The fixtures are out for the upcoming season, and it sees Paudie O’Connor in an immediate return to Sincil Bank.
Reading will be our opening day opponents as we get to play in our own garden for the first time since Mark Kennedy’s Imps opened with a draw against Exeter City in 2022. Of course, that means an immediate return for former captain Paudie O’Connor, who swapped the red of City for the Wetherspoon’s plate blue of Reading this summer.
The following weekend, when I risked it and bought a festival ticket, we’re down in London, returning to Plough Lane to face recently promoted Wimbledon and another former Imp, Ali Smith, who also departed this summer.
Christmas and Easter Lincoln City Fixtures
A lot can change over these hectic periods, and there are some miles to do over the festive period. We welcome Cardiff to the Bank for the first time since March 2001 on the Saturday before Christmas, but face two trips in between, to Stockport on Boxing Day and Barnsley on the 29th. The game against the Tykes comes just three weeks after they visit the Bank in a December double-header.
The festive period is then rounded off by two huge fixtures in four days – Huddersfield and Peterborough both coming to the Bank. What a time to be alive.
Over Easter, we host Wimbledon on Good Friday, while we visit Reading on Easter Monday in a reversal of the opening two weekends.
Final Day
We’re away on the final day, little surprise there given we’ve been at home twice against promoted clubs recently. This time, we travel to Port Vale, and that doesn’t look like a fixture in which our opponents will be celebrating Championship football, which will be nice. Our final home game of the season promises to be interesting – big-spending Wycombe visit the Bank, and you’d imagine that at least one of us will have something to play for.\
What is remarkable is this – we haven’t been away since we played Southport in 2017. In 2018, we ended the season against Yeovil at home, then Colchester a year later. The curtailed Covid season saw us finish against Burton (not that we knew about it), and then again against Wimbledon behind closed doors in 2021. In 2022 it was Crewe, 2023 Shrewsbury, 2024 Portsmouth and 2025 Wrexham.
Cup Run Games
What if we get a bit of a cup run? Well, in the FA Cup, progressing to the Third Round would cost us a January away trip to Exeter, forcing us to go to Devon on a Tuesday night. If we went further, we’d lose the Valentine’s Day clash with Bolton at the Bank, and possibly our March 7th trip to Cardiff. Let’s be honest, it’s unlikely.
As for the Carabao Cup, we currently have no games scheduled on matchdays, so we could get all the way to the final if we wished. If we did, we’d lose Rotherham at home on March 21st, but again, that’s highly unlikely!
International Weekends
This is the interesting one. I feel it’s often nice to get a bit of a break in the season to regroup, so which games drop on international weekends?
The first is September 6th, Wigan at home. I suppose the bigger the club, the more likely we are to see a postponement, but it is likely to be close. They (currently) have Dara Costelloe (Ireland), James Carragher (Malta) and Toby Sibbick (Uganda) who are either internationals or recently appeared at an age group.
October 11th sees us go to Bradford City in an away day that looks attractive, but we could lose that to the international break. Currently, Calum Kavanagh and Clarke Oduor could be called up from their squad.
Sadly, both our home and away games against Doncaster (Nov 15th and Mar 28) fall on international weekends, which means we could potentially lose three ‘local’ games to international football. However, that would seemingly rely on us having call-ups, as currently, Doncaster don’t have any players likely to be out of action.
We have Reeco, who does get called up, Erik Ring, who might, possibly Oisin and Zane at youth level. Looking at the squads, I think we might see the Imps in action unless our opponents have players called up.
Other Moans
Of course, there are always going to be moans, but a few of the fixtures haven’t been kind. A trip to Blackpool is always better in the sunshine, but we’re going on December 13th. Huddersfield, a good away day, falls in midweek, as does Northampton, another that’s attractive on a Saturday.
That early December Barnsley game is also a night match, cutting down on those likely to attend, but at present, it is our only home league fixture in midweek in 2025. Bradford at the Bank, another that would be nice on a Saturday, is also midweek, as is Northampton Town completing a double header of midweek matches against the Cobblers. It also means that, come the end of the season, five of our last six meetings against Kevin Nolan’s side will have fallen midweek.
Conclusion
Shit just got real! The 2025/26 season, as far as I’m concerned, is now ‘this season’, not ‘next season’. I know we play everyone twice and all that, but it is nice to see some structure to the season.
Looking over the fixture list, it doesn’t quite feel as daunting as last season, but that’s probably the worst thing about it! Still, I know I’ll miss Luton at home, but that’s about it, and given my recklessness in booking different things, that feels like a win.
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