If Lincoln City Win The League One Title, Even More History Will Be Made

If Lincoln City win the League One title this season, history will be made, and there will be no better team to make it.

In 1986/87, we were the first team to be relegated from the old Fourth Division into the GM Vauxhall Conference. It was a moment of history we didn’t want, but a year later, we became the first relegated side to return to the Football League, achieving the feat at the first attempt.

If we win League One this season and head into the Championship, we will become the first side to achieve promotion from the fifth tier to the second tier by winning three titles. Only a handful of teams have made the trip from the fifth tier to the second, and if (it is an if) we win the title, we’ll be the only team to do it with three trophies in the bag.

Since the 1960s, a handful of teams were elected to the Football League, followed by the glut of teams promoted automatically after 1987. However, of those teams, not one has won promotion into the second tier with three titles, without ever dropping down.

Peterborough United were first to be elected in modern times, replacing Gateshead (the start of what you’ll see to be a big north/south bias). They won the Midland League, back when non-league was not headed by a single division. They won Division Four the season after, but dropped out of Division Three in 1968. Fail.

Oxford United were one of the earliest teams in the modern era to go from tier five to tier two. They were elected in 1962 (from the south, replacing Accrington), winning the Southern Premier, but in 1965 were promoted from Division Four in fourth. They did win Division Three as well, so they have two titles on their journey to the second tier.

There were a handful of relegations between Cambridge joining the Football League in 1970 (Bradford Park Avenue kicked out) and getting to the Second Division under John Beck, and even the most famous rise of them all didn’t include three titles. Wimbledon were famous for being the first modern club to climb from non-league to the First Division. They replaced Workington in 1977, but had a couple of promotions and relegations before shocking fans in the eighties by getting to the top flight and winning the FA Cup.

Once promotion and relegation between the fourth and fifth tier was confirmed, we saw a couple of clubs move up. Colchester United went up in one smooth transaction, winning the GMVC in 1992, then being promoted in 1998 and 2006, but both times after finishing outside the top two.

Our final home opponents of the season, Wycombe, have done the journey, but had some relegations and promotions while a Football League club, and their Championship promotion was during COVID and became quite controversial. Yeovil’s wasn’t controversial, and they did it in a similar timespan to us, winning the fifth tier in 2003 and League Two in 2005. When they climbed into the Championship in 2013, it was after finishing fourth in League One.

Burton, the ‘most League One team’ of the current roster, rose from the fifth tier to the second tier in eight seasons, super quick, and they won both the National League and League Two. They finished second when promoted from League One, which could be how we do it, and they’re the closest to winning three unbroken titles to get to the Championship.

Luton won the Conference and League One, but finished second in League Two (God bless Accrington for stopping them getting three titles in a row), but in fairness, they did go a step further and earn promotion to the Premier League. That’s a feat Wrexham are hunting, the first team to win three consecutive promotions to get Championship football. However, after winning the National League, they have yet to add an EFL title to their record. In fact, the last time they won a division in the Football League was 1978.

Can Lincoln City become the first team to climb from the fifth tier to the second tier by winning three titles, without a relegation between? We have five games to secure (at present) seven points to confirm it. Another achievement for a club that just keeps writing its name into the history books.