Sincil Bank, now known as the Proampac Stadium, got its first outing on Saturday after months of refurbishment.
Ignoring the action on the field, it was a huge moment for the club. Stepping bravely into a new world of anthracite and red, fresh logos and new-look stands, this summer has seen the most significant changes to the stadium since the West Bank was opened in 1995. 30 years, it has looked much the same, but yesterday, for the first time, it felt different.
How did it perform? How did it land with supporters? It’s hard to speak for everyone, so I’ll speak for myself instead (warning, this is a long read).
I think the first thing to note is the unbelievable work that has gone in over the summer. I believe it is 40 weeks of work in 14 weeks, and it is still unfinished in places. I understand the effort required to open the doors yesterday was incredible, not only from club staff but also from Gen2 Energy, who have conducted the improvements.
😍 We’re so back. pic.twitter.com/MS3e4hiic2
— Lincoln City FC 🇺🇦 (@LincolnCity_FC) August 22, 2026
The Fan Village
Is it a fan village now? What do you call a village when it grows: a fan town? We have a cathedral; maybe it should be a fan city? With all the new breeze blocks and steel, it certainly feels a lot like a city.
Whatever we call it, the difference is enormous. I came down to the ground about three hours before kick-off, partly because I wanted to see it empty and partly because I was like a child getting up at four o’clock on Christmas morning. I parked on the Common and walked down by Sincil Drain, approaching from the South Park end.
This is going to sound strange, but I had never really noticed the stadium from there before. Obviously, I knew it was there, but it seemed to disappear into its surroundings. Yesterday, I came around the corner and saw this great anthracite and red structure rising in front of me. It looked like a stadium in a way that it perhaps had not before.
The first surprise was the sheer amount of space in the new fan village. The bar has been moved further back, opening up an area that felt much larger than the one we had previously. It was quiet when I first arrived, but by the time kick-off approached, it was absolutely heaving. The weather helped, of course, but it felt like a place where people wanted to stay, rather than somewhere they simply passed through on their way into the ground.
There were still signs that the work had only just been completed. People who attended the ingress and egress test on Thursday spoke about shutters being down and equipment still being piled around the area, which makes the transformation by Saturday morning even more impressive. It might have looked finished to most of us, but behind the scenes, it seems there had been an enormous final push just to make the occasion possible.
I understand one member of staff worked for 17 hours on Friday, while another person came in on their day off to help resolve an issue with the public address system. They were apparently still at the stadium at 11 pm that night. That gives you some idea of what went into getting the doors open, because supporters only saw the end product, not the scramble behind it.
There were naturally a few early teething problems. I was not initially allowed to enter the fan village from the South Park side and had to walk around the stadium, although I understand that was simply an opening-day issue. Given the scale and speed of the work, small problems like that were always going to happen.
Once the area was full, it blew my mind. How have we doubled the footprint, and it still felt busy? Tipsy Imp was, as always, one of the key areas to be around, but the club’s own bars and self-service points were rammed as well. I didn’t try any food or drink, but I did note people were spread out. Finding your mates on a matchday has always been tough, but now, it’s even harder!
I also loved the screens. I’d heard about the big screen outside, but the ones under the bar, running along the concourse, are excellent as well. There won’t be a single throttle point as people strive to see matches on TV, as there are many places to position and watch a game.
I understand there is more to come: seating was notably absent from the area, but that will change. Outside, the fan area felt top-notch. I went to Borussia Monchengladbach last year, and the construction felt more like that than most of the Championship and League One grounds I have been to.
The new coffee shop also looks excellent, although I have already seen that. It is the sort of addition that might seem minor alongside new stands and major structural work, but it contributes to the feeling that the stadium is becoming somewhere supporters can spend more time. The whole area now has a sense of permanence and purpose that it perhaps lacked before.
Inside the Stadium
The changes did not stop once you passed through the turnstiles. I passed through the media area and was in taking some images before fans, and it felt like a new stadium. Everything felt fresh, bright and vibrant. The steps in the stands had been repainted, the colours stood out, and there was new flooring in parts of the ground.
None of those changes is necessarily dramatic in isolation, but together they made a huge difference. It felt clean and new, without losing the fact that this is still Sincil Bank. That balance matters because there is history in the place, and I would not want it polished to the point where it became unrecognisable.
There were some problems during the game. The toilets beneath the St Andrews Stand were flooded, while the lights in the ladies’ toilets in the GBM Stand were not working. Again, those are issues that will need addressing, but they felt like teething troubles rather than anything fundamentally wrong with the redevelopment.
That was probably the overriding feeling throughout the day. There were odd bits that did not quite work, but none of them diminished the scale of what had been achieved. When you compress 40 weeks of work into 14, you are unlikely to open the doors with every small detail operating perfectly.
The New Stand
The most striking change inside the stadium was the new upper tier at the South Park end. I had seen pictures and followed the development throughout the summer, but nothing quite prepared me for how it would look once supporters were inside it.
It makes that end feel like a proper stand. I do not mean that disrespectfully to what was there before, but the additional height makes it much more imposing. There is now another bank of supporters looking down towards the pitch, and it changes the shape of the stadium.
For supporters of a certain vintage, it brought back memories of the old South Park Stand, better known to many of us as the Hunters Stand. That was largely an upper tier at the same end of the ground, and the new structure has something of the same feel. I only watched one match from the old stand, a 0-0 draw with Weymouth on November 21, 1987, but seeing the new tier immediately took me back there.
It also helps the stadium feel more enclosed. Sincil Bank has always had four distinct stands rather than one continuous bowl, but the development at the South Park end gives it more presence. It does not suddenly make us one of the biggest grounds in the Championship, but it does make the stadium feel more suited to the level at which we now find ourselves.
Quite how it was built in such a short period is beyond me. Even after watching the progress throughout the summer, seeing people sitting in it made the achievement feel real. It is no longer a plan, a set of drawings or a building site. It is part of Sincil Bank.
The Stacey West Stand
The Stacey West Stand also carries a very important new detail. It remains the Stacey West Stand, although it is now branded by Northwick, and on either side of the name are two small flashes. One is in Lincoln colours, the other in Bradford colours.
There had been talk of incorporating the numbers 54 and two into the design, but I think the finished tribute is absolutely right. It is subtle, understated and respectful. It does not shout about what it represents or demand attention. It is simply there, quietly remembering.
Remembrance does not always need to be overstated, and this does not feel like something included so the club can point towards it and seek praise. It is a small but permanent acknowledgement of the supporters who lost their lives at Valley Parade, incorporated into the stand that carries their names.
It is a classy touch, and one of the details I appreciated most.
The Pre-Match Experience
I criticised the montage at Middlesbrough because I am a hypocrite, apparently. When it is another club showing their history, I do not want to see it. When it is our people, our goals and our moments, the hairs stand up on the back of my arms.
The pre-match video was accompanied by images of the Imp’s eyes moving around the electronic advertising boards, red against black, while the air-raid siren sounded around the ground. There was also a heartbeat and the sound of a Lancaster engine within the sequence, details that might take a few viewings to absorb fully.
The siren was particularly effective. It is uniquely Lincoln, rather than something copied from another club, and it gave the presentation a sense of identity. Plenty of clubs have montages, flashing lights and dramatic music, but the air-raid siren belongs here. It made the stadium feel imposing before a ball had been kicked.
There was a sound issue during the montage, another of those small opening-day problems, but it did not ruin the effect. Once everything was working together, it offered a glimpse of what the atmosphere could become. There will be visiting teams this season who arrive at a tight, noisy Sincil Bank and do not particularly fancy it.
The video and siren will both be back, which is good news. I suspect the presentation will evolve as the season progresses, especially as supporters become familiar with the different elements. It already worked well, but there is scope for it to become an established part of the matchday experience.
The Scoreboard
The new scoreboard is impressive, although it did create my biggest personal irritation of the day. I take notes during matches and record the time of incidents, so I need to be able to glance at the clock regularly. Every time I looked yesterday, I seemed to be confronted by an advert.
I would wait for it to change back, but by the time the clock returned, play had restarted, and my attention had gone elsewhere. It was not a disaster, and I fully appreciate that advertising helps pay for these improvements, but it would be helpful if the match clock remained visible at all times. I did miss having a plain old clock though, keeping time uninterrupted!
That was the biggest complaint I could find about the day, which perhaps tells its own story. If the most annoying part of a vast stadium redevelopment is that a journalist had to do a little bit of maths because there were too many adverts, the club has probably done rather well.
The screen came into its own during the pre-match montage. With no adverts obscuring it, it showed goals, players and moments from the club’s history as part of a presentation designed to build the atmosphere before kick-off.
From my position, it was not always easy to pick out every detail, particularly in the older footage. I would love the club to release the full montage online because there were clips in there that deserve a closer look. I am also pleased that it was not merely a one-off for the opening game, with the club confirming that the video will return.
A Huge Step Forward
The football did not follow the script, and that inevitably took some of the shine away from the occasion. However, separating the result from everything around it, yesterday was a major success for the club.
The new fan village was packed, the stadium looked brighter and more imposing, the additional tier transformed the South Park end, and the pre-match presentation gave Sincil Bank a new energy. There were problems with toilets, lighting, access, sound and the number of adverts on the scoreboard, but all of those things can be resolved.
What cannot be manufactured quite so easily is the feeling that something has changed. Sincil Bank still felt like home, but it also felt bigger, fresher and more ambitious. It looked like a stadium belonging to a club that has stepped into the Championship and intends to remain there.
We have spent much of the summer talking about the team adapting to a new level, but the stadium has had to do the same. Yesterday was its first proper test, and despite the inevitable teething problems, I thought it passed.
Imps Territory is not finished yet, but the foundations are very firmly in place.
You paint a great picture, i thought i was in the ground, well done.