Michael Skubala Wins Manager of the Month, Again

Michael Skubala and the Lincoln City management team have once again lifted the Manager of the Month award.

In a remarkable season of achievements, the Imps’ boss and his staff have been honoured for a third time, and were nominated for one more as well. It would be hard not to give it to them – February saw us win four and draw one, scoring 15 goals and conceding just twice.

If that’s not manager of the month material, nothing is.

This latest accolade sees Skubala move level with a number of esteemed managers to take the manager of the month award. We know it’s a whole team effort, and I’m sure Michael would go to great lengths to outline that, but like with a pub, it is his name above the door, and by winning a third away, he draws level with some big hitters.

Graham Taylor won it the most – the future England manager won it on five occasions, four of those during our record-breaking 1975/76 title-winning season. He also picked it up in November 1974, giving him the five wins overall.

Danny Cowley won three, but technically only two in the EFL, in December 2017 and August 2018. How he managed to win the league title and not pick it up again is beyond me. Likewise, when we hit 99 points in the National League, he only took a single award in October 2016.

Colin Murphy is the only other manager to win three (or more) awards, picking it up in August 1980 in Division Four, and twice in 1982, in March and September. He has also won the non-league award twice, in October 1987 (shared with Alan Buckley), and January 1988.

Michael has now won it three times, and was blatantly robbed in the month we beat Bristol Rovers 5-0, Barnsley 5-1 and Cambridge 6-0. All three have come this season, and there are still two months to go.

For the record, the other Lincoln City winners, both in the EFL and non-league, were David Herd (January 1972), Steve Thompson (April 1992, October 1992), John Beck (November 1995), John Reames (October 1999), Keith Alexander (November 2004, February 2006), John Schofield (October 2006), Peter Jackson (February 2008, October 2008) and David Holdsworth (November 2012).