We run a column called ‘A Case For The Defence` regularly, apt then that the man who has marshalled that defence should star in it for once. Just as he has made the pieces fit, so we feel there is a case for Clark to be seen as a bit of a missing piece himself.
Does anyone else get the impression that Clark talks our language? Well he is local, starting with our youth team. To a growing number of Imps he looks set to return as manager and to not only save us a pile of money, but to also use it wisely? He shows a true football background, lives the game 24/7 and shows a common sense that Lincoln fans can relate to He has also talked more sense in 12 days than Peter Jackson did in his entire tenure. I first noticed it at the training day, when out of Iffy, ‘Mussy` and Clark, Simon seemed to make the most sense. At the time it made me think for an instant, and I would revisit it as a new season of woe unfurled.
Simon talked of the role of the fullback in the modern game, that their level of interaction in the overall game made them key in both defence and attack. In English, the full backs do and should see plenty of the ball. The training ground routine bore out that rationale with pretty triangles leading to overlaps and crosses that were being gobbled up by Connor and co. Yet we got to the season proper and it was nowhere to be seen as ‘ugly-ball` ruled the roost once again as the Sincil Sighs returned as early as the 1-0 smash and grab on opening day. Not unlike Marie Antoinette the management team espoused our league position as we Imps were told to be patient and live with the meagre crumbs in return for our funds providing our betters with cake. Whilst everyone else on the Titanic was eyeing the lifeboats we were told to live with the continued ups and downs. Lets face it she had been sinking for 11 months, and like Clark`s refreshing ideas, all the lifebelts were still in storage below deck. Back on dry land, this tactical naivety and inability to change things is why Peter Jackson and Iffy had to go, heads in the sand comes to mind, quick sand at that.
But can he find players you ask? For fair and lovely as Lincoln is she is not every playboy footballers jewel according to many managers past, as Schoey and others have bemoaned. It didn`t stop Swaibu leaving the bright lights of London though did it? To also put the record straight it was in fact Clark`s London connections that sorted that one as well as his scouting groundwork in the Fagan and other deals this summer. Perhaps that is why young Moses is singing his praises in today`s Echo. Professor Iffy may have gone but Clarke has always been a 50/50 driving force in the inception of our new scouting techniques. His logic that local teams will not necessarily mean a permanent change of scenery is also bourn out with tomorrows trip to cast an eye over the Rams second string. Talking of local Simon is born and bred and knows the Lincolnshire leagues from the cradle to the grave. He runs a Sunday League side and was seen at Lincoln United recently too, sorry Jamie love you really. He has also recently cast his eye over Sheffield Wednesday, for those who want some steel at the heart of the Imps.
Looking at the candidates none scream Messiah, as if they would, and few come with a gift for working miracles within a budget. Brabin`s abrupt tenures at 3 clubs in two years look good on the face of things but suggest he is not Lincoln`s man. Brabin has also been blessed with money that he will not have at the Imps. Thus this would insure his shake up would be unlikely to come to pass and more than likely lead to a second costly payoff for him and his likely assistant Bimmo. At TNS and Cambridge he had a financial advantage over his peers, at Southport he merely nursed a side for the final month of the season. At Cambridge he got £500,000, more than he is likely to get here, and still went before the board and asked for more. One reference to Dickens, the exciting Chris Fagan is more than enough for Lincoln methinks. His relationship with our board, who espouse thrift and budgetary restraint, will be a short and somewhat unpleasant one for all concerned. In fairness managers need money if they are to dazzle, or persuasive skills, luck and judgement if they live in the real world. It is such an imprecise science, and bar the managers of the big 4/5 its a bumpy ride with luck and superstition playing as big a part as wits and judgement along the way. Money may lengthen the journey though it can also render the brakes obsolete. A new management team would also take a big chunk of the money that PJ and Iffy have saved us. Clark and Tom Spall would certainly want rises but they would have around 10 percent added back into the budget, not to mention incoming transfer instalments.
I am not suggesting for one minute Steff hands out another speculative long-term contract, but the wise money and word on the street suggests a tilt until at least the end of the season. Clark is growing on the faithful; his side still played football at Bournemouth for a start. He knows the squad and the scale of the task; he has identified some cheap quick fixes that could well see us move up the Division. This will raise the gates from a paltry 3,000 and swell the coffers, something sadly in decline for 2-3 years. In all honesty a big time Charlie manager will gobble up a big slice of the pie before he even starts bitching about the budget constraints. Some will say this lacks ambition, but why not see if Simon Clark is the man with the plan who can.
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