Day 200

I’ve made it through two hundred days as a football manager. The job sure isn’t as glamorous as it appears from the outside, with finances, injuries, happiness, egos, fans, and a board of directors all to worry about before you even get out on the pitch. I like my job, as much as it sometimes seems like a drag. Even so, I miss the good old days of picking a team then rolling up on match day to guide the lads to victory.

Back then it wasn’t a proper job. It ate up a few hours here and there, sure, but the season was over in no time at all. I didn’t have to worry about the media and its never-ending parade of news and questions and rumours and press conferences. It was me, my tactics, and my team. I liked it that way.

I guess it’s natural to long for simpler times—that’s pretty much what nostalgia is, right? But I feel like there’s a magic gone from the old times, and it can never truly come back. Even if we tried, there’d be that lingering memory of what it’s like now; we’re out of Plato’s cave—no longer in the dark staring at dancing shadows, lost in ignorance and naïvety—and you can’t unsee what you’ve seen. Would that older experience of coaching a football team still be satisfactory? Or hollow and disappointing, because now we’ve seen what casts those shadows?

Maybe in another hundred days I’ll have some answers. One hundred more days of monotony mixed with excitement, glory alternating with a sense of unfulfillment, despair offset by joy, and so very many numbers.

We face fourth-placed Gateshead tomorrow. Both sides lost their previous two matches, so at least one of us will be breaking a streak before it too deeply affects morale. We’re rated at evens to win, despite being the visiting team and the losers in our previous meeting. Ben Clark kept my boy Omar Koroma from exerting any influence last time; I wonder if he can do it again (I sure hope not).

Scout Ian Gardner says that Walsall central defender Oliver Lancashire is indeed a quality player who’d make my starting eleven. Problem is that Lancashire probably wouldn’t be interested in signing for us—either on loan or on a permanent deal. He’d rather be a backup player in League 1 than a star in the Conference. If that’s true then there’s not much I can do about it…other than get promoted and approach him next season.

Day 199

We held a backroom meeting today, for the first time in two weeks. The main talking point was potential signings who turned out to not be very good at all. One player recommended by Curtis Woodhouse seemed like a decent prospect, though.

Oliver Lancashire has a lot to live up to being named after an entire county, but it looks as though the central defender might go some way to doing just that. Tall, strong, determined, and with no weaknesses other than a poor passing ability, he’s got a fair bit of growth still ahead of him. He’s out of favour at Walsall, and his contract is expiring at the end of the season. I asked Ian Gardner to take a closer look at him, but I think Lancashire will be high on the shortlist going forward.

Left back Mathew Park completed his loan spell and returned to Hearts today. He was a handy squad player during his three-month stay. Hopefully his replacement Alex Billington will be at least as useful.

Coach Mark Brown suggested I talk up central midfield prospect Toumani Diagouraga to the media. I opted instead to put in a bid to loan him for five months. I’d love to see a midfield quartet of Olembé, Birchall, Diagouraga, and Shuker. I might just make it happen.

Day 198

Our match against Newport County was postponed due to heavy snow on the pitch. It’s now scheduled for two weeks from today.

That means our next game is in three days, against fourth-placed Gateshead. That could be a tough one.

The good news about these delays is that it grants us more matches with Shuker available. I’d put him 70-30 to be fit to start in the rescheduled Newport game, which would mean he misses only three matches (plus the one he couldn’t finish) during his six-week injury absence.

The bad news is that we’ve been bumped off the top of the table. Mansfield won tonight, putting them one point clear. We have a game in hand, sure, but there’s a psychological advantage for them from now until we make up that game.

Preston youngster Alex Billington joined us on loan today. He’ll be acting as cover for left back John Nutter, should the club captain get injured or suspended. Matthew Park’s loan deal ends tomorrow, so the timing is pretty well perfect.

Day 197

I released striker Richard Pacquette from his contract today. I tried to get him to accept a mutual termination agreement, but his negative reaction solidified my feelings that he’s wasting away in the Reserves. Better to spend his best years as a footballer plying his trade somewhere that it’ll be appreciated.

Tony Sinclair convinced me not to give him the same treatment. He’s still on the transfer list, but if he trains hard he might just get off it.

We’re clear and comfortable favourites for tomorrow’s match against Newport County. At 1-2 odds, the bookmakers obviously think it’s a wash. I hope they’re right—we desperately need a win to get back on track. Newport striker Cherno Samba will be trying to prove otherwise, and I’ll be relying on Marques and Gowling to keep him quiet.

Day 196

Most of the left backs that Curtis Woodhouse recommended in his loan report are well below the standard I’m looking for. A few might be decent prospects, though, and I asked my scouts to check them out. The idea is to get someone who can step in for Matthew Park, whose loan deal ends shortly. If they’re better than first-choice left back John Nutter, great—but that’s not important so long as they’re good enough to perform consistently at this level.

Based on the scout reports, I picked out Preston youngster Alex Billington, who has excellent pace, a solid technique, and a weakness in the air. I offered to loan him for five months, which is effectively through to the end of the season (and a little beyond). His contract expires at the end of the season, too, so if things go well we might be a chance to sign him permanently.

French winger Benjamin Laurant signed for us today. And so begins the extreme confusion between Laurent and Laurant—both French, both specialising in the right wing, and both with names that start with Laur and end with nt. He’s a decent chance to start against Newport in a couple of days, despite being “severely” short of match fitness. With Shuker and Russell injured, we’re short of right wing options, and Laurent was disappointing last time out.

Day 195

Goalkeeper Mark Halstead joined us on a free transfer from Blackpool today. He had a moderately-successful loan spell earlier in the season, and his manager was willing to let him go on a conditional deal whereby we pay Blackpool a portion of any future transfer fee.

I’m delighted to have the young keeper on board. He’s already a good player, and he’s looking at several years of development ahead of him. I won’t rush him into the first team; he’ll have to win his place. But we’re now in good shape between the sticks.

I took the opportunity to start shopping Joe Anyon around. I’ve been very disappointed by Anyon this season, but he has a good reputation. Now that we have Halstead on a permanent deal, I thought I might try to cash in on that reputation. I expect it’ll take a while—at the very least we’re likely to face little to no interest until Anyon resumes full training (after injury) in a couple of weeks. But I have some hope that I’ll manage to offload the goalkeeper for a decent price before the transfer window closes at the end of the month.

Day 194

My Under 18s won again—that’s two games in a row. This one was rather easier than last week’s upset of Norwich; they beat last-placed Alfreton 2-1 at home. Coach Grant Brown singled out Aaron Rice, on his comeback after three weeks out injured, as the most impressive performer.

I put Jean-François Christophe in the central midfield spot vacated by the departed Michael Richardson. Christophe hadn’t played a first-team game since being stretchered off against Fleetwood in October—three months ago. I tested new boy Chris Birchall’s versatility by playing him out of position on the left wing, since Olembé’s still a few days from being fit following his injury. Francis Laurent dropped back to right midfield to replace Shuker, with Ben May starting alongside Barnes-Homer in attack. Kanouté kept his place at the back, and Bore returned at right back after being rested in the previous match.

Birchall had the first shot on goal—an unlikely effort from a tight angle just inside the box. We looked the slightly better team during the opening 20 minutes, but it was anyone’s game.

Poor Christophe had to come off injured just before half time. They say a player is most vulnerable to injury when he’s just recovered from one—looks like the lad’s fallen victim to the statistics. I brought Park on in his place, shifting Birchall into a central midfield playmaker role.

York broke the deadlock in the 55th minute, capitalising on lax marking to get in behind the defence. Oyebanjo had an easy finish from Tønne’s left-wing cross.

A fine save prevented Barnes-Homer from equalising 15 minutes later. Substitute Omar Koroma broke free on the right wing, and sent a hard cross towards Barnes-Homer. The striker flicked the ball goalwards, denied only by Ben White’s quick reaction.

We paid the price once again for poor marking in the 80th minute. Oyebanjo found himself in space on the right wing, then crossed to Reed in the penalty area. The York striker couldn’t believe his luck, left unmarked with the goal at his mercy. He fired home for York’s second, leaving me shaking my head in disbelief. Are we completely inept without Olembé and Shuker?

Koroma tried to make something happen from the restart, bursting down the right flank and crossing to Park. The Australian’s header was well saved, however, and the goalkeeper again stood in the way when Koroma broke free of his man a minute later.

York should have scored a third goal in the 88th minute, after Oyebanjo turned Nutter inside out, but the striker put his shot wide. Kanouté gave them another chance barely a minute later. He beat Reed in a footrace for a long ball, then turned right into the path of the York striker. Reed hit a fierce shot towards the bottom corner, just beyond the stunned goalkeeper. At 3-nil behind, we were down and out. I can’t believe we’ve been eliminated at the Second Round from a competition I thought we could win.

I yelled at the players for giving York three easy goals. Bore was the worst performer; he had an absolute shocker of a second half. The one and only bright spark for me was Koroma’s spirited display off the bench. He’s been brilliant this season; I’m glad that he’s still hungry for more.

Christophe’s out for another three weeks. The Lincoln fans are furious. The media is shocked. We have four days to pick up the pieces ready for a league tie against Newport County.

In other news, Scott Bulloch ended his trial early to join League 2 side Hereford. I never got to see him in action. I offered Benjamin Laurant—the other winger on trial—a contract. I think we could use a third talented winger. If he does really well, I might even be able to drop Olembé into defence without gutting our attack.

Day 193

We’re slight underdogs for tomorrow’s cup clash against York. This is a competition I think we can win, so I’m hope we trump The Minstermen. Our previous meeting was a 2-2 draw at York, in a league game three months ago. Barnes-Homer and youngster Robert Taylor scored our goals, in a team that was missing Peter Bore and Salomon Olembé and that had Koroma playing on the wing.

Even with Shuker and Olembé missing tomorrow, I think we’re stronger than in that earlier fixture. Hopefully I get proven right.

Day 192

I put an offer in for goalkeeper Mark Halstead yesterday, at 25% of his next sale and nothing up front. You may recall that Halstead spent three months playing on loan for me at Lincoln during the first half of the season. He’s a talented young keeper with a bright future ahead of him.

Today his club Blackpool accepted my bid, and Halstead seemed happy with my contract offer. If the deal goes ahead, I may be in a position to try to cash in on Joe Anyon, who had been in terrible form prior to his injury late last month.

Day 191

Several players whom I had previously shown interest in signing were offered to us by their clubs today. I don’t have any money to spend, though, so I had to reject all of them without consideration. At this stage, I can only sign free agents on permanent deals.

Simon Russell is unlikely to play again this season, after tearing his knee ligaments during training today. That greatly increases the need for me to sort out this right winger issue soon. Shuker’s still at least a month away from returning, and I’m concerned that French forward Francis Laurent won’t be able to perform consistently enough.

Mansfield and Wrexham drew 2-2 in the league this evening. That means we’re now clear at the top, with 60 points after 27 games. Mansfield sit second, with 58 points and an inferior goal difference. Wrexham are third, with 54 points and a game in hand.

Day 190

It looks like one of my potential right wing signings will be signing elsewhere. Scott Bulloch got contract offers from Hereford and Crewe—both League 2 sides. I expect he’ll take one of those offers even if I join the race.

That means my options are now reduced to Benjamin Laurant or one of the players already under contract—fringe men Simon Russell and Francis Laurent or new boy Chris Birchall…at least until Shuker’s back from injury.

Day 189

My transfer target Matteo Alberti signed for Perugia. I’m hugely disappointed, but it’s hardly a surprise. Thankfully he wasn’t my only potential fill-in for Chris Shuker on the right wing—new boy Chris Birchall can play there, while trial players Scott Bulloch and Benjamin Laurant look a decent bet for the role too.

Reserve team right back Jason Beardsley left the club for Tamworth today, after months of staying on a pay-per-game arrangement.

Day 188

French winger Benjamin Laurant arrived on trial today, just in time to play in the Reserves friendly. Scott Bulloch came in, too, but a couple of hours too late for the friendly. They look to be similar players, although Bulloch is more versatile.

Chris Birchall agreed to my contract offer. Brilliant! I got another player who could be a regular starter for most teams two divisions above us. With Olembé, Shuker, and Marques also fitting that description, I’m now up to four players who are way too good for this league. Barnes-Homer and Koroma have shown that they’re pretty close to being on that list, too.

The coaching staff tell me that Birchall is our best choice in central midfield or on the right flank—even better than Shuker. I can’t wait to see him in action.

Robert Taylor opened the scoring in the 8th minute, nodding Nicky Nicolau’s deep left-wing cross into the empty net after the goalkeeper came out and missed the ball.

The remainder of the first half was horrible. Birchall didn’t seem interested—an attitude I’ll have to make sure disappears before it sneaks into a competitive fixture. Laurant and new striker Ben May struggled to make an impact, and the other players just didn’t do much of note.

The second half looked to only be slightly better, although I hoped for a change when Laurant slid in to convert Nicolau’s cross for our second goal.

We were lucky not to concede when Beardsley passed across goal to a North Ferriby attacker. Good goalkeeping and a poor finish conspired in our favour to keep the scoreline at 2-0.

Birchall and Pacquette both went close before Laurant completed his brace in the 84th minute. Birchall held the ball up just inside his own half, then launched a long ball into the path of the winger. The North Ferriby keeper came out to collect, but he fumbled the ball—leaving Laurant with an easy finish. We won 3-0.

That leaves me liking Laurant—though not enough to offer a contract just yet. Birchall got some important match fitness under his belt, as did injury returnee Jean-François Christophe and fringe players Nicolau, Watson, Taylor, Rodney, and Atkinson.

Newcastle’s Michael Richardson refused to return to Lincoln for a second loan spell. I guess his “sad to leave” comment really was bullshit. I don’t like it when people lie.

Day 187

My Under 18s won a game! And against Norwich, the best team in their league. I’m proud of them. From what I can gather it was a strong defensive display coupled with some excellent attacking football in the second half. They took the game out 1-0, and now sit ten points off the league leaders Watford, in sixth place.

Tomorrow the Reserves are playing a friendly. I’ll be taking charge so that I can look at Birchall and boost the match fitness of a few other players.

Day 186

My loan offer for Michael Richardson was accepted. As before, the question is whether he’s willing to return to Lincoln for the remainder of the season. If not, I pray the Alberti and Birchall transfers come through for us. With those two on board, it wouldn’t matter in the slightest whether Richardson wears a Lincoln shirt.

Any efforts to offload Nicolau, Lloyd-McGoldrick, Pacquette, Rodney, and Sinclair appear to have stalled. None of them have garnered attention from other clubs, even after I sent word out that I’d let them go super cheap (even for nothing at all, in the cases of Pacquette and Sinclair). It appears that I’ve reached something of a crossroads—I can release them from their contracts, with compensation, or keep them around, rotting in the Reserves until their deals expire at the end of the season. Either way I lose.

Day 185

Curtis Woodhouse returned with his loan player report for right-sided midfielders. Most of the ten players he found are well below the standard of my current first team, but I picked a few out to scout.

The evening brought reports that these few aren’t good enough either. The Birchall and Alberti deals mean way more to me now—they may be the only quality players I have a chance of signing this month.

Michael Richardson finished his loan spell with us today and returned to Newcastle. He told The Daily Mirror that he enjoyed his time at Lincoln, and he’s sad to leave. So why didn’t he agree to extend his loan? I put a new loan bid in for the midfielder, hoping that he’s had a change of heart rather than a case of verbal diarrhoea. [I’m so proud of myself for spelling diarrhoea correctly on the first attempt.]

Blackburn’s young goalkeeper Sebastian Usai rejected my offer to bring him on loan for the rest of the season. I’m disappointed, but I can hardly say I’m surprised. It would be a big drop in divisions for the lad.

Day 184

Scout Ian Gardner’s report indicated that free agent Matteo Alberti is even better than my injured right winger Chris Shuker. And the Italian still has a few years of growth in him. Competition for the lad is heating up, however, with Perugia and Savona tabling offers today. I improved the terms of my offer, crossed my fingers, and hoped for the best.

If we don’t get Alberti, there are some other options. Gardner also reported on French winger Benjamin Laurant, who isn’t quite as good as Shuker but will likely become a special player. I offered Laurant a trial so that I can evaluate him myself.

There’s also Chris Birchall, a 27 year old central midfielder from Trinidad & Tobago. Birchall’s just arrived with us on trial, and he looks to be a great player. If he’s effective on the right—and I’m told he should be—he could fill in for Shuker.

Birchall can actually play just about anywhere. The staff tell me that he’s one of the most versatile players they’ve seen, capable of slotting into any position except central defence or goalkeeper—although he’s only considered to be a specialist in the centre or right side of midfield.

I decided to offer him a contract based on the glowing reports he got from the coaching staff after his first day at the club. Premature? Perhaps, but this seems too good an opportunity to let slip through my fingers—and I know he has interest from a bigger team (Bristol Rovers). I figure we can snap him up before they’re ready to make a move.

Day 183

Josh Gowling made the Team of the Week for his man of the match performance against Barrow a few days ago.

I began my search in earnest today for a fill-in right winger. While I’m willing to give Laurent and Russell the opportunity to establish themselves in the team, I’m not going to ignore my options in bringing in someone of Shuker’s calibre.

I asked Assistant Manager Curtis Woodhouse to look into loan player availabilities, while I plunged into our scouting network for leads. Most of the players I found weren’t up to snuff, but one stood out.

Mark Bradshaw reported on Matteo Alberti a couple of weeks ago, suggesting that he’s of a similar ability to Chris Shuker—albeit as a different kind of winger. I asked my other scout, Ian Gardner, to check him out, and then saw that Italian side San Marino had put an offer in for the lad. I hurriedly offered Alberti a contract, ready to pull out if Gardner says no.

I don’t know what my chances are like of securing the midfielder’s signature. He’s Italian, which would likely see him favour San Marino, but he’s been playing in England for much of the past four years.

In other news, Michael Richardson rejected my offer to extend his loan until the end of the season—which means he’ll be returning to Newcastle in two days. We’ll miss him and his impressive work rate.

[I started this blog six months ago today. Wow, can’t believe I managed to get a post up every day for half a year (excepting the one day early on where Steam for Mac was broken). Here’s to a strong second half.]

Day 182

With today’s match just two days after the victory against Barrow, I was forced to make changes. Robson, Kanouté, and Park came in at the back, with Nutter dropping to the bench and Bore and Gowling rested. Woods looked tired but was kept in an unchanged midfield. I rested Koroma, with Laurent starting alongside Barnes-Homer in attack. New boy Ben May took his place on the bench.

Wrexham are a strong team, so I told the team to defend in numbers and attack quickly. We’re usually good on the break and defensively suspect against quality opposition. I thought this approach would be a nice balance between our usual open and free-flowing attacking play and the need to be tighter at the back.

Shuker went down injured on the eight-minute mark. He didn’t get back up, and had to be stretchered off the pitch. Trying to put my worries aside about the extent of the injury, I told Laurent to drop back to the midfield and substituted Ben May in to the attack for his debut appearance.

May got right into the thick of things, laying off passes and headers for Barnes-Homer and Woods. He looked comfortable out there, and a one-two with Laurent led to his first chance. The striker rose well to meet Laurent’s cross, but he couldn’t keep the header on target.

The first clear-cut chance of the game went to Wrexham in the 25th minute. Putnins could only parry a powerful long-range shot, and Wrexham striker Andy Morrell should have scored the rebound. Putnins did well to save both that and a chance from the resultant corner. Less than a third of the way through the match, Wrexham had already given us more trouble than any other team in the past several matches.

In the 29th minute they made us feel it. Morrell flicked Ryan Blake’s corner across the face of the goal, and Mark Creighton climbed above Kanouté to head past Putnins. One-nil behind for the first time in a while, I hoped my players would react well.

Barnes-Homer should have converted Olembé’s cross three minutes later for an equaliser, but he snatched at the chance. At the other end, Marques cleared off the line and Kanouté threw his body in front of the ball to prevent Wrexham’s second.

Neither of them could do anything to stop Morrell on 40 minutes. The Wrexham striker turned with the ball on the edge of the box and hit a thunderous drive into the top corner, doubling his team’s lead.

Disaster struck on the brink of half-time when my star player Salomon Olembé had to come off injured. He landed awkwardly after a tackle from Daniel Alfei. Wrexham weren’t taking any prisoners, and now my two best players had left the field with injuries. We looked powerless to get anything from the game.

Needing to try something drastic, I switched to a three-man defence for the second half. Paul Robson came off for Alan Power, who slotted in alongside Woods in central midfield. Richardson got defensive midfield duties, with Laurent and Russell manning the wings. If we were going to lose, we’d lose in style and we’d lose attacking.

The players responded immediately. Laurent crossed from deep in the 49th minute to Barnes-Homer, who was loitering with intent around the penalty spot. The striker powered his header past Maxwell for our lifeline back into the game.

Desperation and a little luck were all that stood between us and a spirit-shattering two-goal deficit for the following 20 minutes. Wrexham repeatedly went close, and looked certain to score on two separate occasions, but somehow we held on.

Kanouté hurt himself in a challenge on 87 minutes and had to come off, leaving my exhausted players to fight for a last-minute equaliser with ten men.

Of course it was too great a task. Wrexham held out for the 2-1 win. Credit goes to player/manager and former Coventry star Andy Morrell for a big game right when it mattered. He was the difference between the two sides, and without Olembé and Shuker to pull the strings we simply had no answer to him.

Our unbeaten away run finally ended, we worried more about the health of the team and the impact this draining defeat would have on their morale. Mansfield were held to a draw, so we’re still top of the league, but our position is now in jeopardy.

The physio reported that Kanouté is fine but Shuker will be out for six to seven weeks with a groin strain and Olembé will sit the next two weeks on the sidelines. The good news is that our next match is not until the 14th, which is nearly two weeks from now, and it’s only an FA Trophy tie with York.

Olembé could potentially return just in time for the league game that follows four days later against Newport County. Shuker’s likely to miss at least eight games. I’ll have to consider bringing someone in on loan to replace him, although Russell and Laurent could both possibly handle the job.

Day 181

Striker Ben May arrived at the club today, as my first January signing. Conal Platt headed out in an exchange deal with Stevenage. May has his work cut out breaking into the first team, with both Koroma and Barnes-Homer in great form, but he’s a quality player and he gives us something different. He plays as a target man, throwing his body around to win headers and bring teammates into the game.

We’re slight underdogs for tomorrow’s trip to Wrexham, with odds of 13-8 against their 6-4 for a win. Wrexham’s manager told the press that we have “everything needed” to cause his team problems “and indeed beat [them].” Nice to see a gaffer with his head screwed properly onto his shoulders. We have the ability to destroy them, but by the same token they have the ability to close us out and score a few goals of their own.

They have an added advantage in that their match yesterday was postponed due to bad weather, which means that they’re fresh. Several of my players are noticeably tired, and that could take its toll if the match stays tight until the end.

I offered my transfer-listed players to other clubs, asked if we could extend Richardson’s loan until the end of the season, and began my search of the transfer market for a few new faces.

Newcastle accepted my Richardson offer just before midnight. Now we wait to see if the young midfielder is willing to stay on with us for another five months.

Day 180

Putnins made his debut in goal against Barrow today, replacing the injured Joe Anyon. I selected an otherwise unchanged match squad and starting eleven.

Barrow lined up defensively, putting both central midfielders just in front of the back four.

Barnes-Homer could—and perhaps should—have put us in front after just a minute on the clock. Olembé crossed low from deep on the left wing, the ball impossibly sneaking through a crowd of defenders, and found the striker unmarked. Barnes-Homer’s first-time effort was well wide of the post, however.

Gowling scored the opening goal two and a half minutes later. Woods went down on the edge of the box, out near the right wing, after a heavy challenge. Shuker lofted the free kick to the far post, where Gowling stood in acres of space. The big defender nodded the ball in before the Barrow keeper could react.

Barnes-Homer scored a stunning goal in the 15th minute, weaving through the Barrow defence before sliding the ball beneath the keeper from close range.

I subbed Shuker and Woods out at half time, with an eye on the trip to Wrexham in two days. I didn’t need them for the rest of this match—we were absolutely and totally in control.

We continued to dominate the match well into the second half. Koroma twice went close to adding a third goal, but it was Josh Gowling who popped up for his second. This time it was an Olembé corner and a brilliant attacking header from the defender. He now has an incredible seven goals in the league this season. That’s more than most starting strikers (not mine, though).

Olembé left the field immediately after the goal—rested just like Woods and Shuker.

The goal-fest wasn’t over yet. Barnes-Homer pounced on the rebound to Simon Russell’s shot in the 64th minute, adding his second and our fourth goal of the match.

Brave defending prevented Laurent from making it five with 15 minutes to play. Barrow were in a real mess, outclassed, outpaced, and outmanoeuvred. It was with a fatalistic despair, then, that they watched Russell’s phenomenal 30-yard strike fly into the top corner in the 86th minute. At 5-nil up, we looked like a championship-winning team. And that’s precisely what I hoped we would be.

It was an utterly comprehensive victory, and surely a great confidence booster for all the players—especially Barnes-Homer, who’s struggled to find the net of late.

As for the man making his debut, Putnins touched the ball 18 times. You wouldn’t have known it from watching the game, though. Barrow managed just two shots—one of which was from long range—and three corners, and they never once tested the keeper—who appeared more spectator than player.

I’ve done so well with the team so far this season that the board offered me an official change to our season expectations. I had told them at the beginning of the season that we’d challenge for promotion. I’ve now declared that we’ll win the league. In exchange, I get my wage budget increased to £18,616 a week (from £15,931).

Chris Shuker had another great month in training. Chris Atkinson and Michael Richardson were also excellent.

Lionel Messi won World Player of the Year. No surprises there.

Simon Russell’s strike today against Barrow earned third place in the Blue Square Bet Premier Goal of the Month award. Meanwhile, I scooped the Manager of the Month award for the first time—having come second once and third twice.

I think today was a good day.

Day 179

We’re described as “firm favourites” for tomorrow’s clash with 23rd placed Barrow. We’ve gone five consecutive games without defeat; they haven’t won any of their last five matches. Anything but a big Lincoln win will be considered an upset.

Barrow’s key man is actually a Lincoln player. Central defender Danny Hone is on a season-long loan. I wasn’t around when the deal was made, but it looks like he’s eligible to play against us. That doesn’t strike me as a very sensible strategy. What if he gets man of the match and leads Barrow to victory?

Apparently Barrow’s manager is in the comedy business. He said that if we beat them, “Of course” we’ll be in a strong position for promotion. Because beating a team with four wins and 14 losses from 23 games is always a big indicator as to whether you can push for promotion. (Yeah, right.) If we lose, that means something (and it’s not positive). If we win, it’s nothing.

Elvijs Putnins arrived at the club for a three-month loan spell today. Just in time, too. I was worried that I’d have to field Chris Adamson in goal. Putnins needs match fitness, but he’s a quality player—so I think he’ll be okay to play tomorrow.

Ian Bennett flatly refused to demean himself by coming to play for a Conference team. It’s his loss. He can sit out the final days of his career as Huddersfield’s fourth-choice goalkeeper if that’s what he wants to do. Pride causes people to make odd decisions sometimes.

Day 178

Both of yesterday’s hurriedly sent loan offers were accepted. Now I wait to see if Ian Bennett and Elvijs Putnins have any interest in donning the Lincoln jersey for a few months. I pray that they do.

Day 177

Shit. Goalkeeper Joe Anyon was injured in training today. He’ll be out for at least five weeks.

Given that our current next-best keeper is goalkeeping coach Chris Adamson, who isn’t very good at all, we’re in serious trouble. I put in short-term loan bids for Elvijs Putnins and Ian Bennett, knowing that we might not be allowed to bring anyone in before January but hoping we could.

At the very least, I need a replacement at the club and ready to play Monday’s match against Wrexham. That’s just five days from now, and probably too soon to get someone sorted after the transfer window opens. Adamson will probably be good enough in the meantime—no offence intended towards our next opponents Barrow.

Day 176

It looks like Jason Beardsley’s about to leave us. The 22-year-old full back has been playing without pay all season, on a performance-based contract (£350 per appearance). He hasn’t managed to break into the first team, though—never even making the bench for a competitive fixture.

I value having him there as a reserve, but not enough to ask him to join us full time. He now has four clubs vying for his signature, and I say best of luck to the lad. I hope he gets first-team football wherever he ends up.

Olembé still has CSKA Sofia sniffing around, considering an offer, but no one else in the squad appears to be a transfer target…unfortunately.

Day 175

I named an unchanged team for the trip to Telford. The boys have been playing so well together, and I don’t want to tinker with a successful formula.

Olembé nearly curled one in from way out on the left flank at the four-minute mark. We got a couple more chances in the opening ten minutes, suggesting that we were in for a high-scoring—or at least entertaining—match.

AFC Telford’s veteran winger Steve Jones went within inches of a freak goal in the 39th minute. His cross from deep went way off course, and Anyon had to react quickly to keep the ball from sneaking inside the post. The looks on both their faces told all the story needed—relief for Anyon and a bemused grin for Jones.

All square at the break, I couldn’t help but be disappointed that we didn’t manage to do more with the momentum we’d been building. I told the players I wasn’t happy, and sent them out to win the match.

The deadlock finally came on the hour mark. Omar Koroma received Richardson’s pass with his back to goal, but the striker quickly turned and sped past his marker. Racing unchallenged into the box, the striker fired low and hard towards goal, beating the diving Telford keeper with an excellent finish.

Olembé could have put the game beyond doubt ten minutes later, running on to a long through pass from the left wing. The Cameroonian’s shot ballooned into orbit, however—a great chance wasted.

Koroma took a knock in the 72nd minute. It didn’t look too serious, but it knocked the wind right out of his sails for several minutes. It proved most unfortunate when the striker was half a yard too slow to react to the rebound when Young could only parry Barnes-Homer’s shot.

We held on for the one-nil win, threatening to score a few more times in the closing stages, but it was far from convincing. I told the team off for underperforming. A win may well be a win, but a better team would have punished us for that lacklustre display.

Wrexham’s unbeaten streak finally ended, leaving them in third place seven points adrift (with a game in hand). Mansfield are still in touch with us, though, four points behind with a catch-up game still to play.

We’ve still got one match to play before the New Year, but we’re guaranteed to be top going into January. That’s the only news I could get (at this stage of the season) better than being top at Christmas (which we already accomplished).

Day 174

Tomorrow’s match day. We’ll be visiting AFC Telford, who we beat 4-1 on the opening day of the season. Olembé and Barnes-Homer worked their magic that day. I’m hoping they can do the same again—both players have had a slight downturn in form recently.

But I’ll worry about that later because today is Christmas Day. Get off my lawn; I want to eat some turkey and ham and pudding.

What, you’re still here? I said bugger off, I’m hungry. Come back tomorrow.

Day 173

We 4-6 favorites to win away from home against AFC Telford on Boxing Day (in two days time). They are on a terrible run of form, with six games without a win (four if you only count league matches).
 
Mark Bradshaw agrees that Elvijs Putnins would be our first-choice keeper if we coaxed him into a Lincoln shirt. It’s settled, then, when the transfer window reopens, I’ll put in a loan offer.

Day 172

The transfer window reopens in just over a week, so it’s time to start to looking at potential signings again.

Jason Fowler reported on Bishop’s Stortford’s young left back Sebastian Dunbar. He’s not much chop now, but the lad’ll be as good Olembé in a few years, Fowler says. I asked for a second opinion, but I’m leaning towards offering him a contract (he’s currently an amateur) and taking my chances.

Twenty-year-old Latvian keeper Evijs Putnins, who currently languishes in the QPR Reserves team, is better than our current number 1 Joe Anyon—at least Grant Brown thinks so. We should be able to get him on loan for the second half of the season, although there’s a good chance that we could buy him for around £50,000 (if we had the money). He’s also in the final year of his contact. Putnins doesn’t have any glaring weaknesses, so I’m keen to go after him.

Day 171

With just over a week left until New Year, the club’s declining finances don’t appear to be getting any better. There’s a clear downward trend, from a positive balance at the beginning of July to over a quarter million pounds overdraft today. If you look carefully, it seems that the losses are, ah, lessening.

It’s like we’re losing money on a gentle trend of exponential decay, with the asymptote somewhere between £500,000 and a million pounds in the red.

I’m watching this nervously because I desperately don’t want to be forced into selling Olembé, Barnes-Homer, Koroma, or Shuker—my star players. If an unsolicited offer way above market value comes along, that’s a different story—we’ll consider it in terms of where that money could be reinvested. But if I have to transfer list anyone to raise funds to pay off debts, that could turn out to be a deal breaker for my future as Lincoln manager (depending on whether or not we go on to win the league).

Day 170

We fielded an unchanged lineup from the team that drew 2-2 with Darlington last week.

It took just seven minutes for us to take the lead. Kettering defender Jerel Ifil sliced Koroma’s cross into the inside top of the net, to the horror of his teammates. Koroma doubled our lead three minutes later, charging ahead of a crowd of players to convert Olembé’s corner.
We weren’t done yet. Koroma popped up again in the 34th minute to score his second. Shuker crossed towards the penalty spot, but the ball was cut out by Sangare. He couldn’t control it, however, and the ball dropped at Koroma’s feet. The in-form striker half-volleyed past a hapless Laurie Walker.
Kettering started to put up a fight after the break, but we still looked comfortably in control. I subbed Shuker and Woods off to keep them fresh for the next match.

Craig Lindfield gave Kettering a lifeline back into the match in the 70th minute, cutting inside from the left and firing a brilliant shot into the top corner.
 
The final 20 minutes were a little nervy, with Kettering desperate for goals and my boys caught between complacency and over-confidence. But we held on for a 3-1 win. It’s not quite the thrashing that I wanted, but it’s a clear margin and we were totally dominant in the first half.

Mansfield lost and Wrexham won, so we’re now four points clear of two sides that each have a game in hand. For the first time this season, Mansfield are outside the top two places—in third on goal difference.

The board ran a fan day today, and it resulted in a boon of 2,796 people attending the match. That’s still barely a quarter of the stadium capacity, but it’s a great turnout for a game at this level.
Koroma’s brace sees him leapfrog Barnes-Homer as our top goalscorer so far this season, despite having appeared in six fewer games. He’s in incredible form at the moment, buoyed by the equally stunning performances of Shuker on the right flank.