We are Lincoln and we mean business!

By Nathan Jackson
June 7 2008

With Peter Jackson returning to the helm, the optimism is certainly back in full flow at theimps.tk. Although it's obviously still early days, we are confident that this club will win that deserved promotion during the next season and there is a general feeling that this club is on the verge of something very big indeed.

Lincoln City fans have spent the last few pre-seasons watching as arguably our best players have left, replaced by inadequate replacements. Every season we've seen big players leave by their own choice. Mark Bailey, Jamie McCombe and Gareth McAuley have never been properly replaced, whereas the left back position has seen many come, try and say goodbye without ever really making it their own. jacksonsfivestep3

Lincoln has been a selling club for many years now and although that is probably still the case, we're certainly a lot more optimistic with our transfer targets. Names such as Michael Boulding and Matt Hamshaw are a far cry from when we were after the who's who in the book "Has been's, never were's and never will be's!" We will almost certainly not be linked with the Fiston Manuella's and Anthony Tonkin's of this world whilst Peter Jackson is at the club.

I was fortunate enough to meet Peter just before his first game at the club and ever since that night, I have personally been well and truly pro-Jackson...and not because we share the same surname. John Schofield had completely destroyed my enthusiasm for going to the games and it started to feel more like a chore than something I did for enjoyment. Peter restored that enthusiasm and that's what makes him arguably the most valuable asset at this football club.

I have spoke with him on several occasions since and that enthusiasm he has rubbed off on me. That enthusiasm started to rub off on the players as well and that's why we survived. Granted, there were players like Mark Stallard who didn't seem to want to put in effort no matter who was in charge, but in general all that players upped their efforts at least 10 fold.

Jackson has already shown he has no room for sentiment, releasing Alan Marriott after 9 years at the club and Jacko certainly doesn't seem bothered about the overreactions of some of the more theatrical fans around Sincil Bank. The fact that Jackson released Marriott is probably the ultimate sign that this club now means business. This club needed a breath of fresh air between the sticks and now we have that chance.

jacksonsfivestep5 Jacko has also released some of the dross that was here. Jamie Hand was one of, if not the worst player that this club has ever seen and Jackson has gotten rid of him. Jacko strikes me as a manager who won't suffer fools and this is completely different to most managers in recent times. Jackson doesn't seem to be afraid to drop players if they are out of form, something that no other manager so far this century can be accused of.

Under Stant, Buckley, Alexander and Schofield you could predict at least 8 of the starting XI without even thinking about it. You knew that Keith would play Simon Yeo regardless of how many games it had been since the striker had even managed a shot on target. However, Jackson is completely different and there have been many surprises in the starting XI during his time at Sincil Bank.

Jackson is certainly the man to take this club forward and the generally feeling around Sincil Bank is that this club is on the verge of something big. This club has the potential to hold it's own in the Championship and you never know, maybe we'll even do a Hull City and gain a place in the Premiership just years after finishing midtable in League Two.

Infact, I think that's a sign of how much this club has grown in recent times. I remember a quote from Marriott just after we had won 1-0 at the KC that went "It was like winning the FA Cup!" It said it all about the low expectations of the club at that time that we were challenging for promotion, went to a lower midtable team and won....and yet act like we've just done something extraordinary. Don't get me wrong, it was a good victory but it was only Hull City who weren't that far off of the drop zone at the time.

These days even a draw on the road is seen as a disappointing result, a true sign of how far this club has come and if we can combine our general away form over the last 6 years with turning the Bank into Fortress Sincil, we will win promotion sooner rather than later.

There is no room for sentiment in football and many of you know that I am not a sentimental person. I am personally pleased that Luton have been deducted 10 points, obviously it's bad for them but it's just one less team to barge past on our way to promotion. If we want promotion then we can't afford to feel sorry for the Luton's, Bournemouth's and Rotherham's of this world. If anything we should go for the jugular and capitalise before they have a chance to recover.

We won't have a better chance for promotion in the next few years than right now. We have the manager, we're apparently getting the players, we have the stadium to cope at League One level (and possibly the Championship)...now all we need is the promotion that we DESERVE. No-one in this division deserves promotion more than we do.

We've been generally the most consistent team in this division for years and we've watched as other teams spend years battling relegation, have one good season and get promoted...Southend and Bristol Rovers are two great examples.

It's our turn for success.

We are Lincoln and we mean business!

Posted by: theimps.tk (IP Logged)

Date: 07/06/2008 02:42

We are Lincoln and we mean business!