Into the Nineties
City’s next visit to Springfield Park was at the end of March 1994 and following their worst run of results at the ground they now embarked on their best (albeit short) run. Keith Alexander was in charge of City in his first spell as manager but the Imps had rarely risen above mid-table and were currently in 15th place in a 22-club division. Following their relegation Wigan had struggled all season and under the management of former Chelsea star Kenny Swain were just one point off bottom place. Not surprisingly, given they had won only three league matches at home all season there were just 1,349 spectators present, the lowest ever for a Lincoln match on the ground. They saw an uninspiring game which was settled when Wigan defender Peter Skipper sliced a David Johnson cross into his own net a minute into the second half. The points eased any lingering relegation fears for City but it turned out to be the last win achieved with Alexander as manager as a return of just three points from the final seven games of the season saw his departure. Wigan on the other hand recovered somewhat and lost only two of their remaining games to finish 19th, one place below Lincoln and a full seven points clear of the relegation spot.
During the close season in 1994 some final ground alterations were made which saw a new roof on the Popular Side and the installation of crush barriers obtained second-hand from Villa Park. Also, a fence was erected at the rear of the Shevington End terracing to prevent fans from standing on the grassy bank and the old shelter was removed from the top of it.
The attendance for City’s game in March had been low enough, but August 30 1994 saw the lowest ever league attendance for Wigan Athletic when just 1,231 turned up to see the Latics lose 3-2 to Chesterfield.
In February 1995, local millionaire and owner of JJB Sports, Dave Whelan, a former player with Blackburn Rovers, purchased the club for around £1m with plans to take them into the Premier League. This seemed a long way off when City visited Springfield Park on April Fool’s Day and another sub-two thousand crowd turned up to see the Imps win 1-0 for the second season in a row.
Both sides were now managed by former players of the respective clubs, with Sam Ellis in charge at Lincoln and Graham Barrow having succeeded Swain, and both were enduring undistinguished seasons in mid-table. Level on points, with Wigan one place below the Imps in 15th place both were on a run of three games without a win. City broke that sequence thanks to a 12th minute goal by midfielder David Hill and gave a spirited performance to defend their lead in a game that could have gone either way against a Wigan side featuring later Imps full back Jon Whitney. A small piece of history was made when City had to use a goalkeeping substitute for the first time. Andy Leaning was forced to leave the field with a back injury with 57 minutes gone and he was replaced by veteran ex-Watford player Steve Sherwood who had recently joined the club as cover and thus found himself making his Imps debut at the age of 41.
Both teams finished mid-table but both had changed managers, in City’s case twice, by the time of the next meeting of the two clubs at Springfield Park two days before Christmas in the same year.
The Imps had made a poor start to the 1995/96 season under Ellis and slumped to the bottom of the league under his replacement Steve Wicks. In mid-October John Beck had swept into Sincil Bank and quickly brought in several new players which had produced an improvement to the extent that although City were still only in 23rd place a gap of five points had opened up over Torquay in bottom place. Wigan had appointed former Norwich City boss and later Imps Director of Football John Deehan as manager at the beginning of November and were currently in mid-table.
The game featured two players who had swapped sides since the last game, with defender Colin Greenall now captaining Wigan, while Jon Whitney had been one of Beck’s first signings for City. It was all Wigan in the first half with Greenall hitting the bar for the hosts and Lincoln goalkeeper Barry Richardson called into action countless times. However, the scores somehow remained level until six minutes after the break when Spanish midfielder and later manager of Everton and Belgium, Roberto Martinez scored with a 20-yard shot. City’s first shot on target didn’t come until the 70th minute but soon after that striker Steve Brown slipped in a close-range equaliser after substitute David Johnson had charged down a defender’s clearance.
The season ended with Wigan in the top half and City in the bottom half of the league table, but both clubs were to have better times the following year.
City hadn’t made a great start to the 1996/97 season, perhaps distracted by League Cup games and visited Wigan four days after a first leg 4-1 win over Manchester City at Sincil Bank. The home side, in contrast, were placed second in the table with three wins out of three at home so far.
The game saw the Imps up against it when midfielder Mark Hone was sent off following a late tackle after just 13 minutes. City ended up with five other players booked and Wigan two in a stormy match which was decided by a 52nd-minute goal from Wigan striker Graham Lancashire following a quickly-taken free kick.
The Imps slipped two places to 15th after the defeat at Wigan but improved to finish ninth and just miss out on a play-off place at the end of the season. Wigan went on to win the championship on goal difference from Fulham, so with the two clubs now in different divisions the meeting at Springfield Park that occurred the following season in early December 1997 was in the First Round of what was then known as the Auto Windscreens Shield.
Meanwhile, plans for a new stadium to replace Springfield Park, which by now had had its capacity cut to just over 7,000 had been published and work begun on what was initially to be called the JJB Stadium.
Under John Beck City were now making a real push for promotion and were currently top of the division while Wigan were rather struggling in the division above and were just outside the relegation zone. Two goals from Wigan striker Graeme Jones, including an 89th-minute penalty, were enough to end City’s involvement in the competition. Wigan improved to finish in mid-table while City, after Shane Westley had succeeded Beck as manager won promotion in third place.
In September 1998, with work progressing on the new stadium Springfield Park was sold to Dorbcrest Homes Ltd for an undisclosed fee. A housing development of one hundred three or four-bedroom dwellings was to be built on the site of the ground on completion of the JJB Stadium.
The final meeting of Wigan Athletic and Lincoln City at Springfield Park then took place in what is now called League One towards the end of April 1999. The Imps had struggled throughout the season in the higher division, but with chairman John Reames having taken over responsibility for team affairs still had an outside chance of avoiding relegation while Wigan were several points off the play-off places but with games in hand. All the goals came in the second half, with ex-Imp Colin Greenall giving the home side a 48th minute lead. Although Lee Thorpe soon equalised with his third goal in four games two goals in three minutes by Andy Liddell and Carl Bradshaw with a penalty made it three defeats in a row for City at Springfield Park.
City were relegated, still in 23rd place, while Wigan lost out to Manchester City in the play-off semi-final. The final Football League game at Springfield Park took place not long after Lincoln’s visit with the Latics beating Chesterfield 3-1 on 8 May 1999 before a crowd of 5,858, while the last game of all came a week later with the visit of Manchester City in the play-off semi-final first leg. The match was drawn 1-1 with the attendance being a close to capacity 6,762.
After Football
Several local amateur finals had been scheduled to be played at the ground following the end of the league season but the pitch was effectively destroyed by fans hoping for a memento after the end of the Manchester City match. The ground, stand and pitch were further destroyed by vandals overnight forcing staff into temporary accommodation, then at around 9pm on 24 May 1999 vandals broke into the souvenir shop and started a fire which destroyed the Phoenix stand.
Due to the condition of the ground demolition work started in the middle of June and a month later the stadium had been reduced to rubble. The planned housing development was then built on the site with the sole reminder of its former use being the naming of one of the roads Lyon Road after Latics legend Harry Lyon, who scored a record 67 goals in the 1964/65 season.
After their move to the JJB (now DW) Stadium Wigan Athletic and Lincoln City went their separate ways in the football pyramid with no meetings at all between the two clubs prior to the start of the 2020/21 season.
Statistics for Lincoln City’s games at Springfield Park are complicated by them having played two clubs there, plus one game that was completed but deleted from the records. One thing is certain, which is that while the Imps’ results on opposition grounds over the years often leave much to be desired their record of away games at Wigan must be among the worst. City played a total of eleven games at Springfield Park against Wigan Borough although one of these later disappeared into limbo. If this game – a
3-0 win – is disregarded it leaves a record of two wins, two draws and six defeats. A reasonable twelve goals were scored in these ten games although this is boosted to 15 in eleven if the expunged game is counted. Two other games saw three goals scored which is the most City ever managed in a single match on the ground whichever the opposition. The figure of 31 goals conceded, is not good, with at least three conceded in seven out of ten (or eleven) games including nine in one particular match.
The thirteen games against Wigan Athletic were no better, and produced three wins, one draw and nine defeats, and although the defensive record was better than against Borough with as many as two goals only conceded twice out of a total of 20, in attack two goals were scored on a just couple of occasions out of a total of only eleven.
The overall total for the 23 games played on the ground shows 15 defeats with five wins and three draws with an average of exactly one goal a game scored. If the expunged match is included the figures are boosted to six wins and goals scored to 26, but whether over 23 or 24 games the total of 51 goals conceded averages over two a match.
Overall, there were seven games when the Imps failed to score as against five (or six) when they kept a clean sheet.
Rather strangely, given the small number of wins the most frequently occurring scoreline on the ground was 1-0 to the Imps which accounted for three of the five (or six wins), one against Borough and two against Athletic.
City’s goals at the ground were scored by 22 different players (including that tiresome expunged match), with Harry Havelock and Frank Pegg the only players to score two goals there which they both did in a single match. Both managed this feat against Wigan Borough, while no player scored more than once against Athletic.
‘Original Stand’, ‘1954’, ‘Short-lived Shevington End stand’ – all from:
www.springfieldparkmemorial.weebly.com
‘Shevington End’, ‘Popular Side’ – both from:
‘View from Main Stand’, ‘Aerial View’ – both from:
‘Phoenix Stand’, ‘Ground in its last years’ – both from:
www.pinterest.co.uk
‘Demolition of the Phoenix Stand’ – from Facebook
‘View from the Shevington End today’ – from:
‘The Town End in 1990’ – from the book ‘Lost League Football Grounds’. This book also includes the ‘Short lived Shevington End stand’ photograph.