Good morning, Happy Christmas!
2023 has been a crazy year for the Imps. There have been highs and lows without any real highs or lows. Big cup games ultimately ended up in us being knocked out, league losses that still see us firmly established as a top-half League One side. A change of manager that people didn’t all agree on but that nobody really felt strongly enough about to argue over properly. It’s been a year of consolidation, but with enough spice and drama to still have us feeling something.
Today isn’t about football – we can talk about progress or the perceived lack of it at New Year. Today is about celebrating all the good things we have in our lives. We’re coming together with family to celebrate a Christian tradition we all love, whereas very few of us still go to church or pray once daily. We still believe in certain things, though, like love and family. We still feel benevolent at Christmas, and we still cherish those things that are dear to our hearts.
This year was huge for me, getting married surrounded by loved ones in June, then finding out my Dad has lung cancer at the end of the year. There have been other ups and downs – I was stung by a trusted business partner who upped and left, taking most of our writers and quite a bit more with him. That hurt, that abuse of trust, but again, it’s one of those things we fight through and move forward from. Christmas is for doing that – moving forward and capping off a year, assessing where we are, and looking to the future, trying to make it at least as good as the previous 12 months, if not better.
One thing that does remain a constant is you guys, the Stacey West readers, listeners, and viewers. We try our hardest to provide you with good content here, and every year, you keep us focused and sharp. I wouldn’t write articles if you didn’t read them, we wouldn’t make podcasts if you didn’t listen, nor record videos if you didn’t watch. Whilst this is a Merry Christmas message, it is also a thank you – it sounds so twee to say, ‘without you, there’s no site,’ but without you, there’s no site. Without you, there’s just a sad little man surrounded by programmes and memorabilia writing words that nobody reads. With you, there’s a thriving Lincoln City fan site approaching its eighth birthday.
Thank you for making Lincoln City about more than going to matches for me (for us). Thank you for picking me up when I’m down, even if you don’t know you do. When I found out about my Dad, I knew he would thrive on your goodwill messages, but I didn’t realise how much they’d help me feel more comfortable. He’s got an operation on January 8th, and all being well, a couple of months later, he’ll be back at the games, soaking up your good wishes, moaning at me about ‘that bloody whats-his-name’ who he doesn’t know whether he loves or hates.
This Christmas is for him, and it’s for everyone who is a father, son, brother, sister, mother, daughter, cousin, nephew, or anything else. You are something to someone, and that is the most valuable gift in itself. Today, relish being that someone; drink and sing, argue and bicker, eat, play games and sleep. Have fun, hold the ones you love, and cherish these moments. A memory lasts forever. Hopefully, I prove that here every week with memories of games, people, and places.
You can make your memories today, and they’ll last a lifetime. Take that opportunity, always.
Happy Christmas.
Keep it up, Gary! You do a good job with this site. It must be a continual trial putting up with the moans and groans from subscribers. But since when did football fans NOT moan? I am pretty bad at moaning – or so everyone that sit round me at the Bank keep telling me. I’ve supported the Imps for the 20 years I’ve lived in Lincoln, had a season ticket practically all the time. I’ve always supported the local team wherever I have lived – Villa when in Birmingham, Forest, just down the road, for many years and now City. The team I grew up watching in the late 1940s/50s in Sheffield – north end of the city – are now a total embarrassment (and the other buggers, whom the rest of my extended family supported, are little better). Less said the better.
Very sorry to hear about your Dad. 30 years ago I was there with mine. His was prostate cancer. It still grips me to this day and I’m now 81.
Happy Christmas, Gary, from Cricieth in North Wales – and thanks so much for all that you and the team do. For us Imps who live away from Lincoln, your work is invaluable and really important. Thank you again. I hope and pray that all goes well with you Dad’s operation and treatment. Robert