You’ve got to be in it to win it.

The League Cup I mean which for several seasons we weren’t as we weren’t in the league. Last season brought an early exit at the hands of Rotherham but this year brings an intriguing tie. Port Vale.

If it were a league match I‘d be really quite confident but as it happens I’m kind of confident but can’t wait to see what the team is. City aren’t in the position of having that many players in the squad they can afford to field two or even three different sides but are in the healthy state of having players who haven’t featured yet or not featured much, who need a game and are capable of giving a good account of themselves, so it’s a fascinating prospect.

It’s pointless trying to guess who will be in but it wouldn’t surprise me to see a start for Matt Rhead and likewise for Matt Green who ensured he wasn’t going to be the forgotten man with a sparkling performance last time out during which he managed a goal and an assist.

Will Joan Luque get a run out, who will get the night off? Will we see what Grant Smith is made of? It’s a prospect I’m awaiting with some excitement which is more than you can say for most of the encounters I’ve seen with the Valiants over the years.

There again, these are very special times to be interested in the Imps.

Anderson conjures up a fairy tale first home game

Here’s a tip for you. If a forthcoming opponent states he knows what to expect from Lincoln City get your 50p on the Imps. If he says they’re going to get the ball on the deck and pass us off the park I’d make it £1.

Danny Cowley probably had that ill judged comment pinned up on the dressing room wall. As it happened it was Swindon who ended up, seven players backed up in their penalty area, watching the Imps pass the ball around in the wide open spaces that constituted midfield. The passing didn’t need to be very good to take advantage of the territory available but in the event it was. Very good indeed.

City were breathtakingly, astonishingly good once they’d got to grips with Swindon’s opening gambit. Can they keep up this tempo, this style, this joi de vivre? If they can they’ll sweep straight to the top of league two and through the league above but I’m getting ahead of myself here. Let’s not forget City were not ever so good last weekend but they certainly were this.

For me, the substitutions told of the difference between the two teams. Swindon, not at all bad but when City were hanging on a bit I thought, have we got anyone on the bench who could change things? We soon found out as Jason Shackell came on, we thought to shore things up a bit. Bozzie moved forward and City looked a totally different prospect. That much talked of proposition of the fresh forward coming on to torment tired defensive legs, this time Matt Green, and what a torment he was, then it was City cruising and, as Swindon retreated ever backward. It was City passing them off the park. Corner flag? I don’t think so. It was then the Imps supporters going through the full repertoire of ole’s and farewells to the rapidly diminishing away support.

Bozzie got man of the match, I’d have given it to Harry Anderson who put in, for me, his best performance in red and white. In fact you could have given it to anyone, there would have been no complaint.

The new players were, in my view, a marked improvement on the departed and that included Luke Waterfall and, yes, even Alex Woodyard. Make no mistake this was the best performance by the Imps in a long time. If they can keep this up we’re in for one hell of a season.

Cowley throws off the Shackells to deliver a window of opportunity.

Yes, I know, that’s cheesy even by my standards but, unlike the previous deadline day Lincoln City have not only added to their squad but really put the icing on the cake and produced a rounded roster with something for everyone. Presumably Jason Shackell is a direct replacement for the departed Waterfall and in Joan Luque not only an exotic foreign player but one who started his career at Barcelona no less. Didn’t I say that’s the sort of club City should emulate? Ok it’s not Messi but in Luque Cowley has taken a punt on an unknown and we have a player we can get excited about. Let’s hope he gets his chance and has the fans off their seats. You never know, in a couple of years he could be the player everyone is talking about.

So to the first home game of the season and the indications are it wont be far off a full house. That’s not the talking point any longer but even so a full stadium confirms that the people of the Lincoln area are still firmly behind the club and we are going to have another profitable term on the gates.

Of course the transfer window brings not only interest in terms of players coming in but the threat that some of our best loved players may go. In the event it was only Luke Waterfall but without sounding too churlish I don’t think that vacancy will be too hard to fill. We shouldn’t be too worried that teams covet our players either, that is a sign that we have real quality at the club. We didn’t have that problem before for the simple reason that other clubs did not see our players as anything special. Now they do. We should embrace that. Hopefully, as alluded to in the press the new contracts will not contain the dreaded release clause that leave the club powerless to resist a player moving. Those clauses were in for one simple reason, the club were not a particularly enticing prospect and that was the only way we could get good players to join us. So hopefully now the only sales we would have to agree to are those really juicy offers that the manager could use to build up the quality and wants to accept rather than has to.

Where were we? Oh yes, the first home game. Danny Cowley on the one hand delivers to us two more mouth watering prospects to add to the already enthralling squad assembled to have another tilt at league two. He then tells us not to get over excited.

Do me a favour mate!

Can’t get used to losing you no matter what I try to do.

So no more Luke Waterfall and one less song in the repertoire. There have been a few slightly surprising departures since the end of last season but there’s a sort of pattern emerging, albeit in different ways.

The one that was a shock is of course was Alex Woodyard I think I could convince myself though that even his departure may be a case of get your move in whilst the price is still high. Was he the player he was that first season? Possibly not. Did we want to keep him, yes certainly. Will he be adequately replaced very possibly.

This would be an appropriate place to bring in Nathan Arnold. For some reason he seemed to be averse to getting promoted, firstly with Grimsby Town then with City. There are other aspects to his story, I know that.

Back to Woodyard and I think we can also consider Sean Raggetts move. Has that gone how he’d imagined? Well he’s in the championship but in a team expected to struggle. Is that the end of his journey, will he get his chance at Carrow Road and will Woodyard prosper? We’ll see.

Now Luke Waterfall. I suppose it’s a testament to our quality that a league one club will pay good money to secure the services of a player who has struggled to stay in the Imps team. That’s not sour grapes it’s the way it has been for the player. If they’re looking for a battler who will be up for the survival quest many expect for them then Shrewsbury have a good fit. If they’re looking for a league one standard defender to replace the players they’ve lost then I have my doubts. I’m trying not to be too negative but the fact remains Waterfall has been in and out of the team. I couldn’t not wish him well though.

So depending which way you look at it we’re losing players, oh, I forgot Ollie Palmer, well he fits right in with my theory which is that even if we judge players are either on the periphery or surplus to requirements there are plenty of other clubs, without taking a step down, who are more than happy to take them on.

That has to speak volumes about the standing of Lincoln City at the moment.

Cowley unconvincing as he plays down unconvincing City.

After match interviews can sometimes provide a wealth of information often from a manager who didn’t intend to impart it. Yesterday Danny Cowley sought to bring a few soaring hopes down to earth a bit but I found myself thinking that’s all very well but I bet you’re absolutely delighted with those three points. I know I was.

Usually at this time of the season a manager will seek to play up his sides chances. A start away from home is inevitably followed by a home game and those seats need filling. That’s not the case at Lincoln City as the tickets are already earmarked so it’s a strange juxtaposition. The less City look the finished article, the greater the clamour there is for people to witness the next performance. That’s some problem to have. No wonder the Cowleys are not thinking of upping sticks any time soon.

As for the match stuttering City somehow survive the first half, regroup in the second, get one chance and take it and are then thankful goalkeeper Josh Vickers is in such sparkling form. Northampton Town and their supporters can take the moral high ground as much as they like. The Imps were decidedly not the best side and Cobblers were but we’re the ones with the perfect start so you can stick that in your pipe and smoke it.

Of course the doomsayers will make their glass half empty statements and analyse the game pointing out the formation is wrong, so and so looked out of sorts, what’s his name didn’t look fit, matey should have played. I remember donkeys years ago trekking all the way to Swindon to watch the Imps get comprehensively overrun by the home team yet come away with the points courtesy of Jamie Forrester getting sort of ejected off the front to slot home. Swindon Town fans were so delighted my sisters car got keyed for the crime of having a Lincoln City sticker in the window. What a charming bunch.

Anyway, Cobblers, you can scoff as much as you like. Yes you were the better team. We didn’t look the part. As for us we’ll take the three points, thank you very much.

Summers gone.

Except it hasn’t of course in fact it’s fairly sweltering up in my garret under the rafters. That’s an exaggeration too but, never mind here we are on the cusp of another season and I wouldn’t mind betting, unlike in the past sometimes, you’re raring to go and so am I.

To say that Lincoln City have done some rebuilding would be the greatest understatement. For my money City have spent the summer preparing the way for a full blown tilt at the championship. If Accrington Stanley can do it on their meagre resources, albeit expertly manipulated by their excellent manager, then City with all the advantages at their disposal, the record season ticket sales, the new elite performance facility not to mention the best two managers in the lower divisions, should be an absolute certainty for a top three finish. Personally I’m expecting the Imps to be lifting at least one trophy come the end of the season.

Once again, the Imps have not gone for numbers. That can be an advantage provided most of the players can remain fit and the disciplinary record stays in credit. That is a bit of a worry. With yellow and red cards for the managers our dynamic duo are going to have to be on their guard against slip ups. It’s a lovely view from the top of the press area but I’d prefer our managers to be up there out of preference rather than as a sanction.

I’m not going to name any names of the new intake, I’m looking forward to seeing all of them. Of the players who have gone, whilst we wish them well, they were support players, lets be honest. With the exception of Alex Woodyard, that was a shock, all the players who have gone have been replaced with better players. Some with established reputations, some looking to make a reputation, some seeking to rebuild a career that has not gone as hoped. All of them will have no better chance than the one presented to them here at Lincoln.

Danny Cowley said at the first press conference of the season these players are coming to one of the biggest clubs in the league. Forget Notts County, forget Swindon Town forget Northampton Town we are the biggest, the loudest, the most numerous. They will realise that on Saturday when they see the sell out away following and the first home game when they will play in front of the biggest, most supportive, most enthusiastic audience they will have encountered.

I hope they’re looking forward to it as much as I am.

Three Lions Pride Restored but now they’re coming home.

Not before the Third/ Fourth place play off of course. In terms of significance think Lincoln City v Norwich City and in terms of desirability, well I’m sure the players would rather be on the plane back but that is the lot of losing semi-finalists, Belgium will feel the same.

For me, Harry Kane’s sure footedness in front of goal deserted him in the game, chances were fashioned but not taken not just by Kane but by others too and, well Croatia got better as the game progressed and England faded.

All in all though a highly satisfactory World Cup and I’m sure there’s more to come as the re think at England level progresses. France and Spain in particular have benefitted from a root and branch reform, why not England? In fact if this is the embryonic team, with a relatively inexperienced manager we can look forward with hope.

Come to think of it, this has been one of the very few occasions I’ve actually enjoyed watching England at a tournament, the other being Euro ’96, itself a false dawn so let’s hope this time we really are getting a seat at the top table.

So well done to England, you’ve done us proud. We needed a break after the mess our politicians have got us into. At least there’s the holidays to look forward to, oh and the football season of course.

It would be quite wrong not to congratulate Croatia on their win and to wish them all the best in the final. They have had a painful and remarkable journey, historically, to this World Cup Final. Now go and win it.