The rise of the impressive Lincoln City and why other clubs should follow suit
If you want an example of a club on the up, then look no further than League Two outfit Lincoln City. The Imps are doing things right, both on and off the pitch, which has contributed to great success in the last two seasons.
Foot-long Lincolnshire sausages, fan-zones, noisy crowds and a warm welcome greet any visitor to Sincil Bank, which has become a reliable fortress where it’s tough to beat the tenants. The stadium has been packed to the rafters this season and generates the best atmosphere in the division, hardly surprising given the feel-good factor around the place.
Crowds have risen from the 2/3000 mark to near full-capacity, a number that nearly surpass 10,000. If you want everything good about a match-day experience then heading North East on the A46 is your best bet for an enjoyable afternoon or evening at the football.
Where most teams struggle with low attendances and poor atmosphere in League Two, a leaf could be taken out of Lincoln’s book in how to get the city/ town behind its team.
Although this doesn’t happen overnight, there has to be on-field success to spark such a revolution. Coached with the youthful exuberance of the highly coveted Danny Cowley, Lincoln have gone from mid-table National League fodder to within one match of competing in the League Two play-offs in a remarkable two-year rise – count two brilliant cup runs with that.
Teams like Exeter City and Burton Albion have fared well since coming up from the top tier of non-league football in recent years, with the latter now fighting to stay in the Championship. Even if Burton are relegated to League One they will still be punching above their weight in historical terms.
But with Lincoln the potential was always there for the club to return to greater things. They have been one of many sleeping giants in the National League along with the likes of Tranmere Rovers and Wrexham who are both still stuck outside of the EFL.
Unlike many huge clubs currently marooned in the fifth tier, the Imps finally returned to the Football League last year for the first time since 2011.
Appointing Cowley was the first step, he came in after guiding Braintree to the National League play-offs the year before, who were then relegated to the National League South after he left the club and before that he masterminded the incredible rise of Canvey Island based side Concord Rangers.
With Lincoln he built a solid team that would go on to storm the division with 99 points (still two off what the mighty Cheltenham managed in 2015/16 though), but the club also managed to catch national media attention for a truly astonishing FA Cup run.
The little mischievous Imps had been transformed into giant-killers. Becoming the first non-league club to reach the quarter-finals of the FA Cup in 103 years. They eliminated Championship sides Brighton and Ipswich on their way to the last eight, also knocking out Premier League Burnley 1-0, who rarely lost at home in the Premier League yet alone to a team four division’s below them.
Eventual winners Arsenal finally halted Cowley’s heroes, as Lincoln’s first ever trip to Wembley was denied by one of English football’s biggest teams.
Amazingly they would get another shot at a trip to the home of football just a season later, beating Shrewsbury in the Checkatrade final with almost the entire City’s population watching on from the stands. In a few weeks’ time, they may grace Wembley Stadium for the second time in one season after waiting 133-years for the first. It’s truly what dreams are made of.
Even in their Checkatrade Trophy final triumph last month, the Imps were still underdogs to Paul Hurst’s high-flying, overachieving League One outfit, Shrewsbury Town.
They even coped with some tough departures mid-season. In January fan-favourite Sean Ragget and centre-back partner Rob Dickie left the club, but with Cowley at the helm, they quickly replaced what was lost and added some top-quality players from teams in higher divisions.
For the second season in a row Lincoln have combined a marvellous cup run with a successful league campaign and despite potentially being part of one of the most competitive League Two play-off line-ups in recent years, I wouldn’t bet against them to go all the way to League One. Would you?
words Luke Saunders, D3D4 Cheltenaham Town correspondent & co-host of the D3D4 Football Podcast