Happiness Is a Club Called Lincoln City

I might be showing my age, but does anyone remember an advert with the slogan ‘happiness is a cigar called Hamlet‘ on TV?

That wasn’t true happiness; that was a route to lung cancer, COPD and other respiratory diseases. True happiness, it seems, comes from just one thing in 2026: being a supporter of Lincoln City.

Yesterday, it was revealed that Lincoln City fans have the best matchday experience in the whole EFL. In the EFL’s Supporters Survey, City fans rated the matchday experience at the Bank as 8.7/10, the highest score across all 72 clubs. For reference, the average for League One was 7.83 and the average for the whole EFL 7.61.

We’ll deal with this first. I will always remember the first fan zone game, Barnet at home on a mild Tuesday night in September 2017. It was revolutionary, something we’d seen at Wycombe on the opening day and the brainchild of Liam Scully. As I recall, the story goes that Liam walked along the back edge of the ground and asked why we couldn’t use that area as a fan zone. ‘That’s where cars park’ was the reply, to which Liam said ‘then move them’.

Fast forward nine years or so, and we have one of the best fan villages (all about branding) in the EFL. It’s a collection of good food places, stalls and stands, with a big screen recently added, and plans to make it even better. Away fans come and see our fan village and realise it is the benchmark. For a start, we let away fans in (take note, Bolton and Mansfield), and the atmosphere is better for it.

Of coming top for matchday experience in the EFL, head of club services Rob Noble paid tribute to the Foundation for their role, as well as everyone at the club.

“With additions such as a big screen in the Fan Village this year we’ve put a lot of thought into the matchday experience, and it’s really pleasing to see this feedback from supporters.

“Our Foundation work hard to provide free family-friendly activities on our 3G pitch and in Poacher’s Den, and of course, everyone at the club is focused on using the significant investment in facilities this summer to drive our matchday experience still further.”

As Rob says, it’s only going to get better. Over the summer, our best-in-class facilities are going to get even better, with two big screens and a significant covered area as well.

This rating isn’t just about Curry Jacks and Tipsy Imp, two of the highlights of the fan zone. In my opinion, it’s about the people as well. There aren’t many members of staff on a matchday who grunt at you or cannot help. SLOs make the experience great, and few realise their services extend to the making memories experience, where a young fan can go pitchside before a game and meet the manager.

In my experience, everyone is happy to help, and everyone works with a smile on their face. You can have a bit of banter with the guy serving your burger or the girls pulling your pint. In the club shop, despite being overrun with ticket requests and merch flying out the door, there is always someone there with a smile, able to make sure you feel whatever it is you want is sorted.

That’s my experience, I gave the matchday 10/10 and next season, it’ll be even better. What do we give it then?

It’s about more

Let’s be honest about it, happiness as a Lincoln City fan extends beyond the fan zone and beyond matchday. I’ll get pelters for this, I’m sure, but it’s hard not to be happy. Sure, this season is a standout. We’re top by seven points, 18 clear of third with 21 to play for, leading scorers in the division with the best defence. They’re the sort of numbers that put a smile on the face. How long have we trailed in games at home this season? In the league, 21 minutes against Wigan, a minute against Exeter, nine minutes against Peterborough and eight minutes against Huddersfield. We’ve played 1,978 minutes at home and trailed for around 39 minutes, around 2% of the time.

Imagine that, just 2% of the time you’ve spent watching Lincoln at home this season has been with us losing. How could we not be happy with that?

Now, it’s worth adding that this isn’t just situational. When was the last time a rational supporter came to the Bank and heard boos for the home side? Not the odd boo from the typical knuckle-dragger, but wholesale boos across the stadium? Mark Kennedy-era? Late Michael Appleton? That’ll be three years then, give or take.

What about the last time you came to the ground and wanted the owner out because they’d fumbled the club completely? Some wanted Bob out back in the day, but we’re talking ten years. Wigan, Huddersfield, Swindon, Reading and Blackburn seemingly want it every week, and we’ve been content that at the top, things are good, for well over ten years.

When did you last feel angry at how the club handled a player? Not when they gave Lewis Montsma or James Collins a contract after bad injuries, that is for sure. Where possible, the club look after players, they do the right thing when that isn’t always the most financially stable thing. Talking of finances, how proud do you feel when Kieran Maguire, the oracle when it comes to football finances, constantly says Lincoln City are the benchmark?

You see, that matchday experience rating shouldn’t have been a surprise, not really. I will get the usual ‘club stooge’ stuff for this, but I have never known a football club to have this much going for it, to have everything literally right for months now. There are personal touches as well. I saw the other day an 80-year-old supporter (may have been older) wanted their first shirt from the club shop, the Parma Violet Farmer one. The club didn’t have that, so instead, they boxed up the blue Lincolnshire shirt for him and left it on the club shop desk with a handwritten note.

I won’t embarrass anyone, but when my Dad died earlier this year, one high-ranking member of staff who had met Dad came around the stadium on matchday, up to where my seat is, just shook my hand and said nothing, nodded and walked away. It’s a culture ingrained in the club that I hope stays for many years, and that’s why we’re happy.

Good food, good drink and a good team all make Saturday afternoon a pleasure, but it is something else that makes a fan truly happy, and even the most sour-faced supporter, even the angriest of fans who tell you Conor McGrandles is rubbish and keep a straight face (somehow), or we still need a striker, are happy deep down. What we have right now is something we should never take for granted, because it doesn’t happen just once in a lifetime; some clubs never have it. Some supporters never get what we’re getting right now, on and off the field.

Long may it continue.

Up the Imps.