Do you think Clive stepped down because Ron Fowler will invest more when we’re in the Championship?
No, I don’t.
I think that if we get into the Championship, we will be looking to invest sensibly. We’ll be looking to reinvest any TV money and our budget will certainly go up. But I don’t think we’re talking about Ron Fowler just throwing money into it.
I was lucky enough to meet Ron, as everybody knows, and chatting to him gave me the feeling that actually promotion has happened really early. While we do want it, that was the aim, that was the expectation, that was everything we were moving towards, I don’t think anybody at the club really thought it was going to be this season.
Maybe the playing staff are different. You ask Michael and he won’t play it down because he won’t put limitations on players, and I love that attitude. But there was no real expectation of the Championship this season.
I remember doing an interview with Michael Appleton and he said, “We want the Championship, that’s where we’re going,” and it became the headline from a live show that we did. But even then, there was no expectation of that.
You look at the teams in this division now. We go to Huddersfield tomorrow night, massive budget. Luton, massive budget. Cardiff, Bolton, Stockport, all big budgets. Plymouth came down from the Championship and have got a good budget as well.
So I don’t think there was any sort of thought process where Clive would step aside because Ron needs to put more money in. Ron Fowler will invest in the club, but I think we will continue with the same approach in the Championship as we have in League One, and that is that we will be as frugal as we can.
Remember it would actually take less of an achievement for us to stay in the Championship than it has for us to get there. We’re 18th in the budget table at the moment, and we’re top of the table. That’s plus 18.
If we’re 24th in the budget table in the Championship, depending on who comes up, because if Stevenage come up we’ll probably be 23rd, then we only need to better our position by three places to stay up. So arguably, it’s six times more likely that we stay in the Championship than it is that we win League One this season.
That’s something to think about.
How many Imps players deserve to be in the League One Team of the Season and how many do you believe will be in?
That’s really interesting, actually, because I think the Team of the Season tends to have fewer players in it from a single team than you would imagine.
In terms of recent examples, in 2025 there were five Birmingham City players in it, which is quite interesting. In 2024 there were four Portsmouth players. So it is possible, potentially, that three or four of ours could make it.
Interestingly, the league winner’s goalkeeper always seems to get in, but I think they would probably go with Nathan Trott in goal this season, as his numbers are madness.
I think it would be really hard not to pick Tendayi Darikwa. I think it would be really hard for them not to pick Conor McGrandles as well. Sonny Bradley and Adam Reach, potentially, you might look at the back line and the holding midfield role for that.
Jack Moylan missed a big bit of the season, and the rotation across the front line might mean that somebody with 20 goals gets in there instead. I do think it’s hard to pick any of our forwards because we rotate, because they’ve got fewer goals and because it really is a team effort. They get 60 minutes, they get rotated, they share the workload.
You’re not going to pick Freddie Draper, who’s missed bits of the season, over somebody like Lorent Tolaj. You’re not going to pick Ben House over those sorts of players either. Rob Street and Reeco Hackett are probably the other ones you’d mention, but again, it’s harder for attacking players in a side where the goals are shared around.
So I think there are players who deserve to be in there, and there are players who will be strongly in the conversation, but how many actually get in is probably a different matter.
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