Something incredible is happening in my hometown, in fact something that hasn't happened for a very long time - and I have been around for quite a while. Just to say that I have spent more time in the last century than this - although it is getting closer. Many of you might not even recognise the header image of this post. No it is not a new MemeCoin - but maybe it should be.

Ok Rah - What are you talking about. Just get on with it already!

My home team, Lincoln City are top of League One and on the brink of a long-awaited return to the second tier of English football, which we now know and love as the Championship.

What makes it even more remarkable is that just nine years ago Lincoln were playing non-league in England's fifth tier and when we look around us our off-field stats do not measure up. With a capacity of 10,871 Sincil Bank (LNER Stadium) is ranked 13/24 in the the League, Furthermore our turnover is 11/24 and with a squad value of just under £8m again we are somewhere around the middle of the range. To further contextualise that League One’s top players typically peak around £1m–£2m, so Lincoln’s stars are good but not elite for the division. Their strength is depth and balance rather than one standout star.

The fact is that statistically Lincoln City realistically should be a mid-league club, but it is how Skubala has blended them together. Lincoln City aren’t doing what many teams try to do. They don’t dominate possession, they definitely don’t have the biggest budget, and they don’t necessarily have the biggest names.

But every player has a very clear job. Each understands his own role which is then well executed and consequently the whole system works together.

The revolution started as suddenly as it was unexpected when the club took a big risk in signing on as coaches two unknown brothers. They had achieved moderate success with small clubs, Concord Rangers and Braintree, but were still working as PE teachers doing their day job. They immediately brought something to the club which was on its knees and going nowhere. They brought in a system and players that worked at that level and reengaged with many of the fans who had become disenfranchised. During their tenure they secured two promotions, and won a trophy at Wembley during what was Lincoln's first ever visit. Lincoln also famously, as a non-league club, reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup the first club at Lincoln's level to achieve that in over a century.

Anyway, at a certain point the Cowley's decided the grass was greener and so they departed to be replaced my Michael Appleton, who initially seemed to be sending the club backwards, but then the results started coming in thick and fast and during the year the stadiums were closed due to Covid we almost made it over the line and only stumbled on the same Wembley pitch which had given us a real taste of glory only a couple of years earlier. Over the next season both he and the fans became less and less engaged with each other (he was never big on that anyway and certainly did not have the Cowley factor about him) and he departed. 

Then came in Mark Kennedy who very much kept us where we were in footballing terms even though his people management skills were somewhat lacking and indeed that was why he was fired.

And now we find ourselves with Michael Skubala, a guy who was an unknown but who had worked quietly alongside Marcelo Bielsa one of the best in the business at Leeds. He has strengthened and deepened the squad by adding real quality Championship level players like Adam Reach and Jack Moylan one of the most clinical finishers I have ever seen in a Lincoln shirt. Lincoln have not tasted defeat since late November and have stormed the division. On Saturday (7th March) we turned over the league leaders, Cardiff City (who were also in the Premier League in recent years) 2-0 in their own backyard despite them having more than 70% possession.

We know what to do and we do it well.

So in conclusion, as a fellow supporter pointed out on his Facebook account, we can learn even more from Lincoln's example. What they are doing is exactly how good business systems should operate. You don’t need the most expensive tools nor the most complicated setup. What you need is just the right tools, doing the right jobs, working together properly.

When that happens, the whole organisation performs better.

Sometimes the best approach isn’t doing what everyone else is doing - it’s building a system that works for you.

So maybe there’s a lesson here for businesses too.

Of course, coming back to Lincoln, 10 points clear of Bolton in third place, and two points clear of Cardiff who now occupy second place, we are not over the line yet, but this is as close as we have been since 1960-61.

Hope you feel inspired...

As always stay safe and well my friends.