Reasons to be cheerful.

Yesterday, whilst I was working on the allotment, keeping tabs on the game on twitter, I had a text from my son asking why it was that people were still surprised that City were winning games. I don’t know about you but personally I’m still surprised City are winning and the reason is, rueful experience.

I think back to the day Chris Sutton walked out on the Sincil Bank hot seat, some fans would say before that but certainly then and the club has been in one long tailspin. Many supporters were fearful that City would ever find the secret of success again, some agonising whether we might be in terminal decline.

I still remember being taken to task by a fan, quite a prominent fan, when I was writing for a national football website for suggesting that City fans were getting all wobbly at the state of club floundering at the lower end of the football league. I was told to get a grip and show a more positive attitude. If only the football club had been able to do so but the reasons for the decline were complex and, as we all know, Lincoln City were on the slide and many of us wondered if that was going to bottom out at Conference Premier level or whether we were going to have to suffer further indignity. After all it happened to Stockport County.

Personally I felt, and I think a lot of others felt too that, in Gary Simpson City had found a man that firstly knew what to do in managing a club at our level, which isn’t as stupid as it sounds given our experience lately, but was readily accepted by the supporters as one of our own and also there was a sense of unfinished business and indeed a sort of nobility in Simpson agreeing to come back to Lincoln after his treatment by the club in the infamous “gardening leave” saga. A lot of fans will be thinking if Simpson can let bygones be bygones and return to the club then we fans can put aside our own frustrations and get fully behind our club once again.

Now I hesitate to say this but to come back to my, or rather my sons original point, this start has me grinning from ear to ear. The sheer, almost forgotten pleasure of attending matches or listening in to away games as City grind out another win and to note that the club now sit in fourth place in the league, yes I know it’s only September, but that pleasure is something that seemed might be denied to us forever, such was the depth of our depression. Gary Simpson, when interviewed after Saturdays match sounded like the cat that got the cream, as well he might.

I think all of us thought, as we were last time City found themselves outside the football league, that we would be a big club at this level which has certainly not been the case and reputations count for nothing now. There are some very well funded set ups that we are competing with although, after the hoped for but hardly anticipated start we have had it might be expected that more fans will start to return to Sincil Bank and that will demonstrate that City have something the smaller but bankrolled clubs don’t have and that is a large fan base. If this start can be maintained then come Christmas the Bank may be looking a bit more like it’s old self. It would be marvellous if the club is forced to overturn its present policy in having the Stacey West closed and I’m sure the club itself would be delighted to be put in that position.

As to yesterdays game, once again no pushover. City raced into a two goal league but any decent manager and Gary Simpson is certainly that, will have prepared his team for a fight back by the home team and so it transpired but City hung on to what they had and returned to Lincoln with the points. I could start to get used to this.

Haircuts, Home Wins and other such matters.

Those supporters who have attended any games this season can’t have failed to notice the distinctly dodgy Barnets on display from City’s players this season. It’s all Dan Gray’s fault apparently; well he started it according to Paul Farman in the Echo. Personally I can’t believe Andrew Boyce didn’t have a large part to play in the latest tragedies, he seems to be always up for some fun at the others expense.

Talking of fun at other’s expense who’d have thought City would have got off to the start they have? Certainly Forest Green Rovers’ manager was most put out that his team left Sincil Bank pointless although I can’t say I entirely agree with his verdict that Rovers were the best team. Decent certainly and with money behind them they should do well this season but better than the Imps? I didn’t think so.

Wins at home of course underpin a successful season and if a reasonable haul of points can be gained on the road then its drinks all round come the end of the season but let’s not get carried away, it’s still August. I will say though, if Keith Alexander had a fault as a manager (am I allowed to say this?) in his time as manager at Lincoln City it was that too many home games were drawn. On the other hand his win ratio away must have been amongst the best anywhere but two home wins out of two is certainly the way to rekindle interest in the Imps.

Just before we leave thoughts of Keith he of course would have been absolutely delighted at the Forest Green manager’s sour grapes on losing so it’s not just Gary Simson’s yellow socks that remind us of that great man.

Whether we will all be quite so buoyant after this Bank Holiday fixtures nobody knows. It always strikes me that we seldom take full advantage of two games in quick succession but there again we’ve never beaten Forest Green Rovers at home before. Certainly cracks are already beginning to show in City’s armour and the manager has stated he will need to vary the team to get through the double header. I thought that’s what squads are for. Simpson told the Echo:-

“You have to take the weekend as a double header, there are one or two have picked up a couple of knocks from the Forest Green game. Thank you Gary, I’ve just said that.
“If I play a couple of them in the Cambridge match then there is no chance of them making the second game and it could turn into something a little bit longer.
“So I have to be a bit careful and I will have to mix and match it. Fingers crossed if the others pull through we might have two or three who are fresh coming into the Wrexham game.”
So two tough games coming up. Not so long ago they were all tough games as the team strove for success in the play offs. Certainly I’ve never enjoyed my football since the way I enjoyed those matches. Maybe those times might be back on the distant horizon, you never know.

Imp Waides in with a confident prediction.

Waide Fairhurst was in ebullient mood when interviewed after the recent home win against Forest Green Rovers, predicting a successful season ahead even mentioning the forbidden “P” word.

"As a team we are a good set of lads," he said.
"We are a good team and we can be up there this season.
"I know, without a shadow of a doubt, there is nobody to fear this season.
"They (Forest Green) are supposed to be money eaters, but they are not better than us."

Fairhurst revealed his dismay at not starting the first two league fixtures and vowing to demand the manager pencil his name in first on every team sheet with his performances.

Certainly his brace against the Green will be uppermost in Gary Simpson’s mind when preparing the team for the forthcoming bank holiday double header starting away at Cambridge United where there is bound to be a good number of Imps making the relatively short journey. This is followed by the visit of Wrexham on Monday. A daunting start by anyone’s standard.

If City can continue in the same vein as the last three fixtures Imps fans really will start to believe that the previous frankly awful campaigns can be consigned to the history books and the club can start to rekindle its lacklustre image.

A different proposition.

Last season a marriage proposal at half time would have been the highlight of the game. Why do people do this? An intrepid fan emerged from the half baked half time crossbar challenge to get down on one knee in the centre circle. After the cheers and applause died down the inevitable “you don’t know what you’re doing” rang out. Well, they’ll remember that and the rest of us will long remember this game, for all the right reasons.

That’s not to say City are the finished article. Passing is disjointed, especially out of defence, shape gets lost and tackling can be decidedly iffy, especially when the game is refereed as it was at Sincil Bank on Saturday, City having in the main, to depend on the linesman to point out to the ref any wrongs done to them by Forest Green Rovers. There were some inexplicable bookings too although I felt Boyce and Gray were rightly shown yellow.

All in all though, a totally different feel to the new season , gone are the defeatist overtones although there was a throwback to last year with a comedy opening goal, not that anyone was laughing, as Nat Brown shaped to deal with a shot then decided to leave it to Farman who was totally unprepared and the ball apologetically nestled in the net.
Was it to be a repeat of last season? No it was not and the catalyst was Waide Fairhurst who battled through a crowd to put City level and later, when we had all settled for a draw against a fancied side if were being honest, lashed a torpedo into the deserted Stacey West end goal to general delirium.

Everyone, well all but a handful from Gloucestershire, went home happy and, by the way. The lady accepted the proposal. Awwwww.

Green won’t start for The Green

Old favourite Paul Green now plies his trade at cash laden village side Forest Green Rovers but he’s got a knock and may not feature according the forestgreenrovers.com website. The scarily confident write up by Saturday’s opponents reflected on a win and a draw for the Gloucestershire side, mirroring City’s start but with lots more goals as a rueful Hyde will attest.

Manager Gary Simpson says he’s not bovvered about Rovers dosh, Catherine Tate style. Actually he didn’t, he’s a Yorkshireman but he affected an unconcerned nonchalance as he spoke to the press ahead of tomorrows game:-

“Forest Green have got a big benefactor who helps him out,” said Simpson, presumably referring to Green boss Dave Hockaday.
“It’s his hobby, or whatever you want to call it, to get in the league and he has a lot of money and backs the club how he feels.
“We do it differently, that’s how it is. As it’s been proved in the past, though, having the most money does not always bring the most success, but it goes a long way to help it and it can give you a better chance.”
“It doesn’t bother me in the slightest. We will do the best we can with what we have got. If you apply that principle then you are on the right lines,” he said.
“It’s not frustrating, I’m a big believer in any business, and football is a business, that you can only spend what you can afford.
“I think clubs have got to be self-sufficient. Wherever I have been I have been self-sufficient.
“When I was with Keith Alexander or when I was on my own we approached it in that way.
“It’s alright with these clubs with money men in, but we’ve seen it before when the money men pull out, what are you left with? Sometimes it is a massive problem and clubs are left with massive debts.”

Well we know all about massive debts and hopefully we will know all about being in the top half of the table come five o’clock. Simpson, and I suspect the rest of us will be hoping for a decent turnout at Sincil Bank. I think a lot of us believe Simpson’s deal is, same as last years budget but any extra on the gate goes in the pot. This was heavily hinted at by Simpson at this weeks press call.

For a start, it’s not too bad.

I’ve always thought it odd that the football season starts in the middle of the school holidays. I’m sure it was different back in the day, being a winter game and all that so it was understandable that the first home game, being on a Tuesday night should rather pass me by as a family do had been arranged.

That was rather a shame, football wise, as an initial home win has been something we’ve not been awfully au fait with lately and that, coupled with the away point gained at Woking gives the start of the season a sort of “unaccustomed as I am” feel to it, not that we’re complaining.

So no first hand account of the game from me other than to reiterate the pleasant glow that comes with four points from two games, even if I wasn’t there to see them. Gentle leg pulling from my colleagues here in Boston that the Imps fans will soon be besieging BBC Radio Lincolnshire with claims of a successful season to come but it was also pointed out that the unimpeachable Steve Evans used to say two points a game equals promotion so that must be right.

I will say that the goal last night looked a tidy finish from Danny Rowe, viewed on Imps Player, a nice change from those blasts over the crossbar that we’ve got used to from players in a similar position. All in all a most satisfactory start but as always the real work is yet to coming starting with the daunting prospect of facing Forest Green. How times have changed.

Those lazy hazy crazy days of summer.

In common with other land owners I’ve been tending my crops over the summer. All right, I’ve been on my allotment during the football close season taking advantage of all that free time whilst our diversion of choice is having a rest.

Actually, come to think of it, rather like the recently retired, I’ve been wondering how I ever found time to visit Sincil Bank last winter such has been the weed based onslaught brought on by goodness only know what. If only my carrots has grown with such enthusiasm not to mention the parsnips. Oh well I won’t be needing parsnips for a few months yet and at least they are starting to show their serrated leaves.

So the player’s holidays have come and gone and so have the pre season friendlies and we’ve had the team photo. I don’t know what to make of the new shirt. Part of me actually likes it but I can’t get away from the fact that Lincoln City play in stripes, until this season that is.

I remember back in the day, when Dennis Bocock was the chairman city also didn’t play in stripes. Bocock was a Rotherham United fan really so he had his team play in red shirts with white sleeves a la Arsenal and of course Millers. City’s latest shirt looks to me like one of those 70’s style continental jobbies with the off centre stripe.

So can we look forward to some continental type play? Would we want that? Probably not. As ever we’ll get what we’re given but I do detect a bit more optimism around Lincoln this season and ticket sales have, I gather increased so fans feel the same way. Having said that I hear Mariners have sold getting on for 2000 season tickets and expect around 4000 for their first game. With the best will in the world and given that there is renewed interest in and goodwill for the Imps, I don’t think were anywhere near that.