The Nine Teams Lincoln City Will Definitely Be Playing Next Season

Stoke City

Seven seasons Stoke have been in the Championship, and every season they finish between 14th and 18th. They came out of the blocks flying under Mark Robins, but now have 55 points, 11 more than Oxford United in the final relegation spot. As things stand, they’ll likely finish between 14th and 18th again. Middling, ambling along and maybe going a bit stale.

They’re not regular opponents for the Imps. They were in the old Second Division days, but we’ve only crossed paths once since, in our brief stint in the third tier back in 1998/99. They did the double over us, 2-1 at the Bank, 2-0 at their place, meaning our last league win was 1959.

They’re famous in LN5 for being the visitors ‘the night the wall came down‘ at the Bank.

Managed by Mark Robins, who we went up against as Coventry boss in 2017/18, Stoke have a decent squad. Jesurun Rak-Sakyi was a target for us on loan once, but chose Charlton instead, while Boson Lawal was sent off at the Bank for Fleetwood a couple of seasons ago.

Swansea City

My second game at the Bank saw us thrash Swansea City 4-0, but in recent times, they’ve not been visitors in the league. They are an ‘old friend’ in the same way Preston are – we’ve faced them plenty in my lifetime, but if you’re 20-something, you won’t recall our meetings.

We got the better of them once in each of the last four seasons we met, the last time being when a late Garry Monk own goal helped us towards the play-offs in 2005. We’ve met more than fifty times through history, with the last run of 20 years being the longest without a Lincoln and Swansea game since our first meeting.

They’re 15th on 57 points, stranded in midtable safety. When we meet, they’ll have Liam Cullen, a one-time Imps loanee, in the team. He’s scored five times in 37 matches this season, and has been competing with a former Imps’ loan target, Adam Idah, who has four in 22.

We might also get to see Paul Farman, the only member of the 2016/17 team currently with a Championship contract. He hasn’t played for them, but regularly makes the bench in cup matches.

Watford

The Graham Taylor derby, a game where the great manager is sure to be remembered by both sets of supporters. Our meetings with Watford have been few and far between, with our biggest win coming with Taylor in the dugout for us (5-1) and their biggest win coming with Taylor in the dugout for them (5-0). In the latter game, it’s reported Lincoln fans started cheering for the Hornets over Willie Bell’s Lincoln.

Ed Still is the manager there, but that’s sure to change before we play them, maybe even twice. Since our promotion to the EFL in 2017, Watford have had 19 managers, including caretakers. They’ve had four (Paulo Pezzolano, Javi Gracia, Charlie Daniels and Still) this season alone. Imagine, they’ve nearly as many managers as we have defeats.

They’re currently 13th on 57 points, another of those sides stranded in the middle of the pack. Since relegation in 2022, they’ve finished 11th, 15th and 14th, with this season likely to be another outside the top ten.