Lincoln City’s two new joint head coaches, Chris Cohen and Tom Shaw, have spoken to the media for the first time since their appointments.
After Michael Skubala left for Bristol City last month, the Imps moved swiftly to promote Cohen and Shaw to their unique roles for City’s first Championship campaign in 65 years.
Ahead of the players’ return for pre-season training next week, the pair have been speaking to the national and local media, including The Stacey West.
One of the major points that supporters of other clubs have highlighted is how in-game decisions will be dealt with. Under Skubala, both assistant head coaches would have their own ideas. They then collectively made a decision, presented it to the former Lincoln gaffer, who ultimately had the final say.
With the removal of that overall figurehead, Shaw reiterated that the process that goes into preparing for these decisions will remain the same.
“We prepare, rehearse, and try to envisage all problems that come in the game. So we have this utopian, beautiful game model that starts the game off. It’s gone pretty well this year in the first halves, and then the game takes you to a different place. We’ll research what other teams do in that moment.
“A lot of it we’ve prepared for. This year, supporters will have seen a regular substitution we made this year to change our shape when we were winning, and we practised that. When we were in that scenario, it ended up being the same player.”
While Dom Jefferies made 23 appearances off the bench last season, it was Ryley Towler’s 19 games where he came on as a substitute that often resulted in that mid-game alteration in formation. That was clearly a plan that had been constructed during the week, and that same process will continue heading into the second tier this season.
“I trust Chris’s opinion on football very highly,” Shaw said. “There were some moments where he said, ‘let’s do this,’ and I’m right behind it, and vice versa. Our disagreements have happened Monday to Friday, until we are sold on something in full belief.
“This room is where we thrash out the game plans. There are loads of checks and challenges, going in different ways against this opponent. But come matchday, we’re super aligned, and we know what we’re going after.”
There is another interesting dilemma that the pair will have going into the new campaign, and it surrounds what position they watch the game from. As was customary for Lincoln under Skubala, Cohen would spend the first half of matches up on the gantry, before returning to pitch side for the second 45 minutes.
The former Nottingham Forest man was able to provide some clarity on how he believes this will continue heading into the 26/27 campaign.
“At the moment, continuity is really important,” Cohen said. “I like to be able to see it from the higher vantage point for the first half. In the second half, when there are substitutions, it’s more reactive. We start responding to different dynamics within the game, so I like to be on the touchline together.
“Maybe the other coach will go up there for the second half. There are a couple of bits we need to sort out, but in the main, we’ll keep it the same and continue the work we’ve been doing.”
This isn’t something that is unique to Lincoln, though. Cohen, who is in his third stint with the Imps, began his coaching career at Luton Town. That is where he first found his affection for watching the game from a different perspective than other coaches.
“I’ve always loved doing that from my Luton days with Nath [Nathan Jones]. We just got in at half-time and agreed with each other and thought we’d cracked football because we’d seen it exactly the same way.
“It just gives me a completely different perspective of a half of football, away from the emotion and just seeing what’s in front of you. Tom is miles better at being able to see it from this [touchline] level.
“I’m better at shouting at the ref as well, so I need to be on the touchline,” Tom jokingly added.
You can listen to the full exclusive chat with our new management pair on the SW Podcast feed.
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