Seven years ago today, Danny and Nicky Cowley left Lincoln City.
Even now, 9th September is a date which feels significant, because their departure represented far more than a change of management. It felt like the end of an era and, at the time, perhaps even the end of everything we had built.
At the time, Clive Nates attempted to provide some reassurance, saying the unprecedented success of the previous three years had transformed every aspect of Lincoln City and left us in a strong position to continue progressing. It was precisely the sort of calm, measured response you would expect from Clive, but I am not sure many supporters were ready to hear it.
I certainly wasn’t. My immediate reaction began with the words: “Sadly, as predicted, Danny and Nicky have left Lincoln City.” I followed that by describing them as horrible words to write, which captured the mood perfectly. It was not simply disappointment. It was anger, uncertainty and, if we are being honest, fear.
When Danny and Nicky arrived, we were a mid-table National League club without a permanent training ground. Staff sometimes had to cut back hedges to make borrowed pitches usable. Three years later, we were in League One, paying transfer fees and training at a purpose-built facility. We had won the National League, lifted the Checkatrade Trophy at Wembley and become League Two champions. There had also been the FA Cup quarter-final, games at Ipswich, Brighton, Burnley and Arsenal, another trip to Goodison Park and a League Two play-off campaign.
It was an extraordinary transformation. Lincoln City did not merely win matches under the Cowleys. The entire perception of the football club changed.
That was why it felt so difficult to imagine the club continuing without them. Clive had provided the investment and leadership, while people throughout the club played important roles, but so much of our momentum appeared to revolve around Danny and Nicky. They were the public faces of the revolution. They understood the supporters, harnessed the energy inside Sincil Bank and built teams which reflected what people wanted to see.
They also arrived at the perfect moment. There was enormous untapped potential at Lincoln City, but it needed somebody to give it direction. The Cowleys did that brilliantly. They made people believe again, and once belief returned, success followed.
In my reaction at the time, I compared their departure to the end of a relationship. Lincoln City were the unpopular kid at school who started going out with a relatively unremarkable girl. She then blossomed, began turning heads and eventually left for one of the popular lads. It was a deliberately melodramatic analogy, but that was how it felt.
I wrote about feeling like a jilted teenager, unable to look at pictures of Danny and Nicky without becoming angry. I wanted to read that the Huddersfield move had collapsed at the eleventh hour, even though I knew it would not. There was also a line about not being sad that it had ended, but being happy that it had happened at all. I admitted that it sounded like “some hippy shit” designed to stop a heartbroken friend from listening to Radiohead and swallowing a hundred paracetamol, but there was truth in it.
Seven years later, the relationship analogy feels even more appropriate. Enough time has passed that you can encounter the former love of your life without the old pain returning. You can remember the holidays, the laughter and the things you achieved together. You can nod, say hello and perhaps even have a drink while accepting that both of you have moved on.
Secretly, you might also look at where you have both ended up and think: it turned out all right for us, didn’t it?
That is not intended as a slur against Danny and Nicky. They did manage in the Championship with Huddersfield and kept the Terriers up, only to be dismissed at the end of that season. They subsequently spent almost two years with Portsmouth without delivering the promotion both they and the club craved. After a year away from management, they returned closer to home with Colchester United.
Perhaps they would make the same decision again. Managing in the Championship was an opportunity they had earned, while the financial rewards may have provided greater security for their families. Football always appeared to consume them, but family was even more important. It was Danny and Nicky together wherever they went, brother alongside brother, and returning to Essex must have brought benefits beyond league tables and promotion campaigns.
I have spoken to Danny since their departure, and there was a time when he admitted regretting leaving Lincoln. Whether he still feels that way now, only he knows. I simply hope they are happy. I look for Colchester’s results and want them to win. I listen to Danny’s interviews and hope their journey, even if it did not lead where they imagined in 2019, has given them something meaningful.
Lincoln City’s journey has continued as well, although it has not always been straightforward. Michael Appleton inherited an ageing squad which was approaching a natural point of transition. That is not meant disrespectfully towards players such as Lee Frecklington, Michael O’Connor and John Akinde, who served the club superbly. O’Connor understandably pointed out that the players had helped deliver the success rather than it belonging solely to the management team. He was right, but significant change was inevitable.
That first season without the Cowleys could have become uncomfortable had Covid not curtailed it. We had beaten Burton Albion and appeared to be moving towards safety, but difficult fixtures remained, including a potentially awkward trip to Tranmere Rovers. We probably would have survived, but it was not guaranteed.
Then came the remarkable 2020/21 campaign under Appleton, when City reached the League One play-off final. Circumstances may have accelerated the transition and briefly inflated expectations, but it demonstrated that Lincoln City could succeed without the Cowleys. Since then there have been setbacks, near misses, memorable nights and further progress. The club they left was unrecognisable from the one they inherited, and the club today has moved forward again.
Seven years ago, it seemed as though we were standing on the edge of a precipice. We weren’t. The structure remained, the ownership remained ambitious, and the people responsible for making decisions continued to build. Clive has since moved on, as have others, but figures such as Liam Scully and Jez George have helped ensure the club’s progress was never dependent upon one manager.
That lesson became useful when Michael Skubala left. His departure was a significant blow, and I was upset, but it did not carry the same apocalyptic feeling. Chris Cohen and Tom Shaw were given their opportunity, and the club continued. I cannot remember the exact date Skubala departed without looking it up. I will never forget 9 September 2019.
I know where I was when the news about Danny and Nicky broke. The date is seared into my memory because of the gut punch it delivered. It did not compare with losing somebody close to me, of course, but within the relatively trivial world of football, it felt seismic. I thought about little else for the entire day. Oddly, I recall that date, exact date, like it was some sort of life-changing moment.
Now, the anger has completely disappeared. All that remains is gratitude for the greatest sustained period of success many of us had ever experienced. Danny and Nicky gave us three trophies, unforgettable cup runs and our Football League status back. More importantly, they helped restore pride, belief and ambition to Lincoln City. I also thank them for giving me the experience of knowing that when Michael left in the summer, it was not the end of the world, because we lived that loss once, and came out stronger for it.
What I could not understand Seven years ago, but appreciate completely today, is that no individual is bigger than a football club. Managers leave, players move on, and owners eventually pass responsibility to somebody else. There will be bad results and difficult seasons, but Lincoln City will endure. The Cowleys helped rebuild the club, and everything that has happened since has ensured their work was a beginning, rather than an ending.
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