Dream draw? Not for us.

For Lincoln City, the only thing remotely related to the ‘magic of the FA Cup’ in tonight’s fifth round draw was actually being in it. Pulling out Premier League Burnley wasn’t just rewards for our herculean efforts this season.

I’m out at Louth, but as Burnley came out of the bag I could here the shouts of ‘not effing Burnley’ all the way up here in the Wolds. Yesterday I mentioned it as the nightmare draw we didn’t want, the only plus being it happened early in the draw so our hopes weren’t built up too much.

So why am I so unhappy at going to Turf Moor? Firstly, and perhaps most pertinently, the ticket allocation. Turf Moor holds just over 22,500 fans, so we can expect an allocation of around 4,000 tickets max. The one thing we didn’t want was an away draw that afforded less ticketing opportunity to fans than a home draw. To put that into perspective, Portman Road holds 30,000.

In truth despite their Premier League status, Burnley is a less prestigious draw than Ipswich away, and I was disappointed with that in the third round. The magic of that day out in the South East will be long forgotten as a ticket scrum ensues once again. As someone on Twitter has already pointed out, the cries of ‘I deserve a ticket because’ will probably have already started. As a non-season ticket holder, and a full time worker over 30 miles away, I suspect that my FA Cup journey has already ended.

Fans gathered at Sincil Bank in anticipation of a dream draw.

We’re no strangers to Turf Moor either. Whilst Ipswich was a place we hadn’t visited in 60 years, and the fifth round somewhere we haven’t been in 130 years, Burnley is a place I last went to in December 1998. It was cold, it was a long way away and we got a bore draw with Gary Brabin in the team. There’s nothing too unusual about heading up to Lancashire for older fans, we played there throughout the eighties and nineties, often with very little luck.

I know I’ll get shot down by those who think I’m just moaning, and for someone as upbeat and pro-everything as me it is unusual. I spent the whole of today dreading the draw, because the pessimist in me knew what was coming. We don’t get Arsenal, Chelsea or Man Utd in any competitions, we get the bum draws. The last time we played any of those three competitively was 1919, 1911 and 1934 respectively. No offence to Burnley, but as a cup tie it is as truly magical as Hermione Grainger’s used sanitary products.

I’m chuffed (and jealous) for Sutton though, they got their big draw at home. It won’t bring in the gate revenue but I guarantee they’ll get the BBC slot and all the lovely dosh that comes with it. Will the telly come to Turf Moor as well? Doubtful, The FA are bound to want their favourite team and Blackburn to feature. Financially we’ll get half of a circa 16,000 gate and maybe some highlights on Match of the Day. Cheers Robbie Savage.

Altogether now: Portman Road, is bigger than this, oh Portman Road is bigger than this.

So what are the positives? Well I suppose the Victor Meldrew in me could be wrong, we might squeeze a live game and therefore blag £250,000 to add to the growing war chest. In my mind at the moment it is doubtful, but in my mind at the moment our valiant and historic efforts of Saturday have been forgotten in a haze of disappointment.

The other plus side is that it may (may) just be winnable. Burnley fielded a weakened side against Bristol City on Saturday and they’ll almost certainly do the same against us. We proved on Saturday that eleven men playing a mixture of kids and reserves can compete no matter what level they’re from, and a win at Turf Moor wouldn’t just be historic, it would be of ‘Leicester winning the Prem’ proportions. However, Burnley have won their last six games at home, the last time anyone took anything away from there was November 26th. It might sound winnable because we’ve been there before, but in truth to get them back to Sincil Bank would be a monumental effort, and one that could derail our push for League Football.

I don’t want to sound so negative about such a wonderful achievement by our team, but away at Burnley is no reward for the efforts that they’ve put in this season. Given their (relatively) small ground and the fact that, despite playing there regularly throughout the nineties, we haven’t won in Burnley since 1988, I feel that the players have been cheated out of their well-earned big day. Burnley may play in the Premier League, but the draw is decidedly Championship.

Thank you to Burnley for the loan of Josh Ginnelly today. Please don’t recall him just because I’ve been mildly insulting. Cheers.

Is it big clubs devaluing the cup, or The FA?

There has been much discussion this weekend about larger clubs disrespecting the FA Cup by making significant changes to their sides ahead of ties: but it is The FA that are devaluing the competition with its poor and obtuse TV choices.

Alan Shearer was up in arms at the number of changes made by top sides for their ties. Arsenal and Southampton featured no less than 20 changes between them, and our own rivals Brighton had nine changes. Shearer claimed ‘clubs care about money, while fans care about trophies’. It’s not only the clubs that care about money.

Indeed, bigger clubs do seem to be treating the world’s premier cup competition with a mixture of contempt and complacency. Gone are the days when a tie against Arsenal ensured the world stars appeared on your humble ground, although in this day and age even their reserves are international players.

I don’t think there were many fans in Lincoln or Sutton who were lamenting the lack of first team players on show at our matches though, and whilst I can sympathise on some level with Premiership teams rotating squads, I can’t do the same with second tier sides. Aside from Knockaert I couldn’t name you many more of the Brighton first team, and Leeds have such a high turnover of players I suspect Sutton United felt the same. All we cared about was a win and historic fifth round ties.

Meanwhile, on the box this weekend fans were ‘treated’ to Manchester United on Sunday, but it was ‘only’ Match of the Day cameras that caught The Imps fine 3-1 win over the much-changed Brighton side. Whilst it is a thrill to be featured first on such an iconic programme, Gary Lineker has since admitted that the Beeb wanted to be at Sincil Bank, but the FA blocked the move.

The FA obviously want a marketable product to sell abroad, but in doing so are they not devaluing the competition domestically? If it isn’t devaluing, it is certainly a case of turning their back on the big stories in the FA Cup in a vain attempt to get the big stars live on their channel. Man Utd may be marketable in the far east, but after our heroics against Ipswich I suspect the Brighton game would have been more of a draw for the neutral. There’s also the small matter of the TV money.

Man Utd were on TV on Sunday, by Monday morning their share of the TV money had already been spent on wages. If it had been Lincoln City on the telly, our share of the TV money would have gone some way to ensuring our long term future. The FA are meant to govern football in this country, from grass roots up, but their refusal to allow the BBC to screen Lincoln does not reflect this. I appreciate we’re now in a good position anyway, but that isn’t the point. The so-called magic of the FA Cup was ignored by the FA themselves in favour of watching a Man Utd XI easily beat Wigan.

Man Utd fan Pete Summers even tweeted me to say that there wasn’t a United fan he knew that wanted their run-of-the-mill tie to be played at 4pm on a Sunday afternoon. The revenue meant nothing to them, but for £100k+ I’m sure Lincoln City would have played at midnight on Sunday. I’m sure we would have been happy to play on the moon if we got our payday.

Match of the Day only? Never mind, eh?

The fact the BBC tried to change the match and were refused only takes a portion of the shine of a superb day for City fans. Money aside, to be first on Match of the Day twice in the space of a couple of weeks is phenomenal, a real fillip for the club and everyone connected with it.

However, whilst The FA continues to pick matches based on marketability abroad, and not on the appeal to the neutral and football fans in general at home, then bigger club won’t be the only one devaluing the competition.

As a Lincoln fan I can’t complain about the weakened sides anyway. Brighton centre forward Glenn Murray is still worth more than our starting eleven value combined, and then times by ten. Second string or not, Brighton should not have lost the game, and no amount of bleating about pitches and errors will change that.

In years to come when bloggers and statistic junkies (like me) look back over fixtures and results, there won’t be an asterix next to Saturday’s match with ‘Brighton fielded a weakened side’. History will show us winning 3-1 against a side top of the Championship. The same goes for Sutton, Leeds picked eleven players that should, by rights have walked their clash on Saturday. The record books won’t reflect what the media deem to be weakened sides, and I can guarantee you my memory won’t reflect that either.

We’re always first on Match of the Day

The misconception is that kids, even top academy kids, should beat men from the lower leagues. There is a popular saying ‘men against boys’, and at Gander Green Lane that was certainly the case. Former Imps forward Lee Thorpe sat behind me on Saturday and he made the comment that at any level, you simply cannot pitch kids against grown men and expect them to come out on top. It is naïve, arrogant and disrespectful to the opponents. Brighton won one match to earn the right to face us, yet we’d gone through six matches to face them.

So, what offended me more about our reward for six matches of hard toil? Having a part reserve team line up and us bating them and advancing to the next stage, collecting the in bonus at the same time? Or finding out the BBC wanted to show us to the nation yet again, and the dinosaurs at The FA instead choosing to promote a banal ninety minutes from Old Trafford?

I think you know the answer to that.

Number of changes by top flight side

FA Cup Fifth Round: Who do you want?

As the (moon) dust settles on Sincil Bank after a historic weekend, attention will quickly turn to Monday’s draw for the last 16 of the FA Cup. For the first time since tractors have been used in fields (I shit you not), Lincoln City will feature. The pertinent question is, who do you want to play?

As a self-respecting blogger I obviously have my own favourites. For information, the line up is as follows:

1: Spurs
2: Derby or Leicester
3: Oxford
4: Sutton
5: Wolves
6: Arsenal
7: Danny Cowley’s Moon Stompers
8: Chelsea
9: Man Utd
10: Millwall
11: Huddersfield
12: Burnley
13: Blackburn
14: Fulham
15: Middlesbrough
16: Man City

The first question I ask is who we do not want to face? The obvious calls are sides such as Derby or Leicester, Millwall, Huddersfield and Fulham. These are sides that are likely to field full strength teams for a chance to get to the quarter finals, and perhaps wouldn’t be such a big draw for the fans. I was underwhelmed with Oldham, Brighton and Ipswich at the time, although the day out at Ipswich felt decidedly Premier League once we were there. That said, I don’t want to see one of the ‘little big’ clubs coming out against us.

Setting up the big money Fifth Round clash

 

I think we’d benefit much more from an away tie. Despite the fact we’re last 16, I still maintain we are not going to win the cup. Therefore the focus has to be on the financials, and all of the fans who want to get to a game being able to go. In that respect we certainly don’t want Man Utd at Sincil Bank, can you imagine how many ‘new’ fans would suddenly want tickets? I’ve heard of die-hard Imps missing out on tickets against Ipswich and Brighton. A big club at the Bank, as nice as it would be, would cause too many logistical problems. Besides, who wants half the takings from a 9,500 crowd when you can have half of 40,000+?

I would quite like to have an away trip to London, Chelsea in particular. My Dad has always had a soft spot for Chelsea, and I’d be up for another weekend in London (after Welling next Saturday). There shouldn’t be to many problems getting a ticket either. I wouldn’t be too fussed if it was Arsenal or Spurs, both would represent the sort of day out we’ve earned, but definitely not Fulham. We want a team that we haven’t seen in League action at the Bank in the last 20 years really, the only exception perhaps being Man City if we were to head up north. The Man City of today is very different from the side we turned over three times in the late 1990’s.

Of course any of the big clubs on the list would make for a nice day out. It wouldn’t be my first trip to Old Trafford if we were to draw the red half of Manchester, and at least with United you know you’re going to get on the TV! It is crucial that whoever we draw gives us the chance to be one of the televised games, and with Sutton progressing it does half our chances of featuring. If we pull Huddersfield and they pull Arsenal, you know we may not  see that cool quarter of a million pounds that gets handed out for the chosen games.

The other draw that I know people probably don’t want would actually be Sutton. The opportunity for a non-league club to progress to the quarter finals would lead to even more exposure than we seen already, and without being insulting to our National League rivals it would be the most winnable game we’ve played in the competition since Altrincham in the first round proper. This wouldn’t bring the financial reward in terms of attendance, but it might present an opportunity to progress to the quarter finals. Can you imagine that? Little old Lincoln City in the last eight of the FA Cup? That said would we want all of our heroics to count for nothing as we went down 2-1 at Gander Green Lane?

photo: Graham Burrell

 

The same could be said for Oxford. They’re not flying high in League One, they’re stranded almost ten points clear of safety and are a similar margin short of the play-offs. They would represent a more winnable game again, and although it wouldn’t be the glamour draw many people crave, it might be a springboard to a far greater prize.  We might not have been in the fifth round since Shredded Wheat was invented, but we’ve never been in the last eight of the competition.

I know the draw is completely random, and predicting who we’ll get is pointless, but I’m going to do it anyway. I think we’ll end up drawn against Blackburn or Burnley. Blackburn might present yet another chance to smash a Championship club, but Burnley (along with Middlesbrough) will see the FA Cup as a chance to get their hands on some silverware, and perhaps salvage some pride from an otherwise non-descript season. Both would present a very difficult challenge.

In fairness whoever we get, wherever we travel to, it’s a bonus. At the start of the season I would have taken the FA Trophy last 16 and a play off spot, and going into February we’re still in more competitions than Liverpool and West Ham combined. Last season it was LCFC of Leicester shocking everyone, this year it might be the LCFC wearing red and white that cause the monumental upsets.

So until tomorrow I’m going to put all talk of the FA Cup on hold. I’ve had a sniff of a scarf being waved in the next 24-48 hours, so maybe we’ll have something to discuss before the 7pm showcase. Immediately after we won’t rest on our laurels either as we have a massive, massive clash with Solihull Moors in which a win will see us retake a four point lead at the top.

The FA Cup might be securing our long term financial future, but the absolute best way to do that will be to win the National League, and I’d happily take Millwall away, buried in the banality of a 3pm non-televised kick off, if it meant us winning on Tuesday night.

Back to black

 

After years of financial struggle, news broke today that Lincoln City are not only clear of their debt to the Coop Bank, but are also in the black for the first time in many years.

I recall my early days as Poacher the Imp, the on field failures of the team was always set against a back drop of financial struggle. Budgets were tight, spending was low and a measure of success was not always league position, but financial security for another year.

Many of our current fan base will not clearly recall the summer of 2002, but I do. I remember as if it were yesterday the angst felt across the city at the possibility of not having a club to support. The fear was very real, our final  home game of the season against Rochdale could easily have been our last.

We marched across the City to highlight the club’s plight, and to attempt to raise cash to help us avoid being wound up. The result that day was a relatively dour 1-1 draw, but the tense and apprehensive manner with which the final whistle was greeted was no surprise given the situation. For a couple of weeks the spectre of losing our beloved Imps wasn’t just real, it was knocking on our front doors and demanding to come in. The fat lady cleared her throat, and the football world waited for the first of the ITV Digital victims to turn up its heels.

We made the play-offs the next season, but on the opening day as we sat listening to City draw 1-1 with Kidderminster on the radio, I remarked to my Dad that success would be finishing 22nd and solvent. Even after the furore of Cardiff had died down less than a year later, I still measured success on the balance sheet, not the league table.

Therefore, todays announcement from Kevin Cooke that we are back in the black and debt free is not to be under stated. When we came down that hooded figure the ‘death of football clubs’ was studying google maps to see how far he had to travel to Sincil Bank. We stayed in the National League that year, just, but starting the next was a bonus given the financial ramifications of being relegated.

Clive Nates, a man easily mistaken as a paying fan through his unassuming and genial manner

 

Speaking to the Echo this evening Cooke said;

“We’ve paid them (the Coop bank) back in full now, we don’t owe them a penny for the mortgage (on PlayZone) and the overdraft, it’s all paid off.”

Those words in themselves signal for me the first major ‘honour’ of the season. Leagues and cups are all well and good, but financial security of this manner is a trophy all in itself.

Financial security has never been something Lincoln have really enjoyed for any period of time. Our second division days in the 1950’s dwindled away as money got tight, in the 60’s our constant battles in Division Four meant we were always focussed more on the financials than winning games. Success was held back in the 1980’s as Colin Murphy’s swashbuckling team were denied extra players because of money worries. All through time we seem to be struggling against going bust, skimping on squad investment because simply paying the bills was more expensive.

Thanks to an unprecedented cup run, and significant investment we are now free to pursue League Football without the caveat of ‘business survival first. That knowledge is always going to resonate more with anyone who laid in bed in May 2002 praying the club would pull through. The teenagers of today know only on the field demise, they’ve never stared oblivion in the face, and walked away. I have, I remember how empty my life felt when my football club was dying in front of me. Imagine the on-field misery 2011-2015, then times it by Saturdays attendance. Add the number of times I’ve written a gushing blog about the club this season, and you still won’t be anywhere close to how that felt.

With this in mind, I’ve had a rethink about the part of me that hoped we lost on Saturday so we can concentrate on the league. Danny and Nicky Cowley are here until 2021, and promotion or no promotion this year, they’ll be with us to fight another day. This club will be back in the Football League soon, but if it is not this season then it won’t be the end of the world. Every May your points tally is reset and you get to go again, but money is cumulative and if we were to beat Brighton the additional income would help give us even more security, even more of a war chest to bring back the league status we once assumed was our right.

A man who has earned his smiles

 

So every inch of me hopes that we do spring an unlikely result on the Championship leaders. I hope we snatch a win and go on to an even bigger prize, even more of that lovely folding stuff and ever deeper rooted financial stability to use a spring board for years to come. A win might keep attracting investors, Clive seems to have friends in wealthy places, and the better we do, the more money pours into our club from all angles. That can only be applauded, even if it has a temporary effect on winning the League.

I think we can do both, have another cup game and win the league. I want for both to happen more than I’ve ever wanted anything I can ever recall, but if (heaven forbid) we don’t get promoted, there’s always next year. The Football League isn’t going anywhere, but Lincoln City are going places, on all fronts.

Ticketing – doing the best they can

Tickets, or more specifically the lack of them, seems to be the topic of the day. Most of social media comments seem completely oblivious to the fact we have a vital game at Barrow tomorrow night, everyone is focused on our showcase (and partly irrelevant) clash with Brighton on Saturday.

The last time I commented on tickets I got a few private messages effectively saying ‘you would be pro-club wouldn’t you’. I defended the four tickets per season ticket holder, and I stand by that defence. Looking back perhaps ten per average Joe was a bit excessive, but very few people I know missed out on the replay.

This time around the club offered a priority voucher system, and after one day of season ticket holders queuing that system comes into play. Once again, despite this being only our fourth FA Cup 4th round tie ever, some sections of our ‘support’ are up in arms. I’ve seen words such as ‘farce’ and ‘joke’ bandied about today, although they are outweighed by posts praising the club’s approach. I’m going to (unsurprisingly) add my voice to those supporting the club.

Celebrating a fine win, fifteen minutes before the moaning started

 

First and foremost, if you are a 100% die hard fan, one who works full time and loves the Imps then you should have bought a season ticket in the summer. I didn’t, many others didn’t but a season ticket does give you first crack at one off matches should we have a cup run. I know the past forty years haven’t really seen massive cup ties, and those who did buy tickets have basically won a 40-1 outside bet this season. Fair play for putting their money where their heart was back in July.

I’m not belittling those who didn’t, by the way. Very few young people have £250 to splash out on a season ticket, and therefore they have to buy game to game. I know not every household has the income to buy a season ticket aswell, or some people have work commitments. I appreciate that, but those with disposable incomes and a so-called dedication to City would have benefitted from backing us when we needed it in July. As I’ve said I didn’t, and I’ve learned my lesson. In my defence I was working every Saturday morning and I didn’t think I’d get to every game. Eventually I jacked the job anyway, City are more important. Even that doesn’t guarantee me a ticket.

It seems a lot of the negative comments are from people who are adversely affected by the current ticket scheme. Again, I am one who suffers as I now work full time in (don’t judge me) Cleethorpes and I don’t have the time to sit on the phone either. If I did I wouldn’t get through first time, right? It’s appalling isn’t it, the club not having ten or fifteen dedicated phone lines for tickets?

Well no, it isn’t. Funnily enough an FA Cup 4th Round tie with Brighton might attract a good crowd, but I’m not so sure our run of the mill games are quite as popular. Will we see queues around the ground for Welling away? No? What about Macclesfield at home? The phone certainly wasn’t ringing off the hook when Sutton visited earlier in the season.

Bringing out the best in our proper fans. Respect.

 

The usual volume of calls warrants the number of phone lines we currently have, only an absolute moron would suggest we install more lines (at significant cost) just so him and his part-time mates can get tickets for the big game.

Similarly why can’t the club sell tickets into the night, right? Well if you do the maths you’ll work out that they can sell the ground out by opening the ticket office during normal hours, so why pay extra staff? It’s okay saying things like ‘I’d volunteer to sell tickets’, but do you know how the ticketing system works? Have you already got intimate knowledge of the computer system the club use? No? Then you’d be as much use as a nun’s ovaries I’m afraid, you’d stand around looking blank while harassed staff tried to serve customers and explain to you for the tenth time what buttons to press.

Everyone has a theory on how the club could ensure ‘proper’ fans get a ticket, but what is a proper fan? I’ve seen faces this season that I haven’t seen in a long while, should they miss out just because they became so disillusioned under Tilson and Holdsworth? Should I miss out because I moved away for eighteen months? What classes as a proper fan these days?

The fact is the club have done everything they reasonably can to try and ensure that die-hard fans get their tickets. No scheme is fool proof, no scheme keeps everyone happy and unfortunately I sense once again some fans will miss out. I dearly hope not, I hope Karl Beech gets a ticket this time, I hope Linda Hodson doesn’t have to wait for a last minute competition win too.

The only thing I think the club should have done is sent someone into the away end at Gateshead ten days ago and handed out match tickets to the 169 who travelled to that game. I was there, but to clarify I wouldn’t have benefitted as I was in the other end. However, it is those 169 people who should without a doubt get to watch the Imps in 4th round action for the first time in a generation. It’s easy to sit here and write it though isn’t it? Just like it is as easy to write about what a farce the situation is, instead of finding a way to get to Sincil Bank for 5am tomorrow morning, brave the cold and the long wait, and actually get a ticket for the game using your priority voucher, or your season ticket, or your junior red imps members ticket.

Gateshead away. For those who have only just got on the bandwagon, our away kit is green.

 

If you don’t have any of those, then I’m afraid on this occasion you’re going to miss out. It doesn’t make you less of a fan (unless the only game you’ve been to this season is Ipswich at home, then you’re less of a fan), it doesn’t make the club the enemy, it just means next season maybe you’ll think about getting your arse to a few games earlier in the season.

I’d wager if Danny and Nicky are still around next year, you’ll start seeing priority vouchers appear in the match day programme throughout the autumn. It’d be a great way to shift more programmes, and reward those who go to more game, or who are willing to spend hours on eBay.

When the fourth round draw took place I prayed for an unfashionable match away at either; a club with a 60,000 capacity stadium, or some back water nobody wanted to travel too. I knew this negativity would rear it’s had, I knew my football club would come in for some unjust criticism on social media, and I knew the tie would attract indignant fans who have barely stepped foot in the ground for ten years. Frankly I’ve had enough bad vibes from Sincil Bank between 2009-2014 to last a lifetime, none of us need even more just as we’re getting good. Part of me still hopes that the run ends on Saturday, because maybe then we can concentrate on winning this tin pot league and maybe taking the FA Trophy with us. Maybe then those fans only interested in TV cameras and the romance of the cup can bugger off back to their armchairs, leaving the ‘Carshalton away’ crew to carry on supporting City through thick and thin.

Mind you the red and white in me obviously hopes we stuff the Seagulls on Saturday, and advance to the fifth round for the first time ever in the modern era. Then please, please let us play somewhere like Man United away so half of Lincoln can go without all this bloody arguing.

The FA Cup 4th round: History (part 2)

If the first appearance in an FA Cup 4th round  had been at the start of a fine run for Lincoln in the second tier, our next appearance was quite the opposite. The 1960’s might have been swinging for most of the UK, but in our little slice of England’s green and pleasant land, very little was vibrant.

After a top half finish in 1956, City failed to build any sort of momentum in Division Two. In 1957 we finished 18th, in 1958 we finished 20th, in 1959 we were 19th and somehow in 1960 we managed to ascend to 13th out of 22 teams. The 1958 season had seen us pull off what can only ever be described as a great escape. On April 7th we were bottom, five points adrift of safety and only having won five games all season. We then won six straight matches to finish one point above the relegation zone. The 13th placed finish was probably the worst thing that could have happened, the board felt we could achieve a decent placing on a shoe string budget, and by selling Richard ‘Dick’ Neal we had cemented our position as a selling club. Birmingham had paid £18,500 for the England U23 international, and we’d received Bert Linnecor in exchange. fans were furious, if only they knew the impact Linnecor would have.

Something would have to give eventually though, and ahead of the 1960/61 season long serving chairman Charles Applewhite stood down, with Alwyne Mawer taking over. The financial situation at Sincil Bank had moved from dire to potentially disastrous . Luxuries such as new players would have to be put to one side, and despite the new chairman proclaiming Division Two survival was a must, few believed him.

City 1960/61. Some smiles, but only for the camera

 

It took the Imps five games to even score a goal, Andy Graver finally netting in our fifth match of the season away  at Sunderland. Despite three wins after that, a trip to Norwich in front of 24,956 ended in 1 5-1 defeat and our mini revival was halted. From there onwards the season was a story of dwindling crowds, bad results and non existent finances.

Of course we still missed rounds one and two of the FA Cup, the weekend of round one we (somewhat ironically) beat Brighton 2-1 at Sincil Bank. Crowds were plummeting though and only 4397 turned out to watch the game. It may seem a half decent crowd by today’s standards, but this was second tier football, and  the corresponding fixture the year before saw 13,129 fans at the Bank.

Come Christmas we were third from bottom with just six wins to our name all season. We needed a big FA Cup draw, potentially one of the leading First Division sides at home. Even back them the lure of a big side in the FA Cup could perhaps revive a team’s fortunes, and it would certainly help bring some money into the club.

Leading the way in the top flight at Christmas 1960 were Tottenham Hotspur, followed closely by Burnley and Everton. The season before we’d played Burnley in the third round, and 21,693 had seen us draw 1-1 before losing 2-0 at Turf Moor. Another draw like that could help ease the financial woes.

The teams from the actual programme.

 

The draw was kind but far from spectacular. First Division West Brom were to be our opponents at Sincil Bank. Lincoln had never beaten top flight opposition, and despite entering at the third round stage ten times in the previous twelve years, we had still only once advanced to the fourth round once. West Brom would attract a half decent crowd, but it wouldn’t perhaps be the size of the Burnley game, and few gave us a chance of progressing any further.

The crowd was just shy of 15,000, and despite a run of three defeats and a draw, Lincoln managed to shock their illustrious opponents. A young player called Roger Holmes had broken into the team in December, and he starred along with rookie goalkeeper Bob Graves who had played just three games prior all season. West Brom, featuring an inside forward called Bobby Robson, should have thrashed the out of form Lincoln side.

It was legendary forward Andy Graver who opened the scoring, with Bert Linnecor and outside right John McClelland also netting for Lincoln as we ran out 3-1 winners. Momentarily the doom and gloom that had enveloped Sincil Bank was lifted as we waited for the fourth round draw.

There was no kindness in the draw this time around. Sheffield United had knocked out top flight opposition as well, despatching Everton 1-0 at Goodison. We had to travel to Bramall Lane, and to make matters worse we slipped to the bottom of the table, and ahead of the game they went top. It was a stinker of a draw, the only consolation being that it was a team in our own division. We had visited Bramall Lane once that season already, losing 2-1 in October.

It was January 28th 1961. 21 points separated us, 20 league places was the difference and Bramall Lane was rocking to well over 21,500 fans. After our first round giant killing it would take a monumental effort to pull something out of the bag.

2.45pm kick off – I wonder if they were worried about fading light?

 

City were second best all afternoon, an Andy Graver goal was scant consolation as we lost comfortably by three goals to one. The young Roger Holmes was missing, but even without one hero from the previous round Lincoln failed to compete on any level. The FA Cup dream was over.

Sadly, our run in the second tier was to come to an end as well. That defeat signalled a miserable run for City, and we lost eight games on the bounce. During that spell we faced Sheff United at home, this time the Blades made even easier work of us, winning 5-0 in front of a meagre 5263. We did pick up four points in two days at the end of March, but even those results left us six points adrift of safety, and under two points for a win that was a big margin. Survival wasn’t ever on the cards and relegation was confirmed on April 8th as we lost away at Brighton, the game in which Andy Graver last played for the first team. An era was ending, and fans were voting with their feet.

We did win our last home game of the season, 2-0 against Orient but just under 4,000 turned up, as opposed to 10,859 who had seen our opening league fixture. On the same day Ipswich Town won the league, beating Sheff Utd by a single point. Until 2016/17 it was the last time we played the Tractor Boys.

Lincoln City were losing £250 per week, and were staring into the abyss. History would see us fall straight through the Third Division, then finish third from bottom of Division Four a season later. It took just two years for us to go from playing in the second tier and entering the FA Cup at the third round stage, to having to apply for re-election.

Had the right balls come out of the bag, perhaps Spurs at home, maybe we would have received a financial boost that could have kept us in the division. Fate dealt us a bad hand, and ultimately we played it badly as well. As for Sheffield United, they went on to the semi-finals before losing to Leicester City, who in turn lost to Tottenham Hotspur who completed the first league and cup double of the modern era.

The FA Cup 4th Round: History (part 1)

If you’re hoping to read a history of the FA Cup 4th round here I’m afraid the title is misleading. This is a look at the FA Cup 4th round ties that have featured Lincoln City, and Part One brings you the 1953/54 season.

Before I start let me acknowledge a mistake I made on an earlier blog. I stated that City had only made the fourth round of the FA Cup twice before. I was mistaken, we have featured at that stage three times. Aside form 1976, both of the previous occasions we were a Division Two side, and therefore we only had to win one game to get to that stage.

Before Danny Cowley and Graham Taylor saw us into the third round, and before Keith and Colin Murphy brought us success of sorts on the pitch, there was a man called Bill Anderson. Bill managed at Sincil Bank from 1947 through until 1965, and will probably be the longest ever serving manager the Imps have had. In that ‘Wenger’ length spell he took City into the second tier, twice, and spent nine consecutive years battling away just outside the top flight. He also took us to the FA Cup 4th round twice.

As we entered at the third round stage for nine consecutive years it is perhaps surprising that we failed to make the fourth round more than twice. We found ourselves losing seven times at the first hurdle. We lost third round replays to Burnley, Leicester, Peterborough,  Liverpool and Southampton, with only Wolves and Southend beating us at the first attempt.  However, on two occasions we did progress beyond the third round.

The 1953/54 season was our second season back in the second tier, and Anderson was looking to establish us as more than a yo-yo team. We’d won Division Three in 1947/48 only to be immediately relegated. Another Championship in 51/52 saw us promoted again, and a 15th place finish the season after was seen as success of sorts.

The season kicked off on 19th August, 1953, and in front of 17,000 fans at the Boleyn Ground City fell to a 5-0 defeat at the hands of hosts West Ham. Once again it seemed like we’d be in a battle for survival.

I’m not going to blab on too much about the league form that season. We were 6th come October and in a good place to record our highest ever finish, but a 9-2 defeat at Leicester started a run of just two league wins in 15 games, which essentially put paid to our promotion hopes.

Former Imps manager Bill Anderson

 

In the FA Cup we were handed a kind draw, a home tie against Walsall. Whilst it may not sound kind now, they were rock bottom of Division Three South, with 11 defeats away and just a solitary draw to show for their endeavours. They had also had to apply for re-election twice in the previous two season, having finished bottom in consecutive seasons.  At the time of the draw we were 18th, but we’d won eight and drawn four of our sixteen home games. It seemed like a banker.

Walsall had beaten non-league Bath City in a rare away win in the first round and had then registered a 3-0 win over Crewe in round two. I’m sure a third round tie with a team sat 18th in Division Two wasn’t the tie they wanted.

13,890 saw the match, an attendance which may sound impressive, but four days earlier 16,910 saw us record a rare win against Hull City. Legendary striker Andy Graver scored that day against the Tigers, and he also scored in the first match with Walsall. The issue was the underdogs wouldn’t go down without a fight, and they came away with a credible 1-1 draw.

We travelled to Fellows Park five days later hoping to put paid to the minnows and give us our plum 4th round tie. City weren’t financially secure and even sixty odd years ago talk would have been about the revenue we could generate from hosting a big side at Sincil Bank. Once again Walsall proved stubborn, it was 1-1 again even after a gruelling spell of extra time. It was second replay time four days later.

The schedule was punishing though and in between we hosted relegation rivals Derby County at Sincil Bank. With three games five days it was only expected we’d lose players to injury and fatigue, Tony Emery missed both the Derby game and the third replay. Former Manchester Utd player Brian Birch had scored in the Derby game, but he made way for the returning Ernie Whittle, an inside left who had been injured in early December.

As on Friday night with Dover it took an own goal and one from our own to finally see off Walsall. It was the returning Whittle who finally grabbed a winner at the neutral City Ground in Nottingham. After three FA Cup games and a league match all in the space of nine days, we were through to the 4th round. As for Walsall, they finished bottom for the third season in a row.

Of course the draw wouldn’t be televised back then, but I’d imagine each of the players and players had an idea of who they’d like to face. I can picture fans wanting reigning champions Arsenal, or maybe the mighty Manchester United. I bet Imps player Roy Finch fancied playing his old club West Brom who were top of Division One. Other big names at the time would be Wolves in second place, or Huddersfield in third, whom ever-present Imps left half Robert Owen had played for during the war.

Ernie Whittle

 

We did get our big draw, and it was Preston North End who were to visit Sincil Bank. They had been runners up in the First Division the previous season, and featured players such as Charlie Wayman who finished top scorer in 1952/53, Tommy Docherty and of course the legendary England international Tom Finney.

The proximity of the matches had seen several key players lost to injury. Former Preston full-back Doug Graham would have relished facing his old team, but he had missed both replays against Walsall and wouldn’t return to first team action until March. Penalty taker Horace Green was missing as well, the regular right back had come back briefly for the first replay, but wouldn’t be seen again until February. It wasn’t the ideal preparation.

City sold all 25,000 tickets that were allocated for the game, and I’m sure the scenes we even more astounding than those we saw for the Ipswich replay! The attendance record at the time was 23,146 for a 1949 league game with Grimsby, and it was widely expected that record would be beaten.

On the day 23,027 turned out, a record that would stand until Derby County visited more than a decade later. Despite it being late January the City had seen a covering of snow, and although it had stopped by the time the Division One giants arrived, the ground was hard and a strong wind added to the tough conditions.

PNE showed their class early on, Tom Finney provided the cross for Jimmy Baxter to give them a 1-0 lead. A couple of minutes later Lincoln had the chance to bring the game level. They were awarded a penalty, but in the absence of Horace Green, it was the hero of the previous round Ernie Whittle that took responsibility.

I’m informed that as he ran up to take his kick the ball moved in the strong wind. Obviously I can’t confirm or deny that as I was still no more than the grandson I imagine a young Geoff Hutchinson thought he might get one day. I’m sure my Granddad was at the game, and I’m sure if he were alive today he would tell you the ball moved. Whatever happened, Whittle missed ad with that went our chance of a replay, or maybe a famous first win over top flight opposition.

The great Tom Finney

 

Preston added a second before the end to kill off any hopes of a fifth round match, and it ended 2-0. Ironically it was Ipswich Town whom Preston faced next where they ran out 6-1 winners. They also despatched Leicester City, the side who’d beaten us so comfortably earlier in the season, en-route to finishing runners up to West Brom in the final. Five days after they beat Leicester 3-1 in the quarter final replay, we also beat the Foxes in League action at Sincil Bank, our 3-1 win coming as just revenge for the savage mauling at Filbert Street. Leicester had the last laugh, they won our league and were promoted along with Everton.

Ernie Whittle only played four more times for Lincoln after his miss before securing a move to Workington. City went on to finish 16th in the table, sandwiched between Hull City and Bury. The FA Cup tie had bought in a reputed £3,465 which was a princely sum back in 1954, and it contributed to a yearly profit of £2,725.

As for a young Geoff Hutchinson, by the time he saw FA Cup 4th round action again his infant son, Pete,  would be old enough to go to school and was probably already skipping school to smoke with his friends (eh Dad?)

In Part Two: City beat First Division opposition for the first time in their history to make the fourth round, but the season doesn’t end well for our red and white heroes.

Imps v Ipswich: The Players (part 2)

Continuing on from Part One of my look at the players who featured last night, here is the chronologically correct second part.

Terry Hawkridge

I ended part one on a potential man of the match, and I start part two in exactly the same vein. Terry is another player who has had to fight for his place this season, just like Alan Power. Last night I think he had arguably his best performance in a Lincoln City shirt. I always felt Terry was a luxury player, skilful and able to create but perhaps lacking that final 10% that Danny and Nicky ask for. He proved me wrong at Portman Road, he proved me wrong at Gateshead and would you believe it, in front of four million viewers last night he proved me wrong again.

He was excellent from start to finish. He ran himself into the ground, and all too often he was back in the full back position putting in crucial tackles. Him and Habergham flowed like a machine, organically switching roles and covering each other. Not only that, but when he got forward he was a threat, a couple of lovely balls into the box caused the dire Ipswich defence all sorts of problems. He’s not afraid to put his foot on the ball and in close quarters he has the trickery and ability to find space. It poses the question, do we need to sign a winger to replace Anderson, when we have someone like Terry achieving his undoubted potential?

Slightly more muted celebrations against Crewe in pre-season

 

Nathan Arnold

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

That’s a section of the poem ‘If’ by Rudyard Kipling. If you’ve run for ninety minutes and you’re dead on your feet, if you can draw reserves of pace and strength when they seem to have long deserted you, then you’ll be a man my son. Last night Nathan Arnold was that man, finding an unbelievable amount of stamina and then keeping composed to finish his effort with panache. Overall I thought he did what he always does, terrorise full backs, and he did it well. As he stroked that ball into the net he lit  up the hearts of 8,000 people, and many more watching across the world. For that, and that alone his name will always be remembered in Lincoln City folklore. Welcome to legend status Nathan.

Matt Rhead

From Rudyard Kipling to Mr Kipling (sorry Matt), the big man was top drawer. I wondered (openly) if he might get found out by Championship defenders, instead he pocketed them like his lunch money. Perhaps defenders in our league are a little bit more switched on to his rough and tumbled approach, but Scottish international Christophe Berra was not. The poor lad will need counselling after being bossed as he was for the ninety minutes.

I joke about Matt’s size but it is just that. He is not a ‘fat bastard’ as opposition fans like to point out, he is a big man with a very good footballing brain. Last night he mixed his physique with his ability to give a master class in how to be a proper target man. Theo, Nathan and Terry must love to have someone like him up there with them, someone the ball sticks too like poo to a duvet, someone who distributes with more precision than DHL and Parcel Express. If Nathan Arnold wrote his name into the legend column last night, he’s only just joining the big man who has already done enough in the red and white to be remembered for years to come.

Theo Robinson

I’ve heard some debate as to whether he will be a Lincoln player or not come February 1st. On last nights display alone I certainly hope so. He had another good game, stretching the so-called superior defence all over the park. He compliments Rheady superbly, he’s quick and found lots of little gaps last night, but he is also physical and was often found  mixing it in the air with Berra. He showed some neat close control in the area for the Imps first clear cut chance, and eventually he was unlucky to be blocked as three defenders converged on him. He almost turned provider as well, his tempting cross being headed just wide by Alex Woodyard. All in I thought he had a great game, and by the time he came off the field he’d certainly earned his corn.

The Subs

I think it would b unfair to rate Jack Muldoon or Jamie McCombe, both came on to take up a few precious minutes. However, I do have to touch on the other sub:

Adam Marriott

Adam is a player that I’ve championed since he arrived. He’s got a reputation as an impact sub, and last night he played that to superb effect. He had Tom Lawrence and Josh Emmanuel tied up in knots as he advanced forward, and the pass was as good as you’ll see from any footballer in this country for the rest of the season. Combined with Arnold’s run it left Tom Lawrence simply turning on the spot, a poetic end to a cup tie that the Leicester loan player had so much influence on. It may be January, there may be signings coming in, but with quality like Adam Marriott in the squad I know we won’t be caught short at all.

The opposition

You’re welcome here anytime:

It is hard to pick a single Ipswich player from last night that I felt could do a job for Lincoln City, and that sounds ridiculous. The harsh truth is that they were second best in every department, man for man across the pitch. I genuinely can’t name a single player whom I would pick, purely on last nights performance. Of course over the two legs I’ll say Tom Lawrence, purely for his two goals. However, if he could be neutralized as easily as he was last night then he wouldn’t last long in the National League anyway! Josh Emmanuel was probably the pick of the bunch, he did look to be a real unit at full-back, and he got forward relatively well on the rare occasion Ipswich did venture into the Imps half.

Thanks, but no thanks:

Where do I start? I’ll pick two players, and that is being generous to the other nine on the pitch. I think the full back Knudsen is absolutely awful. Over two legs he was terrorised by ‘lower league’ winger Nathan Arnold, and last night his passing was outright abysmal. I don’t know about Danish international, with his sliced passes I wondered if he worked for the bacon manufacturer instead!

The other player I wouldn’t thank you for is the centre half Berra. A centre forward like Matt Rhead should be routine for a Scottish international, but instead he huffed and puffed at our big bad wolf, and at no point over the ninety minutes did he look like getting the big man down. He offered very little in attack, and both Raggett and Waterfall looked more like internationals than Berra. If I were Gordon Strachan I’d be doing my research to see if Luke has a Scottish grandparent or something. On Berra’s form last night, I’d even fancy my own chances as my fiancée is Scottish. I’m available Gordon, give me a call.

LINCOLN CITY WHO’S WHO 1993-2016

Bridging gaps and creating history

In the FA Cup third round tonight, Lincoln City created history. The players currently wearing the red and white stripes are making us as proud as any team since the era of the late, great Graham Taylor.

Firstly please take the time to read my report on The Lincolnite. Being asked to write for them this week is hopefully the start of a career in writing for me, and it’s as important to me that you read that as it is this blog. Thank you.

Now, what can I possibly say in addition to what 9069 fans saw? That is a record attendance for Sincil Bank as an all-seater stadium, and of those seats very few were spare. Aside from the Ipswich end I couldn’t see a spare seat in the house, and if you needed further proof you should have tried going to the toilet at half time. I’ve never had to queue to get OUT of a toilet before.

So it was busy, but how could our heroes possibly better the result of ten days ago? Coming within six minutes of knocking a Championship side out is one thing, but doing it all again once they know how you approach a game is different isn’t it?

Unfortunately for the Tractor Boys it isn’t. They seemed to approach the game in exactly the same manner as the first match, let us play our game and occasionally try and display some class. The issue comes when you don’t really have the class to display, and tonight even the enigmatic Tom Lawrence was quiet. If I had to pick an Ipswich man of the match I’d be hard pushed, they were ineffective and devoid of ideas. I said before that Mick McCarthy and Ipswich were a union that had run it’s course, and the powder puff display from the ‘championship’ side tonight really underlined that.

If Ipswich knew what was coming I’d imagine they’d get back on the coach

 

As for Lincoln, once again we were superb to a man. It would be almost remiss to name individuals, but special mention has to go to the two wide men, Hawkridge and Arnold. We all know of Arnold’s class, but since Harry Anderson left I think Terry has come on in leaps and bounds. Tonight he was outstanding, much as he was on Saturday. His work ethic is unbelievable and his tracking back made it possible for Sam Habergham to occasionally roam forward. Those two combined as well as Bradley Wood and Arnold on the other flank, and they were a constant threat.

Matt Rhead was another player who had an outstanding game. Christophe Berra will be waking up in cold sweats for weeks to come from the nightmares that big Rheady gave him. They didn’t have an answer to his physical approach, but when required he played neat passes and showed clever touches. I thought these two games might be where Rheady got ‘found out’, but instead he’s shone through and has been a key component in both results.

Everyone was superb this evening, I was really please for Alan Power who showed the watching nation the qualities that I have seen in him every week. Alex Woodyard covered every inch of the pitch twice, and that was just in the first half. Farms made himself available at every opportunity, the centre halves defended everything that came their way and the hero from ten days ago, Theo Robinson, worked harder than an eight year old in a Chinese sweat shop.

I imagined when Freddie Sears and Andre Dozzell came on that we would see Ipswich up the ante. Tom Lawrence had been quiet, not least after a nice little reducer from Bradley Wood, but I thought the introduction of the only other to players to impress me from Portman Road would pay dividends towards the end of the match. Instead it was our own impact sub, Adam Marriott who once again turned the game.

He carried the ball forward superbly, and his weighted pass through to Nathan Arnold was inch perfect. Arnold had to keep his cool, but under pressure there is nobody as cool as the former Cambridge man. I’ve watched the goal over and over already, and the joy when that ball hits the back of the net cannot be replicated. To witness it in the flesh was just reward for the years of torment we’ve endured, ad although it is just another chapter in the over story of our season, it is perhaps one of the most memorable.

I was too damn excited to take any decent photos.

 

Immediately after the game I found myself writing my match report in the car for the Lincolnite, and every since I sent send I’ve found myself singing ‘allez, allez, allez ooh’, as loud as I can. My missus is in bed now, my neighbours are asleep and I’ve had to turn the laptop speakers down just to watch the highlights again, and again, and again.

I must also mention the pleasure it gave me to hear Chris Sutton get a round off booing capped off with a fine rendition of ‘you’re a winker’ (or something similar). It warms my heart to know many of the 9,000 fans remembered what a significant part he played in putting us in this league in the first place.

The last manager to take Lincoln City to the FA Cup Fourth Round was Mr Graham Taylor, and there is perhaps a dark irony that he received two separate minutes applause, as well as a dedication form the 617. The only other manager to achieve it was Bill Anderson, and along with Taylor he also guided Lincoln to a league championship. Danny Cowley has already achieved one of those feats, and before we face Brighton in round four, he could secure us six crucial National League points to keep us on track for another championship.

After tonight I wouldn’t bet against them achieving it, we have a special group of players at the club, led by a special backroom team headed up by two very special brothers. After all of the years of suffering recently, our special fans deserve nights like tonight.

Enjoy it Imps, wherever you are.

It’s Civil War: The Battle of the Tickets

Football is a fast moving game, and no sooner has the dust begun to settle on our excellent day out at Portman Road, squabbling has begun over the allocation of tickets for our replay next week.

It actually started in my house less than 24 hours after the game had finished. My Dad had seen that it was one ticket per season ticket holder, and he complained that he couldn’t take his other half. He has a season ticket but my step-mum doesn’t, and yet she attended 90% of the games with him. He was gutted he might not be able to ensure they watched the game together.

A few hours later the club switched the allocation from one to four per ST holder, and suddenly it was those who invested in the summer, ahead of all the hype, that were having the last laugh.

It has been estimated that if all season ticket holders took their allocation of four, added to the Ipswich allocation it could mean just a couple of thousand are left for the paying punter. With those tickets due to go on sale on Wednesday it could mean that a lot of 9-5 Imps fans who tend to pay on the gate could miss out. Have the club done the right thing?

I do believe that ST holders should get some sort of incentive, and first dibs on big game tickets is such a perk. Those who have held one for a few years haven’t had much chance to take advantage of ‘big game’ tickets in the past, given that we haven’t had many big games.

In fact the past has not been kind to those willing to put trust in the summer hype for a while now. Until recently any ticket incentive the club does appears on a normal match day, and often ST holders feel they’ve been hard done by. I even saw one who had worked out it would almost be cheaper to join the FPS and pay on the gate than buy a season ticket. His argument was flawed, but that over riding sense of injustice does seem prevalent with those who buy in the summer.

Rarer than rocking house poo? You ain’t seen nothing yet.

 

There are those though who cannot afford a season ticket, and therefore have to pay weekly, so to speak. Those people are usually five days a week workers who cannot justify taking a days holiday to queue at Sincil Bank. A lack of ‘free to buy’ tickets leaves those people with a real slim chance of picking up a seat. There’s also example ‘B’, the fan who started the season covering as Poacher, but after growing too fat for the suit has chosen to pay on the gate and dedicate his time to writing. That guy (in theory) could struggle for tickets as well.

In fact the to-ing and fro-ing on Facebook today actually had me hoping for an away draw in the fourth round (should we progress) so that the ticket fight wouldn’t break out again if we progressed. I’m not a fan of any negativity around the club, and to find some brewing so soon after our draw at Portman Road wasn’t nice. I almost didn’t blog tonight, that is how much it bothered me. I got home though and realised I don’t really do anything else in the evenings anymore.

The club could have offered two per ticket holder I guess, but that still wouldn’t help out those that work all week, so after much debate with myself I think the club have made the right decision. Your average season ticket holder has shown faith in the club before a ball has been kicked, and they’ve put money into the club when it was most needed. Maybe without that revenue we wouldn’t have been able to keep Matt Rhead at the club?  If that had been the case, maybe we wouldn’t be top, and maybe we wouldn’t have travelled to Ipswich at all.

So I’ll spend tomorrow hoping for some positive news on my own ticket for the Ipswich game, but I’ll hope to read less squabbling on the internet. It may not seem fair on a large section of the fans, but it is repaying the faith of some very faithful individuals. Attendances on the day is all well and good, but high season ticket sales can help set a budget policy at a time when the club most need it.

Either way revenue into Lincoln City Football Club is the main thing, and whatever the outcome a week on Tuesday, the attendance will be the best result we’ve had in the cup all season.