Football Season Guide

Lincoln City s endured another stressful campaign of hardship and needed some good results at the end of the season to avoid the disaster of relegation. For a second season running while outside of the Football League, one of the biggest clubs in the Conference punched well below their weight and put their fans through the mill. Still, former manager Gary Simpson returned to the club and got the needed points at the end to see Lincoln over the line. It was definitely not a campaign to cherish for the supporters and they will be right to demand a lot better from a team that has more resources and clout than most in the league and shout at the very least be somewhere in the upper mid-table, even with the well-known financial problems. Simpson made some decent signings during the summer on a restricted budget and will hope that clever and tricky strikers like Danny Rowe and Nick Wright show their worth and bring the goals for the upcoming season. Ben Tomlsinon and Bohan Dixon can contribute up front too while Sean Newton is one of the best left-backs in the division and should bring both stability and attacking threat from there. Jamie Taylor is the more significant departure after a brilliant first half of last season but he has tailed off by the end and in general will not be too sorely missed. The fact that important players like Alan Power and Andrew Boyce have stayed put is more reassuring and especially the latter can further grow now with an experienced head like Nat Brown next to him at the heart of defence. All in all, Simpson seems to have a decent mix at the moment and the lack of any off-pitch issues means that the platform is there for Lincoln to at least stay comfortably in mid-table. However, anything above top ten is way too optimistic for the Imps.