Hi All,
As we bring October to a close, I wanted to take the opportunity to update supporters on some of the things that have been happening around the football club, both on and off the pitch.
BACK IN THE COMMUNITY
One of the promises we made was to reconnect King’s Lynn Town Football Club with its community, and I’m really pleased with the progress we continue to make in this area.
Throughout October, we have once again been out and about visiting a number of local schools. Our players have taken part in some fantastic question-and-answer sessions with pupils, alongside school assemblies, getting involved, sharing experiences and, hopefully, inspiring some of the next generation of football supporters. Special mention has to be extended to Laura and Lauren who have been the driving force behind organising these community visits.
I’ve also had the pleasure of visiting the schools myself and being involved in these sessions. It’s been brilliant to see the enthusiasm, curiosity and excitement from the children and to witness first-hand the positive impact these visits can have.
Importantly, every child at the schools we have visited has been offered a complimentary ticket to come along and experience a matchday at The Walks.
We have also had players attend our football camps, spending time with youngsters who have aspirations of one day becoming professional footballers. Offering advice, sharing their own experiences and simply giving those children some time and encouragement is something we believe is incredibly important.
These things might seem small to some, but they matter. A football club should be about more than 90 minutes on a Saturday afternoon. It should be part of its town, its community and the lives of the people who support it.
We promised to drive that community feel back into the football club, and we will continue to work hard to deliver on that promise.
ON THE PITCH – OCTOBER REVIEW
Following what was a really promising September, we wanted to carry that momentum into October, and I think there are plenty of positives to take from the month as a whole.
Our October record reads:
Two wins, two draws and one defeat from our five league fixtures.
To take eight points from 15, win twice, keep three clean sheets and lose just once in five games represents a positive return overall.
Of course, the defeat at Worksop was hugely disappointing and not reflective of the standards or defensive resilience we had shown in the games leading up to it. However, I was particularly pleased with the response from the players at Hereford.
To go to a challenging away ground, respond in the manner we did and come away with a 3-0 victory demonstrated plenty about the character within the group.
Football will always bring challenges, setbacks and moments that test you. What matters is how you respond, how quickly you get back to your identity and how consistently you can reproduce the things that make you a good team.
We know there is still plenty of work to do, plenty of areas to improve and standards that we need to continue raising. But there are encouraging signs in the performances, the results and the togetherness within the group.
A SENSE OF PERSPECTIVE
I think it is important that we all take a moment to appreciate where this football club was four months ago and where we find ourselves today.
Since July, there has been a huge overhaul of the football operation. A significant number of changes, new faces, new relationships, new expectations and, perhaps most importantly, a shift in mentality and the standards we want to establish every single day.
These things don’t happen overnight. Building a new group, creating an identity and changing the mentality within a football club takes time, patience and an enormous amount of hard work from everyone involved.
Yet, here we are, sitting sixth in the league table, just five points off top spot.
I don’t think many people would have expected us to be in this position at this stage, particularly when you consider the amount of change that has taken place since the summer.
That should give everyone encouragement, but equally, it should give us perspective.
We are not getting carried away. We know there is still so much more to come from this group, so many areas where I can improve as a manager and where we can continue developing collectively. We have to remain hungry, humble and driven by the desire to get better.
I want to finish by giving the players an enormous amount of credit. They deserve it. The commitment, application, attitude and willingness to embrace the changes we have asked of them has been outstanding. They are the ones who go out every week and represent this football club, and they deserve to enjoy the position they have helped put us in.
Equally, my backroom staff deserve every bit of recognition. The hours, dedication, attention to detail and work that goes on behind the scenes often goes unseen, but it is fundamental to everything we are trying to achieve.
We have made significant progress in a relatively short space of time, but we are only at the beginning of what we want to build here.
Let’s keep our feet on the ground, keep raising our standards and keep moving forward together.
Thank you, as always, for your continued support, home and away. It doesn’t go unnoticed, and we want to keep giving you a football club you can be proud of.
Paul Caddis