Linnets deserve bumper gate after cut-price ticket offer

This column was written before Tuesday night’s Linnets fixture with Oxford City but I do hope that as many people as possible took up the club’s one-night-only offer of £5 admission for adults and a £1 for children and packed out The Walks for what was an important National League North fixture.Faced with a scenario of two home games in the space of four days Lynn decided to slash the admission to the bare bone for Oxford’s visit in the hope of getting a few more supporters to the ground who otherwise may have stayed away.Admission prices at The Walks have filled many column inches of newspapers and the internet down the years and it’s a subject that I was invariably involved with during my time at the football club.Having been in a position to see the argument from both sides I can confirm it’s a situation where you feel for the most part that you cannot win.When the club gained promotion to the full National League and went to a full-time model in 2020 it was inconceivable that the prices would have to go up to cover a whole array of things from additional player wages to extra security cover which would have been needed had things have planned out as they should have done.Nobody though had factored in a worldwide pandemic which arrived and destroyed a year or so of projected strong gates and support for the club’s first-ever season in the ‘Premier League’ of non-league football.I still believe it will take many years for lots of clubs, including Lynn, to fully recover from that bleak time in all of our lives. Personally, I didn’t think the pricing at that time was out of the way for Step One football, and to this day I do believe that people would have bought into it had they been given the chance to come along to the ground and watch for themselves, instead of having to make do with a live stream sitting in a comfy armchair at home. Of course, the club’s stay in the full National League was only a brief one, lasting two seasons, before going back to their current level. I’d left the club before they were finally relegated so had no input into subsequent pricing changes that have taken place.However, if I had been around I would have suggested a decrease across all of the admissions, even if it were £1 or £2 in various areas, as a certain supermarket regularly reminds us ‘every little helps’, which is very true.In the seasons ahead I do feel that the club does need to be more flexible with the pricing structure they offer to supporters, with more offers similar to the recent one being used to entice some more regular supporters through the gates for their football fix. I’ve seen a few comments from season ticket holders unhappy with the £5 offer after their outlay last summer which committed them to the season ahead.I do understand their dismay although I will say I thought that season tickets for this campaign provided very good value for money whilst considering everything. From what I remember the uptake of them was the best for a few years so again you would hope it would be implemented for next term.I will say though that all of this has to be done with careful consideration of the club’s finances and their projections for the times ahead. Just like ourselves, its overheads I’m sure are continuing to rise as the country continues to struggle to steady its financial position so it can begin to grow again.We continue to hear rumours of the future stewardship of Lynn Football Club and how things may be in the future but at present they remain just that – rumours. At some point, the situation will receive the clarity it needs.In the meantime, the club should be congratulated and applauded for its initiative and should have been rewarded with a bumper crowd under the lights on Tuesday.Hopefully, Adam Lakeland’s Linnets got themselves back to winning ways in last night’s Oxford City game following Saturday’s disappointing 2-0 reverse to a plucky Hereford outfit. Despite having the better of the game, played in terrible conditions, Lynn’s current lack of firepower came back to bite them again as the visitors rode their luck and took advantage of the opportunities that came their way to return home with maximum points.Overall Lynn gave a good account of themselves throughout the 90 minutes but it was the same story in the final third of the pitch as chances came and went without being taken.The positive was Jonny Margetts getting more time under his belt on the pitch and the news afterwards that both Theo Williams and Gold Omotayo are now available for selection to resume their seasons.Every available body will be needed by Lynn for the game on Saturday at Darlington and the midweek trip to Kidderminster that follows. The ‘Quakers’ are at present just outside of the play-off mix with the ‘Harriers’ very much in it meaning that Town will need to be at their very best if they want to return home with points to show for their efforts.At the time of writing Lynn are just outside of the top seven as most of the teams in and around them collected wins in the weekend round of games.They must keep in touch with the teams around them as the games slowly begin to run out.