When Danny and Nicky Cowley left The Imps to join Championship side Huddersfield Town having had such a significant impact on the Football Club, Michael Appleton was always going to have a difficult job because of the act they have to follow. In football, this is magnified by the perennially unreasonable expectations of many fans. The success rate is commonly low.
Their predecessors usually pick their time of leaving, when success may well be at its peak.
For the new man then, things are not easy. If you don’t know what you are doing it won’t take long for you to be found out, as everyone has witnessed a successful formula, recently and at first hand.
The first few days of Michael Appleton’s reign involved for most fans some coming to terms with the immediate past. For some, the Cowleys were the only management they had ever know at Lincoln. My daughter was one such, and her immediate reaction was to want to turn her allegiance to Huddersfield Town.
Even for those that had seen many decades of ups and mainly downs, there was unease. Only a real optimist would have believed the Cowleys leaving was a positive thing for Lincoln’s future. Was this the beginning of the end of a pretty much unprecedented period of success? Had we gone as far as we were going to go?
So what happened or should I say what has happened so far?
Well, quite a bit really. The results on the pitch during the interregnum were evidence that this was not a straightforward task. Results culminating in a 6-0 defeat at home was perhaps a reality check and also a blessing in disguise.
We were rudderless and in a state of shock. Expectations were redrawn. We needed new leadership and quickly.
In his first press conferences, MA was quick to point out we were already in a bad run, and things might get worse before they got better. Not what we really wanted to hear or believe.
His priority was to make us harder to beat. Before long out went favourites like Payne and Anderson. He told us the squad was too old and that would have to change. We started playing out from the back more and we told it would carry on (even though many did n’t like it, much). As time went on it became evident Appleton had clear views on players and the way forward. Anderson with game tweaked was back but Pett and Payne were now not in our plans long term.
By Christmas we had become hard to beat and as the new year beckoned, an exciting side capable of beating the likes of Ipswich and Peterborough, while playing attractive football. A different style to the ultra methodical and successful Cowley style.
Then came January, the earlier talk of young players and a new model were both confirmed with the activity in the transfer market and explained with the release of the clubs accounts, showing significant losses, which had been paid for by investors willing to plug the gap in the short term but not necessarily able to do so forever.
So what have we learned since Michael Appleton arrived?
1. First and foremost that the club is in safe hands. The club had a set back in September losing a hugely successful management team. However, by February we are on a clear course which everyone understands. In fact, it’s the course we were on well before September. Clive Nates and Danny Cowley both spoke about consolidation this season. The former saw it as a pragmatic essential stage in an ongoing strategy, the latter as an unwanted stalling of his rise through the leagues.
Both, however, were clear on the plan because the man ultimately in charge was the Chairman. His actions were not influenced by anything other than the best interests of Lincoln City, into the future.
2. Michael Appleton is his own man, fully signed up to the plans the club has with the coaching ability, contacts and experience to make them a reality. He is plain-speaking, able and different from what we have been used to. The ability to turn the 6-0 losers into the side winning well over Christmas is the mark of a good coach. The relish with which he talks about young players he brings in, suggests he believes he will turn the new recruits into a side, winning well again, before long.
The way he handled Mr Evans shows he is composed but uncompromising. We (Mr Nates) have chosen well again.
3. No one knows the future but we can all influence it. We have a plan. If the plan is successful the next few seasons could be the most exciting in most people’s living memory. The target is the Championship. There will be crucial times along the way. Most of them are in the hands of the players, the management and the board, but the supporters of Lincoln also have their part to play. Season tickets sales in February provide funds and confidence to plan for next season and crucially positive backing of the team in the next 10 games, will ensure we comfortably confirm our status for next year and demonstrate to potential recruits this is a club still going places.
Writer: Chimpimp
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"No one knows the future but we can all influence it. We have a plan."https://t.co/TzN3m1Dtnc#ImpsAsOne #ProudToBeImps
— Vital Lincoln City (@VitalLincoln) March 2, 2020
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