'It was a shambles' - Linnets boss on what he took over at The Walks

Adam Lakeland has slammed the state of King’s Lynn Town as "a shambles" when he was called in to save their season almost seven months ago.

Lakeland took over from Mark Hughes with Lynn 22nd in the table, but they head into the final week of their season safe in 17th place, five points clear of the relegation zone.

“The main objective when we came in was to keep the club up because we were in a right mess and we managed to do that,” he said after they signed off their home campaign with a 1-0 defeat to Peterborough Sports.

“I have no affinity to the last manager, but it was a shambles.

“I was told when I came to this club Josh Coulson couldn't play Saturday, Tuesday because he wasn't conditioned enough - he's played pretty much every game, but he was neglected in the summer. That's just what we came into. And he wasn't on his own - Cameron Hargreaves, Paul Jones, Kyle McFadden, many of the others, they weren't where they needed to be, mentally, physically, organisation, perspective.

“We were miles off it and that makes what we've achieved - and we'll get blasted for it because people look at you as a full-time team you've got a target on your back.

“We had it on Tuesday night (against Chorley) - a full-time team winning ‘like they won the league’. Well, yes, because you have no idea what it was like to come into this building. So don't comment on it.”

He added: “I know I've stood here many times and said about the situation that we were in at the end of September start of October - only the people that were in and around it day to day knew how bad it was. We were in a right mess and for us to get where we were to where we are, regardless of whether we're part-time, full-time, it's irrelevant. If you're in that scenario, it's tough to turn around and we've managed to do it.”

Lakeland now has to negotiate the summer merry-go-round of player recruitment and preparing a squad for what he intends to be a battle at the other end of the table.

“Pre-season's massive,” he said. “What I would say is if I look at the teams that I've had in this league in the past, they were part-time, but they were always one of the fittest teams. I always felt we could out-run, out-work for 40 plus games anybody in the league, part-time, full-time, any of them.

“(Former club) Curzon Ashton have had a brilliant season, fit team, loads of legs, could run. And they'll have a right chance if they get in the play-offs.

“My Farsley Celtic team, we always used to do well against the full-time best teams because we had a good pre-season. It's an important stage, your preparation, you lay down your foundations and that's exactly what we'll do here. But we'll have more time and I expect us to be flying next year.”

Saturday’s defeat was down to former Lynn favourite Michael Gash, who curled in a beauty in time added on to take the points back over the border. Lynn finished the game with 10 men after striker Jonny Margetts was shown a straight red for a challenge on Dan Lawlor - a decision by referee Mr L Dawson which is likely to go to an appeal.

Lynn’s trip to Spennymoor next Saturday will have nothing riding on it, but Lakeland’s disappointment The Walks will likely only be assuaged by success in the north-east.

He said: “It was good that we had a decent crowd in today because we'll need them going forward if we're going to be better next season – it’s just disappointing that we didn't manage to get another good result for them, but we've achieved what we needed to achieve."