Ah, 1996. My perfect summer, just after leaving school, before the weight of rent and work began to weigh me down.
I’ve had some great summers since, but 1996 topped the lot. Heading home for lunch every day to listen to Britpop on Radio One, when Radio One was good. Driving my first car after passing my test, a different girl every week (probably a bit of a lie) and that carefree attitude that comes between the pressure of school and the handcuffs of real life.
Lincoln were pretty average until 1996, and then we exploded into life. Cup runs against Manchester City and Southampton were set against a backdrop of fairly average league form. John Beck was supposed to be taking us up, but we went into our October 1st game against Brighton only three points off the bottom of the table. Mind you, if we thought we had troubles, it was nothing compared to the current Premier League side.
Their fans were launching fierce protests against chairman Bill Archer and chief executive David Bellotti after the club’s historic Goldstone Ground was sold without a new stadium in place. Supporters accused the board of asset-stripping and mismanagement, as the team languished at the bottom of the Football League and faced losing its home. The sale sparked mass demonstrations, pitch invasions, and the formation of the national Fans United movement.
Enter the Imps, October 1st, 1996. On a night that descended into chaos at the Goldstone Ground, the Imps stayed composed and delivered a professional away performance — while Brighton and Hove Albion supporters delivered a loud and defiant message to their club’s board.
City lined up: Barry Richardson, Steve Holmes, Jon Whitney, Mark Hone, Grant Brown, Kevin Austin, Gareth Ainsworth, Terry Fleming, John Taylor, Jay Martin and Colin Alcide. Steve Brown, Gis Bos, Jason Minett, were the substitutes, all unused.
A Goal, a Protest, and a Match Like No Other
The match was always likely to be overshadowed by off-field issues, with the planned protests gaining traction in the build-up. What no one could predict was the surreal spectacle that unfolded after Gareth Ainsworth’s opener for the Imps.
His 23rd-minute header, expertly guided in from a Mark Hone corner, was barely celebrated before swathes of home supporters poured onto the pitch. In total, the protest lasted fourteen minutes, a symbolic occupation of the centre circle as fans demanded change. While Lincoln had started assuredly, the lengthy disruption shattered their rhythm, and the game resumed with a very different atmosphere.
Brighton, tense and inhibited before the break, returned from the pause revitalised. With the crowd now vocally supporting their players rather than solely vilifying the board, Simon Fox forced a save from Barry Richardson before Peter Smith tucked away the rebound from Paul McDonald’s powerful drive. It was a deserved equaliser, coming almost an hour after the original kick-off.
At half-time, the talk in the away end wasn’t just about the scoreline, but whether a second Lincoln goal might trigger another invasion. Thankfully, the second half played out more like a football match and less like a protest movement — but only just.
John Beck’s side regrouped admirably. Brighton went close early in the second period, Jason Peake rattling the crossbar, but it was Lincoln’s threat from set-pieces that proved the difference. The 65th minute brought the breakthrough. Once again, a corner was Brighton’s undoing. Hone’s corner saw Colin Alcide rise powerfully to crash home a header, restoring the Imps’ advantage and prompting a minor second invasion — this time a few dozen teenagers who were swiftly booed back off by the rest of the home crowd.
With ten minutes remaining, Lincoln made the game safe. A third Hone corner, another defensive lapse from the hosts. This time the ball came back off the bar, Jon Whitney recycled it, and skipper Grant Brown was on hand to prod home. That goal — Brown’s first of the campaign — drained the energy from both Brighton’s players and supporters.
There was a professional sheen to Lincoln’s performance, summed up by Beck after the game:
“That was a highly professional performance. We were expecting some sort of riot or pitch invasion, so we were prepared to deal with it. Brighton had a better spell after the hold-up and before half-time, but we changed one or two things around and the second half was very pleasing. It’s the best feeling there is to win away from home, especially when you deserve to.”
Deserve it they did. Ainsworth’s goal had capped a spell of pressure that had already seen Jae Martin and Terry Fleming go close. And despite the disruption, Lincoln responded with maturity. Richardson played his part in keeping the scores level before Alcide and Brown wrapped things up.
The win — Lincoln’s second on the road that season — lifted them into the top half, with 14 points from 10 games. For a club that had stared into its own abyss just a year earlier, the contrast with Brighton could not have been clearer. While Lincoln were quietly building momentum under Beck, their hosts were fighting battles far beyond the touchline. Sadly, the Imps’ inconsistency in the league probably cost us promotion a year before we achieved it. The next game saw bottom club Exeter visit, and win 3-2.
Brighton, second from bottom at the time and level on points with Exeter, were now looking at a second FA sanction in under six months. The pitch invasion against York City in April had already seen the club receive a suspended punishment: a three-point deduction and an order to play one game behind closed doors. Now, with around 200 fans reportedly involved in this latest protest, the threat of that punishment being enacted loomed large.
We know things panned out. At the end of the season, they narrowly avoided relegation to the Conference with a dramatic final-day draw at Hereford. The club then spent two years groundsharing with Gillingham before returning to Brighton to play at the temporary Withdean Stadium. Fan pressure eventually led to Archer’s departure and a takeover by local businessman Dick Knight. After years of struggle, the club finally moved into the purpose-built Amex Stadium in 2011, and are now a Premier League staple, having completed their eighth season in the top flight.
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