Paddy Davitt King's Lynn's Southern Premier Division title-winning skipper Mark Warren insists the club's pending Conference demotion has taken the edge off his latest triumph.

Paddy Davitt

King's Lynn's Southern Premier Division title-winning skipper Mark Warren insists the club's pending Conference demotion has taken the edge off his latest triumph.

Warren was one of six former Linnets in the Corby Town side who pipped Farnborough to this year's Southern Premier pot - 12 months on from lifting the shield at Merthyr for Keith Webb's men. The Steelmen could now replace Lynn in Blue Square North next season if Warren's former club loses its FA appeal. Lynn officials have requested a personal Soho Square hearing to try and overturn the Conference's decision to demote them after failing to initiate a �250,000 upgrade to their council-owned Walks Stadium.

“I was devastated when I heard the news,” said the experienced defender. “It's a disaster when you consider how hard we worked to get in that league and the scenes at Merthyr that day will live with me forever. I don't know too much about it but I have heard they could be demoted which would be terrible. I had two great years there. We missed out in the play-offs and then we went up but they had the financial problems this season where they lost a few players. Having managed to survive on the pitch it looks like it could still go against them. For me, coming into non league has been a fairytale winning four promotions in five years but I've got my fingers crossed for Lynn. I speak to some of the lads over there regularly and know it has been a tough time. At this stage of the summer you want to be told as early as possible what is happening next season.”

Warren has not ruled out a career in management but admits the Lynn vacancy has come too soon following Webb's decision to step down.

“I'm still ambitious as a player and I feel I can win more things,” he said. “To get three promotions in three seasons would be phenomenal. Then I'd probably hang up the boots and management is something that definitely appeals to me. I think player/management would be a tough ask, though. It's something I would look at after giving up. Right now, I have to sit down and discuss with my family whether I stay at Corby because there's the travelling issue when you go up a level and that was part of the reason I left Lynn.

“I've enjoyed it here. The management said to me they felt the squad was capable of achieving promotion and that they wanted me to be a part of it which was great to hear. I was getting some trouble with my knee problem towards the end of the season but managed to play through it. The physio here and the manager have been brilliant with the way they treated me although the lads were calling me Ledley King come the last few months of the season.”

Crisis club Merthyr again played a pivotal role in Warren's latest title success.

“They did us a massive favour with a stoppage time equaliser against Farnborough in the second last game,” he said. “That result put things back in our own hands. We still had to go out and do the business but I've been on cloud nine until I heard the news about Lynn which brought me back down to earth a bit.

“It definitely helped us having all the old Lynn lads when the pressure came on towards the end of the season and I was just glad to play a part. At Lynn I played the first 30 or so games and then I missed the run in which was tough to take because its all people ever remember - winning the title and not the games that went before.”