1987/88 – GMVC Champions
There are some legends on this photo, and I’m not talking about the players. Barry Clements is on here, as is Chris Ashton, making this memorable for me, the first really successful team I can anchor to.
Arguments for it being the best ever? Only one promotion spot saw us really squeezed hard, and every single team wanted to beat us. The GMVC was an inhospitable place – the fixtures saw us away at the big spenders (Weymouth) and the title-favourites (Barnet) before we got to Sincil Bank. We were disliked; the so-called Football League elite there for the taking.
We were the only full-time club in the division, which does add some context, and we did spend a club-record fee on Paul Smith, as well as tempt seasoned EFL professionals, such as Trevor Matthewson, to the Bank. It wasn’t quite no expense spared, but we were a side backed well compared to the division.
We were good as well, thrashing Cheltenham (5-1), Altrincham (5-0), Kidderminster and Boston (5-3) among others. We scored freely, punched our way out of matches and eventually, bounced back.
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