Okay, ten points clear in second place in League One with a game in hand, 11 to play when the games are level. You would think there would never be a better chance of Championship football.
Of course, situationally, that might be correct, but I think that is a statement that has a little naivety in it. It’s not the first time I’ve heard it, either. Back in 2020/21, I think a few people said it, especially when we were six clear with a game in hand. That season, we had Brennan Johnson on fire, Morgan Rogers with some magic, and everyone’s wages were capped.
‘There will never be a better chance for us to be promoted,’ people said, and yet here we are, five seasons later, with a better chance. I often fall foul of those lazy statements that sound a lot like hot takes, and saying there will ‘never be a better time’ is as lazy as it gets.
Why? Because it suggests that somehow this season is a one-off.
Okay, so we haven’t been top two since 2020/21, but we have challenged for the play-offs, in 2023/24. Last season, and under Mark Kennedy, we had decent finishes without really troubling the top six, but we are now an established League One side. That’s not just on the field, it is from top to bottom, the length and breadth of this football club. That is why, if the worst should happen, and promotion eludes us this season, we could well find ourselves challenging again, next season, the season after, whenever.
This season isn’t a fluke. League One isn’t as bad as it has ever been. Collectively, wages in the division are at an all-time high, and that means rather than one or two competitive clubs, multiple sides are good. Look at Blackpool, for instance. I didn’t think they were bad, and they’ve spent a lot more than we have, but they’re not special in the context of the league. Ditto Luton. Ditto Huddersfield. Ditto Wigan. Ditto Reading. I could go on.
Anyone can beat anyone, and if you put Reading against Huddersfield, or Plymouth against Bolton, it would be anyone’s guess who would win. All four of those sides are decent, all four have spent more than us, and in a division labelled as rubbish, all four are in the play-off hunt (Plymouth, admittedly, perhaps just shy now, but they’ll be a force next season). In this division, being top two is no fluke. Where others have lost their heads, we’ve been calm. Where others have tried to balance a squad of players assembled on reputation, we’ve built a functioning unit over a period of time. We are not a fluke; we are as close to a ‘finished product’ as a team gets.
No team is ever the finished product. There is always an ageing striker who needs replacing, or a right back who needs to be covered. Every transfer window, even the best teams need something, but you know when a team is almost complete. They soak up injuries, they have competition for places, subs who impact games, squad players who get put into the starting XI and look like they’ve always been there. That’s us. We are the outcome Michael Skubala promised when he came in, playing front-footed football, turning the Bank into a fortress, players fighting for a shirt and standing up to all challenges.
If we don’t go up this season, what changes? Our squad stays the same. We may sell a couple, maybe bring a couple in, but essentially, we go again, exactly as we are. Nobody has ‘found us out’ like in 2006/07. Injuries can’t disrupt us as much as 2020/21. We haven’t stuck two years’ budget in one season, hoping to get lucky. We’re managed well, we function well, and missing out on promotion this season wouldn’t change that. If anything, we could be even stronger next season with better facilities and a sense of progression around the ground.
That’s not to say missing out now wouldn’t be a huge disappointment, of course it would. I can play down the position all I want, I can play the pessimist, but in terms of actual advantages, maybe that ‘never get a better chance’ statement does fit. How many teams, red and white striped or not, will go into their final 12 matches ten points clear of the opposition with a game in hand? It hardly ever happens. So yes, perhaps in terms of maths, there will never be a better chance, but there will be other chances. I guess when you’ve only been this close thrice in almost fifty years, it may feel like this is our big opportunity, but Lincoln City 2026 is a Lincoln City I never thought I’d see.
This isn’t 1983, when the lack of finances saw the rise halt. Off the field, we’re as strong as ever, backed sensibly, run professionally. We have an identity, and to me, the only threat would be losing Michael and the coaching staff. It would be lazy to say ‘he’ll be off’ if we don’t go up, by the way, but if he were to go, we’d have 90% of what we have now.
No, this isn’t the best chance we’ll have at Championship promotion. My hope is that it is the only chance we need, but if the worst happens, I trust this football club will be back at the coal face next season, trying again.
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