It’s been two final-day matches in a row where I’ve had to sit in the stands and watch another club in a celebratory mood.
It’s rather ironic that we have lost both matches 2-0, and that much of the evening after leaving the ground is a blur. I don’t know if I’ve been driven to drink by watching other clubs enjoy themselves while we look forward to more of the same next season, or if I am celebrating.
“Why would I be?” I hear the vocal minority ask. Well, we finished 11th, which, looking back over history, makes it our most consistent spell in the third tier since 1949–1952, and that was in the old Division Three North. It’s the first time we’ve finished in the top half of any single division three seasons in a row since the days of Keith Alexander and John Schofield, so the sycophant in me believes we’re onto a good thing.
The frustrating thing that crossed my mind as I watched us outplay Wrexham for 45 minutes is the missed opportunities. Rotherham (home and away), Huddersfield (away), the awful Christmas period – we’re ten points worse off, at least, than our play suggests we should be. I suppose that was reflected in the 45 minutes against Wrexham. We couldn’t make our good play count, and they punished us as a result.
I’m not doing a full write-up of the game because what’s the point? It doesn’t matter who played well, as some of them won’t be coming back, others will. We’ve seen the season end on a decent note, bar the last two matches, and since March 1st, it’s only been teams who have finished in the top six who have defeated us. We’ve finished higher than our budget suggests we should; we were just two points away from a club who gave us £500,000 for Lasse Sørensen and then spent £3 million on two players in the winter window. We’ve done well, but it’s hard to properly visualise that when we’ve finished lower than last season, and with fewer points than under Mark Kennedy in his only full season.
What was the game like? In the first half, Wrexham had nothing at all—two half chances off target. We created 12 shots, three on target, and should absolutely have been 1-0 up at half-time. We just didn’t look clinical enough in front of goal, but we did look like a proper attacking prospect. The ball moved fluidly, we looked confident, but just lacked that edge. Ben House will be frustrated that he missed a great chance after a good move, while James Collins had the bulk of our chances.
I still find some solace in creating and not finishing, because you’re halfway there. You can’t finish if you don’t create, and that’s halfway there. I believe we have the players to finish better than we did for half of the season, Collins being the main example, but all the best strikers probably miss as many as they score. This isn’t me pulling rhetoric out to suit my belief either—I said the same back in the days of Danny Cowley. You worry when you don’t create, and we didn’t during the 2021/22 season, or 2022/23. We do now, whatever social media tells you.
Still, just like Yin and Yang, there’s a flip side. If we continue to struggle to finish chances, we’ll struggle. I often mention Plymouth circa 2017/18, when their xG (only 500 words in) was poor, but they were scoring—they weren’t creating but they were getting goals. Eventually, those goals will dry up. On the flip side, if you should be sixth in the table according to the xG stats, eventually, you will begin to see a few more goals.
We didn’t on Saturday, though. The second half (and let’s be honest, the whole occasion) belonged to the visitors. They turned on the style: nine shots, six on target and two goals. We had the same, by the way—nine shots—but only one on target, and there’s the difference. Is that what a better budget buys you? I’d argue not, no. It helps, but any footballer who is a regular in a League One side is capable of putting the ball in the net. Wrexham just did it better than we did. Sometimes, you hold your hands up and say “fair play.” That’s much easier when you’ve had little to play for in two months, by the way.
I hope there’s no disappointment in the slightly shorter match report, or at least the report of the action. There are a few talking points I wanted to pick up on, the first being James McClean. Now, I know he’s a divisive character, and as someone residing in a county with such a rich RAF tradition, I understand why his decision not to wear a poppy causes anger—perhaps more so than in other places. I love a villain—deep down, we all do—we love someone to boo, and I thought he reacted with the perfect level of shithousery, pointing to his League One badge and back to us. Had he refused to wear a poppy as a Lincoln player, I’m sure he’d have been as popular as Chris Maguire or Ben Hutchinson, but my humble opinion is that his belief should be respected.
Secondly, I was both delighted and disappointed with the Wrexham support. 10,347 watched the game (one supporter more than the Sunderland game in 2022), making it the largest attendance at the modern-era Sincil Bank. Wrexham played their part, obviously in a celebratory mood, and I had zero issue with that. They’ve been away to North Ferriby (admittedly, not all of them), and they’ve seen their side beaten at home by Altrincham. There’s almost a kinship here, taking away the Hollywood element. At least this is a ‘proper’ team—a team with a rich history that have endured the depths of despair and bounced back. I’d rather them than Forest Green or Fleetwood, all day long.
Sadly, not all of their supporters were in a reciprocal mood. I managed to get out to the Tipsy Imp with a few minutes to go, eager to enjoy their £2 per pint post-match offer (which I did). A large number of their supporters came out of the ground and through the fan zone, and many were completely classless. There were a few moments where rival supporters were in a stand-off (some of our fans too), being abusive and looking like trouble. I’m not sure why there was a need for that—they’ve gone up, but they came through the fan zone dressed as clowns, and properly embraced the role. It takes two to tango (or about half a dozen in this instance), but when you’re going up, I’d have thought high spirits were the order of the day.
In fairness, there were others, like Tim from the Fearless in Devotion podcast, who were great. I suppose every fan base has its idiots, and briefly, I got to see the other side of the great Wrexham support. I’ve heard there was a bit of trouble in town later on (not the sort of trouble I ended up in after losing my debit card for a third time in six months), and that does make me a little sad.
It’s also worth noting that every single one of them showed the utmost respect during the silence for the victims of the Bradford Fire Disaster. I wouldn’t have expected anything less of course, but it’s always a poignant moment for Imps fans.
The curtain has now been brought down on the League One season. There will be analysis, some from me over the coming days, and plenty of discussion. Of course, the season could have been better, but we still outperformed, which means, for once, both pessimists and optimists have a valid standpoint. Those who have a glass half empty will say things like “I’m sick of hearing about budgets,” while those with a half-full glass will point out the top two teams in terms of wage expenditure went up. Do you get what you pay for? Yes and no. Yes if you pay enough; no if you’re Leyton Orient, who are probably the only other team to seriously outperform their budget—even more so than us.
Over the coming days, I’m going to work on a budget table, looking at guesstimated (educated guesstimate) cost per point, which teams overperformed and which underperformed. I’ll assess the season as a whole, looking forward with points to be excited about, and areas that need adjustment.
One thing I won’t be doing after tonight’s podcast is reliving another game where we were the bridesmaid—the faceless henchman playing the role of patsy to a promoted team.
Let’s hope in twelve months’ time, I’m discussing how we finally stepped up to the altar ourselves, or at least had a bloody good go at it.
Up the Imps.
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