A group of Lincoln City fans have started a crowd funding project to bring one of the famous Lincoln Knights back to Sincil Bank, for good.
The Knights Trail was a popular tourist attraction in the city, with sculptures painted and distributed all over Lincoln. The one that sparked my interest was the Lincoln City Knight, standing proudly in front of the cathedral. I even had my photo taken with it, but I confess I had no wish to walk the whole trail, being unfit.
The knights will now be auctioned off for charity, and members of the L.I.S.A group are keen for the Lincoln City Knight to be brought back to Sincil Bank for good, to remain as a focal point at the current ground, and be moved to any new stadium we eventually end up in.
It echoes the desire to bring the Imp from the Lincoln Imp pub up to the ground, something to strengthen the identity of the ground and to be retained for future generations. The money will be used by the club either way, to either buy the knight or to go towards the training ground.
What do you think? Are you going to contribute to buying the knight for Sincil Bank?
The following information has been taken directly from the crowd funder page
So how much will the final bid need to be?
Well as anyone who has seen an auction in progress and especially those that witnessed the Lincoln Barons’ sold, will know that no one can be sure! We have a target set of £10,000 to reach…
Why this amount if we don’t know how much we need?
1 – This is our best guess as to how much we might need to raise to secure the knight.
2 – With the sheer volume of Season ticket holders and the continued increase in numbers of supporters of the club we feel this is a realistic achievable target. With average attendances of 8825 that’s just £1.13p per person at the next game!
What happens to the money if we are unsuccessful? Or what happens to the remaining funds if we have an excess?
In Short – EVERY penny will go back to the club. There is a continuing array of fundraising activities to support the New Training Ground facilities that both Danny and Nicky Cowley and the players are so keen to see implemented.
Whilst this process is ongoing there are also many other ideas coming forward from the club to directly involve fans and supporters. Not to mention the vast expense that is increasingly required in modern football to secure additional players to enhance and expand the team ensuring the best possible prospects of continuing success.
Of course, if the Lincoln City Knight is so perfectly designed to be retained by the club, it poses the question –
Why are the club not bidding for the knight themselves?
Well, the club have confirmed that they are not bidding for the knight and they have given this project their full backing and support.
Whilst they have generated a significant amount of revenue following the successful Cup run and promotion to League 2 and combined with consistently increased volume of ticket sales for both home and away matches (which incidentally has catapulted us to the top of the leagues attendance table!) We don’t think anyone would argue that this revenue needs to be ploughed back into the club and distributed in a much more productive way for the clubs continued and future success. Their primary objective has to be to look after and nurture our current ‘Knights’ with their fast and real legs!
Can anyone else see a better fitting place for this guy to live? Where should he reside? – You will get your say on that too!
Could he sit within the Travis Perkins Suite? #UTMISelfie opportunity?
Above the press box in the Selenity stand?
In the co-op stand to march along with the voices and the 617?
Or perhaps he could take pride of place at the end of the tunnel to welcome the players onto the pitch with every game?
A decision that is hoped will need to be made come the 30th September!
Seriously think that the price of possibly £10000 is far too much .
After all the publicity that the club generated for the city last season I feel that it should be available at a discount price or better still donated to the club inperpetuity.
Told so many people so many times that was the only knight that mattered.
Not sure on a discount as the auction is for charity, but I hope we get it. It would be a fantastic addition and looks infitely better than two other dreadful statues I have seen in the Michael Jackson one at Craven Cottage and the horrendous first Ted Bates statue at St Mary’s.