Lincoln City see red as they brush aside Bantams.

 

I was thinking about the teams City have played and beaten this season, Crewe, Scunthorpe, Oxford and Bradford. They’ve all spent quite a bit of time above us in the football pyramid, now things have evened out.

 

I used to look at some clubs North Ferriby, Rushden and Diamonds being two examples and wonder, why do people put money into these sort of clubs to hoist them up to a position they could never reach themselves when they could invest in a club down on its luck that could nevertheless give a lot more bang for the investors buck once they got going. Can you see where I’m going with this?

 

Oxford are a perhaps more extreme example that you need quite a good memory to recall but they made it all the way to the top division on the back of the interest of a very dodgy character called Robert Maxwell who may well have gone to prison had he not jumped off the back of his luxury yacht one dark night. Once he went Oxford commenced the painful descent all the way down and out of the league. I saw them play Arsenal at their dilapidated Manor Ground, sloping pitch and all. They moved to a sparkling new stadium in anticipation of a bright new future and that move coincided with their demise, relatively speaking.

 

I’m probably going on a bit too much here but, as we all know City did eventually find an, in many ways strange benefactor but probably no more strange than some clubs you could mention currently balanced on the top of unlikely tidal waves of cash provided by over ambitious chairmen.

 

Enough, I hear you say. When I submitted my work to an editor he’d have said where on earth is this going I’d imagine and where we are headed is to make the probably inevitable point that City did find a benefactor, did provide a lot of bang for Clive’s buck and, this being Lincoln City all is not entirely rosy in that after this marvellous start, drawing certainly the biggest side in England at the moment, one of the biggest in Europe, not that we’d have seen that many of the superstars, in fact we won’t be seeing any of them, not in the flesh we won’t.

 

Oh the irony of it. We’ve pitted ourselves against few of the top sides over the years and certainly not one of Liverpool’s standing and we will be sat at home.

 

Another thing my editor didn’t like me doing is changing the subject in the middle of an article but I’m going to in order to make the point that, since the Cowleys departure City have adopted a totally different business plan, one that I really wanted to believe in but wasn’t sure I did. Last season saw the departure of, for us, some really big names, Shacks, Eard’s, Bozzie, Freck. Could our kids step into their shoes? After all, you don’t win anything with kids. Well, so far so good.

City in virtually perfect start.

Last season it was a new league and a new manager this year, totally uncharted territory. 

 Talking of which, first things first, my first experience of ifollow. I had read of course the various comments, anguished experiences, howls of frustration. How difficult must it be? I reasoned as I commenced proceedings at ten to three.

 My debit card was not recognised firstly. Quite why this was necessary as I had a season ticket holders code. No matter. Tried my wife’s card, no good. Furthermore the access code was not recognised either. Goal! Came the cry from the other side of the living room. Not behind already? No, it was our goal. Wasn’t expecting that. Let me have a go came the helpful suggestion.

 I was really in no position to argue. That approach proved unsuccessful too. In my naivety I’d expected the game to appear the minute I’d entered my access code. My wife suggested basically pressing a few buttons to see what happened. Card unrecognised, access code invalid, no matter, up came the game twenty minutes in.

 I just hope I can remember how we did it next time. I did see the goal later, ifollow show highlights at the end. Typically these appeared right in the middle of Michael Appletons interview. That was the only downside to the afternoon.

 It’s going to be even harder identifying the players when we eventually get into the LNER Stadium particularly as nothing I saw bore any relationship to anything I’d seen from a Lincoln City side before. Ever. 

 Last season of course we got off to a flyer but before long teams got to grips with our play and the points dried up. I’m not going to criticize the former managers, they got us where we are today and they built up cash in the bank that we still benefit from, same for the support. We’re infinitely better placed than when we played at this level previously, many years ago.

 And yet. Looking at the style of play, looking at the quality of the players, young players with plenty of seasons in the legs, to my untutored thinking we’re much better equipped to survive and prosper in this league.

 Like you, I suspect, I was horrified at the treatment meted out to our former supremos at the hands of Huddersfield Town. Yet when I look at the game plan this time compared to our start in league one last season, bearing in mind Huddersfield are a division higher I can maybe see why they came to the conclusion that the Cowley’s were a square peg in a round hole. 

 All that is of no concern to us. Anyone who thought we had maybe not made the right choice of manager would now, I’d think start to reappraise that view. It’s early days of course but we look like a league one side, play like a league one side, as Oxford found, to their cost. 

 I don’t know enough about the team to pass judgement except to say that the much commented on playing out from the back seems to be a reality and comes much more easily to this defence than the last. The players, young as they are appear unfazed by the task before them. Oh, and we have a new signing. His name is Harry Anderson. He’s very much like the old one but you get the distinct impression something is going to happen every time he gets the ball. The old one was a little bit deficient in that regard. We must have a really good coach. 

 In these more virtual times some things never change. I thought it was quite a comprehensive win. City lost out in the possession stats but were for me the better side. Not so according to Oxford’s manager, it was they who were the superior team, oh, and the ref was against them. Classy. City may be climbing higher but the excuses stay the same. OK mate, whatever.