King's Lynn boss questions whether fans want a successful football club at National League level
King's Lynn Town manager Tommy Widdrington has cast doubt on whether the town's supporters want a successful football club,
The Linnets boss was bitterly disappointed after seeing his side suffer a shock 2-1 defeat at the hands of struggling Farsley Celtic on Tuesday night.
And after the game the Lynn chief questioned if the town wants a football club at the next level after only 721 – one of Lynn's lowest attendances of the season – came to watch his side.
“I understand the frustration from the fans, but they have got to stick with us,” he said.
“At the end of the day we were top of the table when we came into his game and we got 750 people here.
“Do they want it?”
“We're flabbergasted about it. I spoke to (former Lynn manager) Gary Setchell a couple of weeks ago and he said ‘I can't believe you don't get 1,800, you’re top of the league'.
"If you go up a division, if you ever go up a division again at this football club, 750 people through the doors would be laughed at. And we want to be in the next division.
"Does the town want to be the next division? That's my question to people.
“We're delivering.”
Despite Lynn riding high in the National League North, Widdrington's frustration has been increased by a distinct lack of presence in the town as a whole.
“I walked every street in this town in the last two weeks, every street in that town centre,” he said.
“And I've looked and there is no representation of this football club in that town, in sport shops, in charity shops, in hotels, in bars and restaurants. Not one. And I'm telling you, I've walked every single road and cobbled street.
“I walked three and a half miles last week and four miles this morning and I don't see representation of us in that town.
" And I don't understand that, I really don't, because what we've given them this season and the last couple of months last season, is staff and players who are giving everything they've got.
"We don't come from here, we come from a long way away to do the job and we've given everything we've got and we want to be backed.
"Don't get me wrong, the people who come every week and the lads and the lasses who travel, can't knock that.
"But the town came 4,200 strong for Stevenage (in the FA Cup), less about 300 of them. But that's all the glitz and glamour games.
“We need it the town behind us between now and the end of the season and I’d urge them to pack the place out because we'd be better with more people in, without a shadow of a doubt.
“I think we've had 17 games at home and we've only not won about four or five of them.
"That’s a hell of a record far as I'm concerned, it’s not to be sniffed up, and if we have that form pro rata between now and the end the season we won't be far away because our away form isn’t bad.”
The next problem facing the Linnets boss is bringing in replacements for Lynn's injured players – but that might not be possible due to the lack of support through the gates.
Defenders Kyle Callan-McFadden and Tyler Denton were both substituted with different issues on Tuesday night and the Lynn boss revealed that they may not play again this season.
There is also some doubt as to when, and if, midfielder Cameron Hargreaves will make a return.
It just adds to the manager's problems and when asked about bringing in reinforcements, Widdrington said: “I can’t just think he has got never ending pockets, he has got to be helped, be backed, but I don’t think we are being backed enough."
