Lincoln City. Mes que un club? Is it becoming a reality?

I’ve written before in this blog of my admiration for Barcelona FC and whether, in our homespun way we could become a mini version of the Catalan giants. This weeks Cowley v Cowley evening leads me to believe we may be doing just that.

It’s early days of course but you’ve got to admit the clamour for tickets to games and indeed anything to do with Lincoln City at the moment has lasted the season and if anything increased as we approach the business end of our first term back in the league. Just looking at the sales for the Good Friday clash against Exeter, fast approaching eight thousand with a week to go, the astonishing numbers of tickets sold for Wembley and the sold out Grimsby game then you’d have to say there’s no sign of the enthusiasm waning.

Wembley of course has a special place in football fans hearts and it’s our first ever visit but when City first reached a national final, at Cardiff and with a very popular team managed by a legendary manager, the number of tickets sold was nowhere near what it is this time.

Barcelona represent a people. The Catalans, many of them, think of themselves as a separate nation. That may or may not be the case but the club has come to symbolise the struggle the Catalans have had for recognition. They were suppressed and denied by Franco. The name Real Madrid means Royal Madrid, the Kings team. Barcelona are everything they are not. There’s no comparison there with the Imps but it doesn’t take a huge leap of faith to draw some similarities. City for so long in the wilderness and I don’t think it’s being too rude about our lovely city to say it is only now coming through a renaissance from, for me, the dark days of the seventies when Lincoln was in decline. Even the Brayford was scheduled to be filled in to make a car park. Imagine that now!

Well, that’s enough of the daydreaming. You may agree or disagree with me that Lincoln City is becoming more than just a football club for its supporters. I think it is but the acid test is when City are having an average season and not pulling up any trees. Will the stadium still be full? Will the new stadium contain even more Imps? I just wonder if that could happen. I certainly don’t think our adventure is running out of steam yet.