New Linnets boss ready to fulfil his ambition

Adam Lakeland is ready to repay the faith shown in him by King’s Lynn Town chairman Stephen Cleeve.

Lakeland, 38, was appointed as the new Linnets manager yesterday with Sam Walker being named as his assistant at The Walks following the departure of former boss Mark Hughes on Monday.

Former Halifax, Salford and Stockport midfielder Walker, 36, has also been registered as a player.

Lynn’s new-look management team addressed the media this afternoon after taking charge of their first training session at the Hive, in Ely.

“I think I’ve never hidden my ambition as a manager,” Lakeland said.

“I want to manage full-time and I want to manage in the Football League, I’ve never shone away from that.

“I’ve had a couple of nibbles in the past that didn’t quite feel right and when the approach came in earlier in the week I decided to speak to the chairman and got a good vibe from him.

“I think it probably came as a bit of a surprise to many people that we’ve come down here, but you’ve probably got to give credit to the chairman really.

“From my point of I’ve seen many managers get opportunities at clubs and I feel like I’ve over achieved year after year on modest budgets at two clubs that are maybe not as big in stature or history or fan base as the likes of King’s Lynn and many other teams in the division.

“I think sometimes that gets overlooked and as soon as the chairman made the approach and I spoke to him he really made me feel wanted and like I was the guy to come in.

“I really respect that and I’m prepared to give everything to repay that faith in both Sam and myself.”

The northern-based boss is ready to back up Cleeve’s claim that he is one of the best bosses in the National League North, having worked wonders at both Curzon Ashton and Farsley Celtic on a shoestring budget.

“He told me I was the best, not one of the best,” he quipped.

“Joking aside, it’s nice when people say that about you, but at the end of the day you’ve gotta back it up.

“I’ve always been the type of guy who puts more pressure on myself.

“I always go into every season regardless of where I am and what budget I’ve got that I want to try and at least get in the play-offs because I’d rather set my wife shopping and play with my kids on a Saturday than settle for mid-table.

“I want to be successful. I want to get a team playing more games at the end of the season if they don’t win the league. I want to come here and do well for this club.

“I think the pressure that Sam and I put on ourselves is probably greater than anybody else will be able to.”

The only way is upwards for Lynn’s management team after the club’s poor start to the season.

“Having come up against King’s Lynn on the last game of last season and early on this season, they’ve got some very good players here,” admitted Lakeland.

“They’ve not quite been at it shall we say with injuries and suspensions and probably a lack of confidence and maybe a lack of organisation has obviously seen the team suffer results.

“But I haven’t come here looking at this team being in a relegation fight, I arrive here thinking there’s over 100 points to play for and a lot of games left to go, so there is still every possibility for us to have a very good season.

“I don’t think you can look too far ahead in football or in life generally, but it’s about Kings Lynn now and you know for as long as we’re here we’ll give it our all to make the club successful.

“Both myself as a manager and as a coach and Sam throughout his playing career we’ve both been part of many successful teams and teams that have been there or thereabouts for the many seasons we’ve been involved in.

“I feel like between us we’ve got the tools, the know-how and the determination to get this team being really competitive again in this league.

“It might take us a little bit of time to implement what we want and you know there might need to be an aspect of patience in the first few weeks, but I’m pretty confident over time with the work that we do that we can really turn fortunes of this season around.”

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