I’d imagine there aren’t that many opportunities that present themselves for a bog-standard supporter to be involved at board of director level in their local football club, writes Rob Bradley.
Once is a great experience and to get another chance years later has to be right up there in terms of good fortune. I had the honour of representing the Trust on the Lincoln City board of directors in 2000 for around five years, and last year in 2020 that role was offered again. I thought it might be interesting to compare the club then and what I found twenty years later.
In the early 2000s, there were some massive challenges to overcome and everyone associated with the club pulled together to try and meet them head-on. Lincoln City was a small club but a proud one in those days and the team effort that took place meant debts were cleared and stability achieved. Step forward twenty years and the organisation is a very very different kettle of fish. Perhaps it might be best to pick out a few areas of the club and see how they compare.
The most important people at any club are the supporters. For many years you could always rely on a hardcore of 2500 to 3000 fans at Sincil Bank whatever the team got up to. In the play-off years this of course increased a good bit. Now the core support in season 2020-21, were we allowed into matches of course, would be circa 9000 or even more. A phenomenal increase and a testament to the success there’s been over the last few years.
Under Keith Alexander training took place at a playing field at Canwick. When injuries kept cropping up because of twisted ankles from stepping into rabbit holes, the squad moved to a school in Cherry Willingham. They ate school dinners with the pupils and trained on the school pitches. This was a simple but successful example of the football club extending into the community. Even then difficulties arose because the pitches weren’t planned to be maintained during the summer holidays when the kids weren’t there. It never mattered to Keith because he’d use the 3G or the main pitch even though that made a right mess of it. Now there’s the state of the art EPC up off the A15 and while I haven’t had the pleasure of a visit there it’s clearly a very special facility. It is making a huge contribution to the development of players whether starting off on their footballing journey or already in the first team.
The pitch at Sincil Bank was always a problem. We spent what we could and one close-season held a ‘Sponsor a Sod’ fundraising campaign to raise a bit more than normal. I remember being on the pitch when an away side – Darlington I think it was – arrived and had a wander on it before going to get changed. I swear those players looked at our playing surface and were beaten before they started.
This season we have a very good pitch and there will be a lot of investment in it in the summer. We have in Michael Appleton a manager who has created a team that plays the best football many of us have ever seen in a red and white shirt, and the board are backing him by providing a surface of the quality his squad deserves.
Our chairman Clive Nates, his board of directors, and staff led by Liam Scully have to be amongst the most professional and skilled in the English football pyramid. They run the club with drive and ambition but with a respectful eye on the traditions of Lincoln City and football in general. The community ethos of the club and the extent and impact of the overall Lincoln City family is a joy to witness. They know their challenge is to be the best they can be now but that they have to leave a sustainable legacy for those who follow.
In around 2002 the board at the club grew when our ‘Community Ownership Package’ comprising the Trust and admirable local business people was accepted. It had to grow because things were very tense before then, and at one stage the board of directors comprised Jim Hicks, retired bookmaker, and me. The board, the CEOs – we had a few of those – and the staff did a great job, but it was all very modest. I like to think we were professional then as well, but clearly not on a scale we see two decades later.
The great Keith Alexander was manager in the early 2000s and I don’t need to describe him here. It’s all been said. I’d have a meeting with him in his office and come out buzzing about what he’d got planned. His players did too, whether they were in the team or not. Now I have the pleasure of hearing what Michael Appleton and Jez George have to say at a board meeting and they are just as impressive. With greater resources than Keith had their plans for the squad display the volume of work they do and the thoroughness of it. Those resources are eye-watering compared to the Alexander years, but let’s not forget they aren’t high compared to other clubs at our level. Clearly, miracles can still be worked twenty years later.
The Trust – now with a new moniker – is still here at the club, and is still the vehicle for people like me to take the fans’ voice into the boardroom. The organisation played a big part in Lincoln City’s revival at the turn of the century along with some prominent individuals who came on board. I won’t name them for fear of missing one out, but they were brilliant. The Trust has had good years and bad ones, like the parent club. It’s probably true to say that its presence has subsided a little bit in the Nates years. Anoraks like me who keep an eye on the trust movement, in general, recognise that traditionally trusts at clubs are often right up there when it comes to helping their club when there’s a crisis and maybe toddle along a bit when things are good.
However, since its 20th anniversary late in 2020, the Red Imps Community Trust have really stepped things up. Engagement with fans and the local community is vitally important and the Trust are helping the Lincoln City family in growing those links.
At the time of writing this article, there are some distinct similarities in the Imps fortunes over the times I’ve been describing. We made the League Two play-offs then and we’re in in the League One play-offs now. Both are amazing achievements. What really hits you though is team spirit. On the pitch, amongst those within the club, and amongst our brilliant fans, there’s a spirit that gives you goose-bumps. I don’t think this is just because of events on the pitch although that’s the bulk of it. There’s another element to it though, and that’s the personality of Lincoln and Lincolnshire people. We love people who work hard for our club and go the extra mile. We repay them with the atmosphere we create in our ground, other grounds we’re playing at, and in the City in general. Football can do that to you and, just like the early 2000s, with the current Lincoln City, it’s happening all over again.
If you are interested in the work the Red Imps Community Trust does, you can find out more by paying a visit to their website.
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