Exclusive: Former Imps Boss Reflects On City’s Chances This Season

courtesy of Graham Burrell

This week, I got a chance to ask former City boss Chris Sutton a couple of questions about the Imps.

Sutton is an interesting character, liked by some and passionately disliked by others. Me? I disliked him not because of who he was, but because he walked away. I actually think he was on the right lines, bringing in big loans and trying to play football. I felt let down that he went when he did, and that has fuelled my vitriol in the past.

However, when the camera isn’t on and he’s not playing the role of shock-jock, he’s actually a very knowledgeable man who was happy to answer questions on the Imps. The first one I put to him was just about how he saw the our chances this season, as a former manager.

“Look, it’s night and day from my time there,” he admitted. “I enjoyed the season I had at Lincoln, it was hard work, but we ended up surviving in League Two. They’ve become a pretty stable League One club, although they were unlucky last season.”

Credit Graham Burrell

Sutton revealed he has a link to our success last season, albeit quite a tenuous one.

“They signed a guy on loan named Joe Taylor, who scored a lot of goals for them. I know Joe Taylor; he played for a team called Wroxham in Norfolk with my son, who’s a goalkeeper. Joe scored a lot of goals a couple of seasons ago, and everybody took notice. He was a loan player from Kings Lynn, playing for their reserves. His career has taken off, and I’m delighted for him. He eventually signed for Luton and was an integral part of Lincoln’s success last season.”

However, we may be facing up to life without Joe Taylor, and while we have a strong squad, it was interesting to hear Sutton praise Michael Skubala as having done a ‘more than good’ job at Sincil Bank.

“It’s about going again this season. Last season would have been a bit of a sickener, not getting over the line. But they seem to be a pretty stable League One club.

“Michael Skubala, the manager, did a more than good job last season. As with every football club, a new season brings new expectations among the fan base, and since they did so well last season, Lincoln City fans will be hoping they can push again.”

Credit Graham Burrell

Indeed, Michael did do a good job last season, and away from the talkSPORT microphone, Chris spoke quite calmly and almost fondly about the Imps, which was nice. I also got to ask him whether his Imps side might have been more successful with the passage of time… you’ll have to wait until tomorrow for that answer. Sadly, I didn’t ask him to get Joe on the blower and recommend he comes to Lincoln!

I was speaking to Sutton courtesy of Best Online Poker Sites.