Michael Appleton: “It’s been a little bit of a whirlwind to a degree I suppose. A lot has happened in that time.”

Michael Appleton was surprised to hear he has managed 100 Lincoln City games but was happy to look back and share his thoughts ahead of the game versus Ipswich Town.

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Ipswich Town: “When you look at the amount of players they’ve signed……eventually over 46 games they will be in or around, well actually I’m certain they will be in the top six”.

Over a period of time, the quality in their squad will be quite scary with what they have to choose from. MA quipped, “There’s a little bit of jealousy, to be honest; I can’t lie”.

Ipswich are currently working their way through a passage where they have to work out their best 11 and to develop up and running combinations between their players. The Imps will try to take advantage of playing Ipswich early in that process, seeking to exploit any mental fragility associated with that.

From an injury perspective, Connor McGrandles has a repeat injury of what occurred last season albeit it is somewhat sorer than last time. He will probably require a pressure-relieving injection behind the knee and will not be available this weekend. Both of the centre backs from the Rotherham game picked up knocks in that match and are 50/50 having not trained, but MA is hopeful they will make the Ipswich fixture. Adam Jackson has a dead leg and Lewis Montsma opened up his ankle.

First 100 Games as Manager of the Imps: MA was unaware of his milestone but when it was highlighted he had this to say:

“It’s been a little bit of a whirlwind to a degree I suppose. A lot has happened in that time. Clearly, last year was a different experience to anything before; probably one we won’t ever forget……I’ve enjoyed my time. The first few months were hard because I had a clear understanding in my head of what I needed to do. Myself and the club realised for us to be sustainable we had to work in a certain manner (even if that was detrimental due to working to budget and not simply being able to sign every player MA wanted)”.

“It’s been great. I want to be able to make sure that we can be as competitive as we can this year and when I’m looking back over the next one hundred games, hopefully, I’ll have one or two memories and successful ones at that”.

Club and Personal Progression: MA has been delighted with how the club has developed and likes to think that around the country Lincoln City Football Club are seen as a young progressive team who play decent football and have a good model going on.

MA tempered his comments with some management of expectations following the success of the previous season. Some people may be looking and thinking the team is maybe a bit weaker or not as strong. The reality is that this year the league is three or four times stronger than it’s ever been this time around.

“We’ve got a group that have a genuine belief in what we do and how they do it. There’s a togetherness which is quite refreshing really”.

Taking Tuesday as an example, the Imps were nowhere near their best or had anything like the physicality of the Rotherham side but were still able to walk away with a point. That wouldn’t have been possible with the players MA had when he first arrived.

Considering his own career, MA pointed out that as a manager you have to learn very quickly and if you don’t progress or improve ‘you’ will be found out.

“What has happened since Portsmouth, Blackpool, Blackburn days, in that first year – eighteen months of management; since then I’ve had a lot of stability. I had three very good successful years at Oxford. I really enjoyed my year at Leicester…..I’ve enjoyed my two years I’ve had here. So what I’ve done is I’ve been able to make better choices, decisions about the environment in which I find myself”.

Writer: hulloutpost

Thank you to Graham Burrell and Lincoln City Football Club for the photograph!

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Michael Appleton: "It's been a little bit of a whirlwind to a degree I suppose. A lot has happened in that time."https://t.co/5UOYdDlg9p#ImpsAsOne #ITFC

— Vital Lincoln City (@VitalLincoln) September 17, 2021