Like all football fans, I think my club is special. I’m sure they feel the same at Grimsby, Mansfield or wherever else they happen to have a football club, but I think Lincoln City is a unique place to be. This past eighteen months who could argue?

Having reached the FA Cup Quarter Finals, the FA Trophy Semi-Finals and of course winning the National League, fans came flooding back. This season we’re outnumbering every single one of our League Two rivals, something I haven’t experienced in my thirty-odd years following Lincoln. The volume of people coming into the Bank is unprecedented, those chants of ‘where were you when you were shit’, they’re jealous chants. It’s amusing, we’d sing the same, but Luton Town and Coventry City do not want to average less home fans than Lincoln City.

When things are going well, being a football fan is easy. Last season, even when things didn’t go well we had plenty to cheer, Torquay at home was a typical case point, despite going 1-0 down the fans sang their hearts out and fulfilled the ‘twelfth man’ cliché’ absolutely. We were top though, we’d seen how much fitter and stronger the lads were and momentum was with us. It’s easy to be a football fan when things are going well.

Yeah, we out-sung Burnley, Arsenal and Ipswich, we were the underdogs with nothing to lose, riding a wave of achievement that we never thought possible. When you’re used to losing at home to Welling and suddenly you’re beating Premier League teams in their own back garden, it is easy to be up at 5am driving across the country. Sure, the noise was deafening and the atmosphere often bettered only by the week after, but unbridled joy motivates you. They say we had the best fans in the non-league last season and I don’t doubt it.

With numbers comes a weight of responsibility though and this is the tougher side of being a football fan. You see, sometimes it isn’t all rose and sweetness, it isn’t all Habergham free-kicks or Nathan Arnold volleys. Sometimes the goals are hard to come by, sometimes the games are less entertaining than the turgid Mrs Brown’s Boys. When you enter November struggling for goals it can seem like a grind, those heady days of hammering two or three goals a game are long gone and all that we can see looking forward is 0-0 draws and mid-table obscurity. In my eyes, that is brilliant, mid-table obscurity in League Two is better than top of the National League, and clean sheets are the bedrock upon which great teams are built. However, now is the time that brilliant fans stand up and be counted.

The team is not finding it easy at the moment, certainly not in front of goal. We’re in a great position by the way, exceeding what the pundits expected and leaving many to criticise us as being one-dimensional and predictable to cover up their own misplaced pessimism over our chances. The problems we perceive ourselves having are there, but in the grand scheme of things they’re not as big as some make them out to be. I know Danny Cowley (pictured top) will sort it out, I know plans are afoot, players are being stalked and our lack of goals is right at the top of the Cowley ‘to do’ list. Unfortunately, thanks to bizarre Football League rules, we’re unable to make significant moves in the transfer market until January 1st, in 61 days time.

The transfer window is creeping up all the time, when it arrives I have a gut-feeling Lincoln City will be amongst the biggest movers and shakers. Unfounded rumours of deals already being agreed for advanced midfielders and a striker have already reached me. Danny has openly stated he’s in net profit for the season, the board have announced there is money to spend and we’ll have a club secretary in place alongside a CEO. In January we’ll be in a much better position to lure players to the club than we were in pre-season. We might even be able to show them plans and progress on the training ground.

May I be so bold as to say if we’re three points outside the top seven when 2018 arrives, I firmly believe we’ll be in it come May. The crucial point of the season from the fans perspective is now, our input today, tomorrow and right up until New Years Eve is absolutely crucial. it saddens me to hear Danny mention getting a slating on social media, to see Neal Eardley believe the booing was aimed at the players and for JMD to react angrily to someone shouting at the referee. Our actions in the stand have an impact on players mentally and I would hate to think some of the mindless negativity reflects on us all.

I did see it described as the ‘worst match seen at Sincil Bank for years’ though. That made me howl with laughter so much I almost wet myself.

Now is the time to get right behind the team, travel up and down the country and sing all the way through poor matches. I won’t hide from the fact we didn’t entertain on Saturday, I did see it described as the ‘worst match seen at Sincil Bank for years’ though. That made me howl with laughter so much I almost wet myself. A 0-0 Football League draw with Crawley where City hit the bar is worse than watching us lose 3-2 at home to Dover last January, or 1-0 at home to Bromley in October 2015? Come on, get some perspective here. We didn’t trouble their goal much but we were resolute, solid and only looked threatened when we made defensive errors. Anyway, this isn’t an analysis of the game, it’s a rallying cry.

I’m going to Wimbledon on Saturday, usually I’m not one to shout about ticket uptake but we should surely be looking at selling out our 1500 allocation shouldn’t we? It would be a tad embarrassing for the club if we negotiate double the amount of tickets expected, only to see half of them unsold, wouldn’t it? If transport is a problem three people can get in our minibus, there’s a start. The week after against Crewe, why not look into that? I appreciate not everyone can go all the time, I’m not laying into anyone here, but we took 9,000 to Arsenal and 5,000 to Ipswich. If we get a result on Saturday another cup run is a possibility, if you missed out on any of the big games last season then you need to be on board from the get go this time around. If we do progress there will be priority for any big draw at I’d wager attendance of the Wimbledon match will be a must.

Again, I’m not talking down to anyone but we absolutely need to get behind the team now and for the next 60 days at least. Sitting behind a computer screen tapping away about strikers being rubbish or tactics being negative or whatever else is being written at present won’t help. We can’t sign anyone decent right now, Cameron Stewart was a one-off I’m afraid. The current squad, threadbare as it is, are what we have and they need our support through thick and thin. We’ve had the euphoria, we’ve had the Sweet Caroline moments and the dancing in the street. Now we need to show ourselves as fans, we need to stand up and be counted and back the team through the tough spell. If we can emerge having consolidated our current position in January we might be welcoming in the great times again, but we owe it to our football club to stand together for the next two months, loud and proud.

If you’re wondering whether to get Wimbledon tickets or indeed Crewe tickets, stop wondering, log into Eventbrite and I’ll see you there. We are Imps, and right now the players need our wholehearted support more than ever.

The offer of spaces in the minibus is real by the way, Imps fan Shane Lesman is driving down and currently has three spare seats. Get in touch.

Photos credit Graham Burrell & Lincoln City