Visit of Singaporean entrepreneur shrouded in secrecy

In his weekly Your Local Paper column, Mark Hearle discusses the recent visit of Singaporean entrepreneur Jo Phua to The Walks.It’s almost a year ago that King’s Lynn Town supporters were heard to enquire ‘Jo who?’ when chairman Stephen Cleeve announced that Singaporean entrepreneur Jo Phua had invested in the football club that had saved them from possible closure again with things looking less than rosy in The Walks’ garden.Fast forward almost 12 months and Mr Phua made his first visit to West Norfolk to take a look at his new investment a little more close up and personal than had been the case previously a few weeks back which also took in Farsley Celtic’s National League North visit.The visit appeared to be surrounded by secrecy with a few questioning whether it was Mr Phua!For clarity, Stephen has since confirmed that Mr Phua did visit the stadium, was given an informal look around the ground, and met off-field personnel and, I’d expect, the playing staff as well.A few supporters were also introduced on the evening to the man Stephen calls a ‘knight in shining armour’ who rode to the club’s rescue last year. If further proof was needed, Mr Phua logged his trip from Singapore to Lynn via a long social media post that even included a picture of a train ticket from King’s Cross station! It appears that Mr Phua doesn’t like publicity, or making long statements on his intentions hence the low-key approach to the club. However, you cannot help but think that a short, to-the-point statement from the club, either on the same evening or the following day, would have stopped a story from ever being created.The article continued to say that both men are looking to make the football club a ‘global brand’ with many ideas being considered, whatever that may entail, and that a new commercial director is already in place and should be announced to the public shortly.Whilst I’m all for setting targets to meet and goals to achieve, King’s Lynn Football Club is surely a distance from becoming a global brand and surely work needs to be done locally initially to put into place firm foundations for any subsequent global push that may occur down the line. I understand that the new commercial director has had previous involvement in a similar role at a football league club so will probably be very familiar with the problems and pressures that go with such a job.In 2020 I took on the very same role and found it the most difficult job I had ever experienced in my now 35+ years’ working life. Of course, a global pandemic did little to help with supporters unable to attend matches and businesses unsure of their own survival.I did what I could but drumming up interest in companies to provide advertising boards to display at an empty stadium was draining, to say the least! Others have come and gone since my stint in that hotseat with most passing comment to me that it was a terrifically hard job to find interested companies to support their local football club.Great credit to the club though as in recent times some good-sized companies have answered the call to support their local football club which is very pleasing to see.Going forward, the club must keep pushing all of the good news that happens there, as well as the bad.I’ve heard the club is now holding several functions in the clubroom on non-football days and the club’s academy continues to go from strength to strength which is all positive stuff – but it needs to make a song and dance off it to show people what is happening at their football club. In the last couple of weeks, Lynn has launched their own in-house radio station which is now providing full match commentary of the Linnets fixtures, both home and away.The service is a godsend I should imagine for those supporters who cannot make a home game or for those who don’t fancy the many hours on the road that some Lynn away matches do take.It’s obvious that the service is still in its infancy and that the people charged with providing the commentary are learning on the job as it were.I noticed a few couldn’t resist a dig on social media on their perceived quality of the commentary being provided but I can assure you it’s not an easy thing to do and those involved should be receiving a little praise for their efforts rather than unwanted quips which weren’t particularly funny. If you’re reading this lads keep up the excellent work you’ve started.The Linnets ended their poor run of results last Saturday with a hard-fought 1-0 win over a hardworking Southport outfit at a particularly wet and windy Walks.It looked to all intents and purposes that Lynn would have to settle for a point from the game with both sets of defences in good form.However, a rash challenge in the visitors’ box resulted in a home penalty which was gleefully rammed home by Jonny Margetts which secured the three points.It probably wasn’t the prettiest of wins but when you find yourselves on a bad run of form you will take a win whichever way it presents itself to you. Adam Lakeland would have been hoping that his side could continue the feel-good factor in Tuesday night’s big encounter with Kidderminster Harriers, also at The Walks, in what was a sixth-versus-fourth league encounter.Town have a rare Saturday off this weekend with their scheduled trip to Brackley Town being postponed due to their hosts being involved in an FA Cup second-round clash at Stockport County.They return to action on Saturday week when they host Scarborough Athletic in a rearranged National League North fixture.