On this day in 1990, Lincoln City entered a new season with optimism surrounding Allan Clarke’s appointment, a free-scoring pre-season campaign and the opening of the Stacey West Stand. The former Leeds United and England striker promised to bring entertaining football back to Sincil Bank, but the excitement would prove painfully short-lived.
Clarke had replaced Colin Murphy during the summer after the Imps finished tenth in the Fourth Division for the second successive season. Murphy had restored City’s Football League status in 1988 and then established them back in the professional game, but his departure created an opportunity for the club to make a high-profile appointment.
Graham Carr and Barry Fry were also considered for the position, but Clarke impressed chairman John Reames and the City board. His playing career brought immediate credibility, while his managerial record included taking Barnsley from the Fourth Division into the Second during successive seasons.
The appointment was presented as evidence of City’s ambition. Sincil Bank was continuing to change around them, with the newly completed Stacey West Stand providing modern toilets, catering facilities and additional turnstiles at the Railway End. The stand had been officially opened with a pre-season friendly against Clarke’s former club Leeds United. Although the match ended in defeat, City’s wider summer programme appeared to provide evidence that his methods were already working.
The Imps had won four friendly matches, drawn with Second Division Hull City and lost only to newly promoted First Division Leeds. More importantly, they had scored 21 goals in six games, an average of more than three per fixture. They opened with a 2-2 draw against Burnley, and hopes were high after Grant Brown and Paul Smith had scored for us.
That attacking return encouraged hopes that Clarke would deliver the attractive football associated with his previous teams. After more than 30 years outside the top two divisions, the stated objective was to begin moving Lincoln back up the pyramid.
Entertainment and Success
Clarke was clear about the sort of team he wanted to create. He promised determination and hard work, but also felt a responsibility to give supporters football they would enjoy watching.
“I want Lincoln City to be successful. I want to give this club success and I shall be working very, very hard.
“I’m not going to guarantee anything. You can’t guarantee anything in football.”
Clarke explained that the board’s primary instruction had been to improve the entertainment offered to spectators. That aligned with his own footballing outlook, which had been shaped during his years playing for Don Revie’s outstanding Leeds side.
“I was told that they wanted to see some football. That was the thing they wanted first and foremost and at the same time everybody connected with the club wanted it to be successful.”
The new manager also recognised that the club needed its supporters. Crowds had increased following City’s return from the Conference, but attendances had begun to fall towards the end of the previous season as results and performances deteriorated.
“Without supporters we wouldn’t have a football club, so we are desperately trying to be successful and looking to improve our position.
“Everybody at the club, including the women who wash and get the playing kit clean, want one thing and that is to be successful.”
Clarke inherited much of the squad assembled by Murphy, with wholesale changes avoided during his first summer. Paul Casey returned after missing much of the previous campaign through injury, while Sean Dunphy arrived from Barnsley following a transfer tribunal which set his fee at £30,000.
Andrew Dixon was another addition, initially joining on a month-to-month contract, while Gerry Brook became the club’s physiotherapist and Eddie Edwards took on a scouting role. There was a sense that the existing group had been refreshed rather than replaced.
Managing director Geoff Davey shared Clarke’s confidence but stopped short of predicting promotion. City had experienced relegation, non-league football and an immediate return during the previous few years, leaving the board understandably wary of making guarantees.
“We are optimistic and enthusiastic about our prospects.
“It’s a team game and we are in a division with 24 other teams in it, and often clubs that are fancied don’t do well, and those that are not fancied do well.
“We would be imprudent if we were to say that we will get promotion this year. We are going to do everything we can to do that and Allan knows he has our full backing.”
Optimism Quickly Disappears
City began the league season with the 2-2 draw at Burnley, and a victory over Halifax Town followed, although the same opponents eliminated the Imps from the League Cup after winning the two-legged tie 2-1 on aggregate.
The campaign was then overshadowed by tragedy at York City on September 8. David Longhurst collapsed during the match against Lincoln and died after suffering a heart attack, with the fixture abandoned as a result.
When City returned to action, results began to deteriorate. Clarke added Gary Powell on loan from Everton and later recruited Lee Warren, David Wilson and Phil Stant, but none produced the immediate transformation required.
Lincoln won only one of their next ten matches and slipped towards the bottom of the Fourth Division. The attractive football Clarke had promised was not bringing points, while crowds fell below the levels the club had hoped to attract following the improvements to Sincil Bank.
Rather than adapting his methods, Clarke blamed the quality of the squad he had inherited. His public criticism of players recruited from non-league football only increased the sense that the relationship between the manager and his team was breaking down.
“There’s too many. We are trying to get the players to play football but there are quite a few players at the club who can’t play football.
“No matter how hard you work with them, they don’t come up to the required standard. End of story.”
A 4-1 FA Cup defeat against Crewe Alexandra was followed by a 3-0 home loss to Darlington, after which around 200 supporters entered the pitch to protest. City were second from bottom, out of the major cup competitions and seemingly moving backwards under a manager appointed to carry them towards the Third Division.
The end arrived after a 2-0 defeat against Birmingham City in the Leyland DAF Trophy. Clarke was dismissed after just 179 days in charge, having won only three of his 18 league matches.
Reames later admitted that the appointment had been a mistake. Clarke had tried to reproduce the football he knew from Leeds, but had been unable to adapt his approach to the realities of the Fourth Division.
“Sadly a lot of the players had lost confidence in him. Allan tried to do things the way Leeds did them, but he had played in a great Leeds team.
“Here he was dealing with Fourth Division footballers and it was a total disaster.”
City won 2-0 against Scarborough immediately after Clarke’s departure, with Steve Thompson subsequently appointed as manager. The Imps lost only twice during Thompson’s first ten matches, using largely the same group of players Clarke had declared incapable of playing his preferred football.
On this day in 1990, none of that disappointment had yet unfolded. City had a celebrated new manager, a newly opened stand and a team which had spent the summer scoring freely, leaving supporters with genuine reasons for optimism.
Clarke promised hard work, entertainment and an attempt to restore the club’s former status. Less than six months later, the promised revolution was over, and one of the most encouraging summers in recent City history had developed into one of its shortest managerial reigns.
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