Michael Skubala And The Ten Steps To Lincoln City Success

Credit Graham Burrell

10. Contract security has kept everyone moving in the same direction

The final point is not a single match or a single transfer, but it may tell you as much as any of them. We have moved to a point where the senior squad is tied down beyond this season, removing the uncertainty that can so often creep into dressing rooms when contracts run down. No one is drifting towards the end of a deal. No one is half in and half out. Our biggest assets, including Jack Moylan, are going nowhere unless a club pays a big price.

That brings both practical and psychological benefits. Players can focus on the job rather than their future, and just as importantly, every member of the group feels part of the journey, whether starting every week or pushing standards in training. It leaves us in a rare position, one where the end of one season already feels connected to the start of the next.

For a club built on planning, unity and long-term thinking, that may be the clearest sign yet of how far Skubala’s Lincoln has come.