Looking Back At: 1972/73

Notching up another new ground I went to Stockport to see Herd deploying Terry Branston in the number 11 shirt in place of Dave Smith as he reverted to a defensive formation he had previously favoured in away games. With a McNeil goal to defend early in the second half the plan seemed to be working perfectly, but when the home side quickly equalised and went 2-1 up there was no Plan B, and the game proved to be the beginning of the end for Herd, with a run of three further away defeats interspersed with two home draws. There was also an FA Cup exit in a reverse of the previous season’s League Cup meeting with Division Three (League One) side Blackburn Rovers as the Imps went out by 4-1 in the replay after a creditable 2-2 draw at Sincil Bank. The defeat was notable for a goal from Dave Smith which broke the remarkable monopoly of Dixie McNeil (13), Brendan Bradley (11) and Percy Freeman (9) being the only scorers in the season up to that point.

The final straw for Herd came with a sixth successive away defeat, ex-Imp Alan Gilliver rubbing salt into the wounds with two goals in a 3-1 scoreline at Bradford City. The manager had rung the changes, with Colin Symm and Frankie McMahon in and out of the side and Jimmy McGeough tried again, but McMahon had looked a shadow of the player he had been the previous season. With McGeough disappointingly ineffective from the off, the signing of Terry Cooper to provide the strength in midfield in the style of John Kurila had not worked out, as the 22-year-old had looked increasingly like a player out of his true position. There had been failings in defence too, with Spencer, especially and Taylor in and out of the side due to injury and Branston looking as though it was a season too far for him.

With City having slipped down to mid-table and attendances to around 4,000 Herd was ‘asked to resign’ and did so. His almost immediate replacement came as something as a surprise, although full back Graham Taylor, in his fifth season with the club, and with coaching qualifications under his belt had been appointed player-coach during the summer. Now, at the age of 28, he became the youngest manager in the Football League and was given a three-year contract. Also given a three-year contract was secretary Dick Chester, and changes in policy in the boardroom saw an end to the rotation of the post of chairman with Dennis Bocock confirmed in that position, also for a three-year period.

Taylor’s first game in charge came at Newport and did at least stop the rot of away defeats with what turned out to be Brendan Bradley’s last goal for the club securing a 2-2 draw. The game saw Tom Spencer in a centre forward role in the absence through injury of Dixie McNeil, John Worsdale and John Ward, who had managed three goals in 11 games during his loan spell with Workington. John Kennedy had been restored as goalkeeper by Herd, with third choice John McInally joining Jim Smith at Colchester.

In his programme notes for his first home game as manager Graham Taylor said he was not prepared to guarantee anything in terms of the team’s performance but that he and the players would do their best at all times. However, a disappointing defeat to Barnsley was not a good Christmas present for the dwindling number of fans. Better was a Boxing Day draw with Doncaster, John Worsdale, back in the side after a long injury lay-off scoring the equaliser at Belle Vue. Three further draws followed, two of them at home as it was seen that the new manager favoured a 4-4-2 formation with Dixie McNeil replacing Spencer in attack, his return from injury allowing City to accept an offer “too good to refuse” of £11,500 from Reading for the transfer of Percy Freeman.

The attendance had dipped below 3,000 for the first time in nearly five years but despite only one point being obtained from two away games, had improved by the time of the visit of Bury for a third successive home draw. A series of injuries meant Dixie McNeil playing in midfield and Taylor having to be a player-manager for three games despite being far from fit. In fact, goalkeeper Alan Aubrey, recently signed from Gainsborough Trinity for £1,500 with Eric Hulme moving the other way on loan, had to be named as substitute for a game at Northampton. Signed too late to play against Bury was full back or midfield player Dennis Leigh who joined from Third Division side Rotherham for £4,000. Also joining the club was coach George Higgins from Louth United who had been trainer at Grimsby in Taylor’s time there.

It was at this time that chairman Dennis Bocock announced plans for what would have been the biggest and costliest scheme ever undertaken by the club. Said to have been under consideration for almost two years it involved the replacement of the 1930s-built St. Andrews stand by a new one featuring an extended ground floor area of up to 80,000 square feet. This was to be leased to a development corporation for the provision of a large retail outlet assumed to be a supermarket. The leasing was to provide the club with £50-60,000 (around £500,000 in today’s values) every year for 10 years. According to Bocock the income would provide the financial resources to not only assure the club’s existence but enable it to ultimately rise to the First Division (Premier League) within those 10 years. At the end of that time the development would become City’s property with the income from the supermarket leasing going directly to the club at possibly £200,000 (£2m) per year.

The cost of the development was put at £600,000 (£6-7million today), and the three-tier complex would include a gymnasium and indoor sports facility, a VIP club, offices, superior catering facilities, first-class toilets, dressing rooms with sauna, and in order to attract whole families, a children’s nursery for when “wives were shopping in the hypermarket while their husbands watch the match”.

The new stand would have seating for 6,000 and as it was stated the ground capacity would be increased from 24,000 to 32,000 it implied there must also have been standing space for 2,000.

The artist’s impression published in the Football Echo indicated the rest of the ground would have been unaltered although it appears the gymnasium would have eaten into the corner space occupied by the Spion Kop terracing. What is probable is that the new stand would have been closer to the touchline than the old one. The retail area would have taken up the space occupied by the St Andrews training pitch with car parking next to that. A feature perhaps ahead of its time was the spacious circulating area above the retail outlet being accessed by ramps rather than steps.

The scheme met with opposing reactions in the two local papers, with the Lincolnshire Chronicle calling it “pie in the sky” and wondering where 32,000 people were going to come from to fill the enlarged ground. Maurice Burton in the Echo, however, was more positive, pointing out that if the club were successful enough to be rising through the divisions the crowds would turn up. He also considered there had seemed to be a degree of apathy in many aspects of life in Lincoln for several years and that it was perhaps time to break out of the rut.

However, although it was said that planning approval was about to be sought, that seemed be still the case several months later and nothing ever came of the scheme presumably due to lack of funding.