are above us in the pyramid but we outplayed them and another crowd of over 2000 should prove to be a good month financially. Heath scored the opener with the first good goal we have scored all season. Adekinya made it 2-0 when the keeper made a hash out of an easy save. Jack Defty gets his first of the season having now recovered from an injury in pre-season training.

14th September, UCL

King's Lynn 2 Desborough 0

Another one sided affair I just wished we were more lethal up front as we could of had a lot more. Carl Thomas finally got things underway as he fired one in from 8 yards out after winning the ball from the defender, I have never seen a forward slide tackle as much as Thomas. Barrett made it 2 when they failed to clear a corner and he poked it in from close range.

Thomas, Barrett

21st September, UCL

King's Lynn 2 Irchester 0

Barrett is finally becoming the playmaker I intended him to be and he's come good at the right time, Luke Thurlbourne need a rest and the forwards are struggling a bit. He actually scored a good goal curling it in from the edge of the area. Abraham scored his 4th league goal of the season when he tapped in at the backpost from Jamie Thurlbourne's free kick.

24th September, UCL

King's Lynn 1 St Ives 1

Bit of a let down after some of the recent results. Abraham had his first bad game as he gave away a penalty to give themthe lead. We couldn't seem to get a look in at the other end, I decided to switch to"overload" eventually we managed to equalise with Jamie Thurlbourne scoring with a powerful strike from just inside the area.

Good start

Looks like a good set of players.

I haven't had internet for a few days so I got a bit aheadof myself. I am walking the league, signed a few guys in January David Fagan and Monday Awoyomi who have performed exceptionally.

We done well in the FA Cup biggest result turning over Histon, we went out in 2nd round (actually 4th qualifying round) at hometo Hayes & Yeading. We had a few good home ties so the finances are looking good.

Nice to get a mention but there is noway i'm leaving this job for a while yet/

Great going so far.

keep going really interesting so far!!! (install logo pack maybe???)

United Counties Prem: 1st

FA Cup: 4th Qualifying Round

Fans Player of the Year: Aaron Waters

Top Scorer: Monday Awoyomi 24

Most Assists:Luke Thurlbourne 15

Most Man of the Match: Carl Thomas 6

Out

Jack Defty - Good enough but has proven to be very injury prone and I couldn't justify paying him £250 a week when I have better options.

Craig Thomas - Played well for us but tailed off at the end, at 39 he's only going to carry on declining.

Matthew Atkinson - Signed a pre-contract agreement with TNS, so gave Malek the reigns in the second half of the season and he proved good enough.

Also out are Wayne Finnie and Robbie Harris. Nick Heath (Holbeach) and Brian McGhee (Dereham) leave on short term loans.

In

Brought in 7 players but mainly all back up players as I don't plan on changing my first 11 too much, Most likely to make an impression are.

From my youth candidates only one will be given a run in the first team and thats this guy.

Your run in the FA CUp was greatly helped by the fact that after drawing with Preston, you instead played the replay against Prescot.

Your run in the FA CUp was greatly helped by the fact that after drawing with Preston, you instead played the replay against Prescot.

Good spot

We were predicted to finish 6th in the league and so far we are doing pretty well unbeaten after 8 games. We seem to have some discipline problems though as we have had a few players sent off and it hascost us points where we have been unable to hold onto the win.

Monday Awoyomi has continued on from last seasons exploits as he tops the charts with 8 so far. Also chipping in with goals are Adeyinka whose got 5 and Jamie Thurlbourne with three. Joe Lennox has fitted in well so far scoring once and getting a few assists. I decided to re-train Daley as a left midfielder so he can cover on either flank rather than brigning in a back up for Thurlbourne.

The FA Cup has been good so far with wins over Mildenhall (after a nervy replay) and Waltham Forest. Next up in th cup is Eastwood from the BSN I hope to try and hold them to a draw at their gaff and hope for the best at home. We got some really impressive attendances last year at home in the cup and I am hoping the same here as it will be a welcome boost to our finances.

Good start.

The FA Cup run continues

Stourbridge away in the next round

We have kept up with the pace so far and I think we stand a good chance of going up this year. Monday Awoyomi is still my top scorer with 26 league goals and 21 in all competitons.

The FA Cup dream eventually came to an end when we came up against League One side Notts County.

I never expected to win I just hoped for a big side for a share of the gate receipts, that month we made over £25k profit, that sort of cash will pay the wage bill for about 6 months.

I also added a few new player to my squad, I decided to only sign players from now on that could make an immediate impact.

Jake Inglis is our first International player having got his 2nd cap after joining. Is considered a lot better than Jamie Thurlbourne. I will still kee Thurlourne as he can play at left back as well so it gives me extra cover for Waters.

Comrie is our new number one keeper better than Malek and Ritchie. Ritchie has alot more potential than Malek so I will let Malek go.

Heh, I knew the Canadian national team was bad, but capping a player who plays at the 8th tier? Sheesh! No wonder Owen Hargreaves wanted to play for us!

Heh, I knew the Canadian national team was bad, but capping a player who plays at the 8th tier? Sheesh! No wonder Owen Hargreaves wanted to play for us!

Yeah I was quite surprised he opted to join us, he could definitely play at a higher standard I just hope to keep holld of him for a few years or for as long as I can afford the wages.

Its pretty tight between us and Leiston who also just beat me 2-1, Julian Joachim rolling back the years to get the winner. They should be contenders as they hae the highest wage bill in the league (we're 2nd). Tilbury and Sudbury were my early challengers but have failed away completely. At the other end of the table Romford looked buried at Xmas with only one win and 7 draws but a dramatic turn around has seen them pull themselves out of the relegation zone.

We have a few tough games to play still with trips to Harlow ad Maldon & Tiptree.

Looking good, good luck

Very shocked to see a career play of my home town! Hope you can get the good times rolling again.

Very shocked to see a career play of my home town! Hope you can get the good times rolling again.

Cheers mate, the good times are indeed rolling again!

The last few games Leiston seemed to lose their heads and we won with ease, they won't be too dissapointed as they went up via the play offs. We have been placed in the Northern Premier League and have been tipped to finish 11th but we were given 3-1 about winning it. This is the level the club were at when it went bust so I will look to consolidate our position and then brigng in a couple of players. I am looking into signing young players that could make an immediate impact. A few people have left on free transfers and that has freed up the wage bill, Dave Fagan refused to sign a new contract so Chester offered him a new deal and I somehow wrangled £5k out of the deal so I am delighted with that even though he was one of my better defenders.

Aaron Waters once again was voted fans player of the year, a bit surprised I thought Awoyomi was a shoe in!

2012/2013 Review

Fans Player of the year: Aaron Waters

Top Scorer: Monday Awoyomi 32

Most Assists: Luke Thurlbourne 14

Most Man of the Match: Monday Awoyomi 9

Aaron Waters has now been added to the favourite personnel.

I showed Waters in the last post sohere the best of the rest

My star midfielder, he chips in with a fair few assists but I would say most of them are from corners he isn't exactly a creative whizz.

Lennox was on a free after being released from Bristol City he started slowly but he soon turned into an integral part of the side and has kept Daley out of the side. In the goals a fair bit.

Star man always in the goals, some of them look hilarious so not sure if its down to him being good or the keepers being inept, he always seems to break free of the defence so I think his pace is the key attribute.

Our Canadian international! Chipped in with a few goals and has settled in well, i'm sure he could play a lot higher so hoping to either sell him on for some cash or keeep hold of him and watch him help us fly up the leagues.

Not many internationals at that level.

I have finally paid my first transfer fees since joining the Linnets signing two very special young players.

Gus Jack was my first signing and a bargain at £500 my scout said he would be the best centre back at the club and loads of potential and just 15. He looks like a great catch and I am delighted we got a quality defender as we lost Fagan and Gallagher.

When I got the scout report for Cox and then looked at his profile I knew I had to sign him. I saw Crewe who are now in the Conferernce were sniffing around him so I would have to be quick. I decided not to attempt to try and bargain for a fee and go straight to compensation. It cost me the £5,000 I got for Fagan but I wasn't expecting that money anyway.

Cox could be the player that fires us to promotion

Have just finished pre-season and thanks to a hoe friendly with Norwich which nearly 5,000 people watched we made 12k which is handy since we spent £5,500 on transfers. We are currently £100k in the bank and even though we are now allowed a wage budget of £3,200 per week I have kept it under 2k.

My key players for the season will be

Dominic Comrie - Former Preston keeper, rejected a few bids from Chester in the summer, kept 12 clean sheets in 28 games last season,

Gus Jack - Only a kid but with Fagan gone I need him to step up and partner Fagan.

Aaron Waters - Vice-Captain and fans player of the year two years on the spin.

Jake Inglis - Versatile midfielder with an eye for goal.

Monday Awoyomi - 50 goals in 64 appearances in the league, I hope he makes the step up.

Rob Cox - The future of King's Lynn, will play as my target man. If he struggles at first I have back up in McGhee and Rugg to give him a break to ease the pressure on him.

The media predicts an 11th place finish I am hoping for a play off spot which I think is viable unless we have a bad run of luck with injuries to key players.

Great debut for Cox!

Another great result and good to show Fagan he made the wrong choice leaving us. The media gave us no hope and after the first 45minutes neither did I. We were up against it all game but Rob Cox scored on the counter late on. Gus Jack was amazing at the back and picked up the man of the match award. In the 6 league games so far the two youngsters have picked up the man of the match award between them every time. I know its early days but I think we have to go up if they stay fit. Here is a screeny of them to show the impact they have had. Rob Cox also got a call up or the England U'19 squad he didn't have the best of games but he was being fielded at left back which explains alot. If he keeps making those squads I can see him moving up the leagues quicker than I hoped.

Great start although if you take Coxy's goals out of the equation we would only be on 12 points. We have took on a few of the bigger sides with Chester and AFC Flyde both predicted to be in the top 3, although the media have got it wrong so far with Frickley and Newcastle Town tipped for relegation.

Flying start no reason why you can't get another promotion here.

We have had a good cup run in both previous seasons and we done well again this year. The highlight was knocking out Conference side Northwich Victoria 1-0 away with Rob Cox getting a late winner. We have benefitted financially every year because of bumper home crowds although this year we were drawn away every time. We eventually crashed out in the 1st round at AFC Wimbledon

We were unlucky but they were the btter side, I was praying to take them to a replay just to give us another £5-10k which could be the difference between making a profit or a loss at the end of the season.

We are still going well in the league sitting 2nd but with only one win in our lat five games I am hoping it is just a glitch. Gus Jack and Rob Cox have been magnificent. We have had some injury problems lately but I think the worst is over now. Here is a look at the table

Tied for top - there are worse places to be Its been an impressive season thus far, hopefully you'll be on top of the table before long.

rob cox ....? Funny name but yet he's a brilliant player

Going well, keep it up.

The title race is hoting up and it looks alot tighter than it did before. I think I can hang on and clinch promotion. I have to really we have lost £25k this year. I have about 15 players contract expiring butI dont want to renew unless I know we go up and can afford their wages or wont be good enough or if I have to cut some bigger wage players to keep the club afloat.

Thanks to my star signings we managed a third successive promotion and we are now into the big time, the Blue Square North. Rob Cox's 31 league goals helped a lot and was no doubt the best player in the league. In fact my reports say he has the potential to be a decent League One player, his value is upto £70k and Scunthorpe enquired but were put off with my £500k + 40% sell on.

As you can see although we did okay in the FA Cup without the bumper home crowds we lost a fair bit of cash. The trouble is another season like this and we will be struggling or sure. With this inmind I decided to keep the same squad and only bringing in players who will go straight into the first 11 or cheap back ups for suspensions and injuries.

The major signing of the summer for us was Simon Hooper on a free from Cambridge University Press, this club has got one of the good youth set ups I think as they have some decent players and have risen from The Eastern Counties Division 1 to the Isthmian Divison One North. Fitzroy Ritter a promising right bac might get some game time Robert Connelly a Scottish defender will see some action no doubt as he brngs our CB count up to 4.

Leaving us is Jamie Thurlbourne I offered him an extension of his deal but he turned it down for Colwyn Bay who more than doubled his wages to £350 per week. I have a fair few players whose contracts expire at the end of this season but I am waiting on our FA Cup progress before I agree to new deals for some of them. Also out the door where Jordan Rugg, Sean Daley, Patrick Bexfield and Brian McGhee. They have been bit part players and I felt tht I was better off with the £300p/w being spent elsewhere.

I am looking to finish midtable at least and want to push us back into the black so I can continue to invest in our youth set up.

Up again!!!

We had an excellent FA Cup run even taking a couple of football league scalps. We got a let off in the replay against Morecombe when they missed a last minute penalty. We had a couple of sell outs at home which netted an £85k gate receipt each time and I think we get half of that. When we got to the 5th (3rd round) round I was hoping for a Premier League team away to net a huge profit we got Portsmouth at home but were hammered as expected. We are now £300k in the black and got our junior coaching made up to satisfactory.

Good run, though Portsmouth were a bit heavy.

Cant believe we didnt go up, ill post a full review tomorrow

Ah A brilliant season coming 2nd, a stepping stone for next year !

So close you'll probably do it next time.

Well after just missing out on promotion I decided to trim the squad a little and some decided to leave as I wouldn't give in to their pay demands. Wesley Atkinson wanted £500 a week and with a budget of £4.5k p/w that was out of the question.

I did agree to give that much to Rob Cox for a one year extension, we are going to need his goals to fire us up.

Although interest in him is high and if we get a good enough bid I will sell as that would set the club up financially for sometime and he has been that good that I want to see him succeed at a higher level.

I have been slowly increasing the junior coaching each season and we are now at satisfactory we now have a few made their way into the first team Janoi Berry a right back who will probably be my first choice and defensive midfielder Wayne Turl. Turl got moved up last year and played 16 games and done alright and with a few players leaving he will be a regular.

This is the squad I expect to fire me to the Blue Square Premier

A few of them are out of contract and I cant afford to pay them what they want so I am taking my chances that they hang about on rolling deals, Adeyinka has been like that over a year and is on £65 p/w for a few deal he wants 700. Some players are on pay as you play deals (non-contract) as that is the only way they would sign. I risk losing them for nothing but at least if they get injured I am not paying anything.

We are right in the hunt again and despite a shaky start we have recovered well. Rob Cox has been a big part of that having scored 24 league goals so far, he as singlehandedly won us a few games and this team will be a hell of alot worse when it is time for him to move on. Burnley and Notts Forest have been and scouted him but we have yet to receive an offer for him. Gus Jack my other youngster just signed a new deal keeping him here till 2018. He has been at the backbone of the defence the lat two and a half years and I hope that carries on somewhat.

We are doing well in the FA Cup as we have made it through to the third round for the second year in a row. We are away to Championship side Millwall would of preferred a Prem club but I still hope to make a bit out of this. We need to as I stupidly got our traning facilities upgraded at a cost of £95k and we are currently £77k down on the year so one more cup pay day will hopefully see us do okay this year.

My plan of leaving players on rolling contracts has comeback to haunt me when Ayowomi broke his leg and not long after Tashan Adeyinka joned Blue Square South side Braintree. I did sign one player a left midfielder Rune Rasmussen. I havn't had any cover for Jake Inglis and it came up on my news feed that he was on trial at Colwyn Bay and I snapped him up, he has got 5* potential but that could mean anything with my staff, i've put up a screenie below

He looks pretty good.

I was convinced this was lost when their second went in, when I saw we pulled one back I thought it was nothing more than a consolation goal but no Joe Lennox became a legend in my eyes with the equaliser. I nearly released him in the summer but decided to keep him on encase Caballos got injured.

If we beat them in the replay we go to either Exeter or Notts Forest.

Wow, great way to earn a replay.

Got beat 3-1 in the replay, at leats we had 5,733 attend the replay. We are back in profit or the season (for now).

Would of loved to have beaten them as we would of gone to Forest so would have earned fair bit.

Now to concentrate on getting into the BSP!

Someones had way to much red bull.

Great going