Looking back at: 1966/67

The new manager declared that he wanted his players to be tired when they came off the pitch “with sweat on their brows”. Following a defeat at Bradford City the first chance to test this philosophy at Sincil Bank came with the visit of promotion-chasing Tranmere Rovers, and I was there to see a new 4-3-3 formation with Harry Godbold now out of the side and a new left back, John Murray on trial from Stirling Albion in place of Alan Pilgrim.

Unenthused by the arrival of a new manager, the usual 3,000-plus crowd was present and we were treated to the second home win of the season as Joe Bonson starred, scoring one goal and making the other for Anderson despite the attentions of future England defender Roy McFarland. However, City were still bottom of the league, and following an FA Cup First Round exit by 4-3 at home to Scunthorpe, they were still there a month later for a game which I’ve forever regretted not going to.

Whatever their failings in this season the Imps did produce two amazing results, the first coming against Luton Town, one place above them in the league table. As the Football Echo headlines had it: “Razzle Dazzle City!.Sincil Bank Goes Wild as Imps Go Goal-Crazy” The hardy few who had bothered to go along were treated to an 8-1 victory, with new signing from Brentford Billy Cobb creating an instant hit with three goals on his debut as the Imps ran up their biggest win for 13 years.

Unfortunately, the Luton result turned out to be a one-off, normal service being resumed with a run of one win and four defeats before I returned in February for my next game with City still rooted in 24^th place. Ron Gray, however, had slowly begun making changes with John Milner released to join Bradford, and Harry Godbold, Dick Scott and Ken Fencott out of the first team reckoning. Joining was tall midfielder Ray Lancaster, previously with Grimsby and Rotherham. Meanwhile, Les Moore had resumed at centre half with Bert Loxley finally able to retire from playing.

I missed the first goal, scored by Cobb, of the 2-1 win against Notts County due to arriving late following a second successive breakdown by the Newark bus. Completing the journey by train made me realise that doing so in half the time from Nottingham was the answer – and so my travel arrangements were sorted for the next thirty years.

City continued to bob around bottom place but a Chapman goal secured a first away win of the season at Chester as Gray made further changes, with Dick Scott released to join King’s Lynn and the signing of the diminutive but burly Clive Ford from Walsall. I was there to see Ford star on his home debut, scoring a 30-yarder as Hartlepools were comprehensively beaten 3-0. The following Saturday Roy Chapman’s goal sealed a 2-1 home win against promotion-chasing Barrow to move the Imps up to 22^nd place and give hope of an escape from the re-election zone. But as so often the good form was not to last and the next win didn’t arrive until the last match of the season 16 games later.

Maurice Burton (MB) in the Echo identified Easter as the testing time for City’s chances of avoiding the bottom four and was concerned over reports of non-league clubs agreeing to put forward only one or two of their number for admission to the league. He considered this would make a further re-election plea less of a formality and hoped City could get out of trouble: “It would not be the first time Lincoln City had been voted out of the league but it would most certainly be the last. Years of blundering and fumbling have led City almost to the point of no return”.

Meanwhile, with the club in a better financial position, chairman Frank Eccleshare, who had been largely responsible for City not going the way of Accrington Stanley four years before stepped down to be succeeded by Walter Mant.

The testing Easter period began with a disappointing 2-2 draw against bottom-of-the-table York City in front of a season’s best crowd of 7,389. Unlike 2,000 of these I returned the following day to see the debut of 18-year-old winger Jack Lewis signed from Long Eaton. Unfortunately, as MB put it, “the team fell to pieces”, going down 4-0 to a mid-table Aldershot side. The return match with York on Easter Monday saw City lead with a Ken Allison goal after 23 seconds before capitulating to three from the home side in the last half hour. A defeat by the only goal at Tranmere then saw a permanent return to last place.

Piecemeal changes were made, with Bonson and Fencott making brief reappearances and the 18-year-old Phil Hubbard notching his first senior goal. My next game saw the last appearance of the Alf Jones/Jeff Smith full back partnership but despite – or perhaps because of – this, four more goals were conceded, to third from bottom Bradford City. MB gloomily reported on the Imps being outplayed for most of the game with Bradford winning almost as they pleased: “Fifteen minutes from the end the spectators were beginning to drift sadly away from the ground – and who could blame them?” A Roy Chapman goal was the first of five in four games for him but which brought only two points.

Joining the club briefly was Eddie Dilsworth who had been an FA Amateur Cup winner with Wealdstone and who became City’s first black player since John Walker in 1899. A longer-lasting signing was the left back making his debut in the last home game of the season against Barnsley, a 1-0 defeat which saw five players appear in City shirts for the last time. The new man, George Peden, had joined from Hearts with a record of around a dozen appearances for the Scottish First Division side. He was then part of a new-look side in the last game of the season, and with hosts Stockport already champions of the division and City condemned to last place it was possible to include left winger Lewis Thom just signed from Shrewsbury. The new man scored on his debut, along with a first goal for Jack Lewis as the Imps showed a sign of things to come with an amazing 5-4 win to “make chumps of the champs” as the Echo put it.

The result did provide a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel, but with City unable even to manage their usual 22^nd place it still meant a third successive plea for re-election. A pause for thought is that promoted along with Stockport were other present-day non-league sides Southport and Barrow. Elsewhere, First Division champions were Manchester United, with the first ‘Cockney Cup Final’ seeing Tottenham beat Chelsea 2-1.