Footballers fall victim to the weather like everyone else.
As your correspondent sits in his snowbound study thoughts are of anything but football as unseasonably early snowfall grips the City and it's environs, buses were not running on Wednesday and with no trains out of Lincoln Central, it's difficult to see much of a football programme outside of the gilded stadia of the Premier League and those recently departed from it and therefore equipped with undersoil heating. Even then public areas have to be cleared and made safe and if the next game were a home fixture then it would be a good bet that it would not take place, however the Imps next fixture is away at Cheltenham so we must wait and see. The Robins were themselves the victims of the weather when their last home fixture against Southend United last Tuesday was called off.
Football league clubs were required to invest in their own pitch covers for this season much to their chagrin in many cases as the money to buy them had to be diverted from the playing budget, certainly in the case of Lincoln City. No amount of pitch covering could protect the ground from the sort of low temperatures experienced recently. Cheltenhams ground staff reported that temperatures locally had dropped to minus eight on Sunday night, well below the level at which covers are effective but having lost the Southend fixture will now concentrate their efforts on the Lincoln game. Temperatures in Cheltenham were forecast to remain low in the run up to the match although there is the possibility of beter weather towards the weekend.
The news from Lincoln City on Thursday was, well, there's no news. The usual press conference was abandoned. The Imps do not have the luxury of an indoor training facility and even if they did with players not always living locally travel is a problem so manager Steve Tilson put the welfare of his players first and cancelled training meaning those not based in and around Lincoln would not have to venture on to the roads. Cheltenham, for their part, in conjunction with the police promised a decision early on Friday as to whether the game will happen. Readers can check on http://www.redimps.co.uk/ and all the usual sources. In addition the Lincoln correspondents blog is now open for business on http://hykehamwriter.blogspot.com/ where fans can read current and past articles from give me football together with other musings on life as a Lincoln City fan and in general. News of the Cheltenham game will be posted on there as soon as it happens.
Lincoln fans will want to congratulate Delroy Facey, establishing himself as a bit of a cult hero with the City faithful, on surpassing Gareth McAuley's record of international appearances when the Grenadians qualified for the semi finals of the Digicel Carribean Cup in Martinique. Grenada will play favourites Jamaica on Friday and after that either the final or third place play off. Well done Delroy, come back safe and sound where a frosty welcome awaits you. This time though it's not the gaffer wanting to know where you've been!
Delroy, you can go but be back soon
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