Not my personal choice but not disappointed

Hello all

A few days ago I wrote an entry where I stated that my personal favourite to get the Lincoln job was Gary Brabin, a man with a winning percentage just shy of 50%, however, whilst a Gary did get the job, it wasn't Brabin, but rather Simpson. Despite my first choice not getting the job, I'm not overly disappointed.

The appointment came last than 24 hours after a last gasp defeat to Mansfield, a match that the Imps had dominated for long spells, so the potential is there to do quite well. That's four times we've faced Mansfield this season, a side who could easily get promoted this season, and other than the FA Cup replay, you'd argue that City were the better side in all of the games. This side does have the potential to do very well but has, up until now, lacked a man to motivate them.

Whether Simpson is the motivator needed remains to be seen, but if can replicate the team spirit from the 2002-2006 period then there are promising times ahead. When assistant to Keith, Simpson was always a good motivator and a good bloke, and it was a side built on a strong defence. Lincoln sides under Keith and Simpson were never prolific, and nor were any of the players for consistent periods (I know people will say Yeo in that situation, but let's not forget that Yeo only scored one league goal in thirteen months at one point and only had one truly prolific spell in his time at the club), but the squads were built on a brilliant defence, and that's what was the basis for success. It says it all that the 2002/3 squad only scored 46 goals but still had a positive goal difference.

Our following at the 2004/5 Playoff Final, more than
doubled the support from Southend that day. Pity about the
result

In truth this isn't even a dissimilar situation to the last time Simpson joined the club. Ten seasons ago Lincoln were dead certs for the drop, but what happened next was beyond anyone's most optimistic and realistic dreams as an Imps side made up of non-league players crashed the Playoff party and came within a match of Division Two (as it was known then, now League One) football. That season was the first season I had attended every game home and away and since then I have still only missed two games (Swansea away in 2004/5 and Chester away in 2005/6) and in all of that time I have hoped that someone could restore the pride in the club that you felt during the aforementioned period.

The only question that remains is "will we see any of the players from the 2002-2006 back at the club soon?". Whilst a lot of the players are still playing, you'd be hard pushed to find many that might jump at the chance. Ben Futcher has been linked back with the Imps a few times, and the leading goalscorer from the 2002/3 has always been complimentary about our club.....even when our fans didn't return the favour, and Nat Brown played for Simpson at Macclesfield since leaving the Imps, other than those two though you'd struggle to find many players who would come back to the club.

Let's not make any mistake though, this isn't 10 years ago, we can't just automatically expect the same sort of things, however, there is definitely more positivity from this appointment than the Holdsworth appointment.

But anyway, I'll leave you all to get on with the rest of your evening.

Peace out.