Is this the greatest time to be a Lincoln City fan?

Football is a fast-moving game, I’ll grant you that. Last season Exeter City were in a ‘relegation battle’ in October and at Wembley in the play-off final at the end of the season. Players come and go with alarming regularity, rules change, managers change, everything changes. However, I think as Imps we need to pause just for a moment and appreciate the speed at which things move at Lincoln City, not just in two years, but in just under four months.

I don’t want anyone to think this is a criticism of Chris Moyses by the way, not when I draw parallels between then and now. Chris did a fantastic job at this football club at a very tough time and his early role in building foundations should not be forgotten. However, the change over 24 months is so frightening it is beyond belief.

In January 2018 we’ve signed Lee Frecklington and James Wilson amongst others. Whilst all five of our signings are excellent, those two do stand out having essentially been second and third tier players for most of their careers. This transfer window is shaping up to be as exciting as the summer, perhaps the two most significant and ground-breaking transfer windows in Lincoln City’s history. Signing Michael Bostwick and Matt Green in the summer was exciting enough, but now we’re pushing the boundaries even further.

In January 2016, Chris Moyses was making enquiries into quality players. He’d spoken to Scunthorpe about Andrew Boyce and to West Brom about Samir Nabi. Now, those names might not be mouth-watering in 2018, but for the level we were at they’d have been quite a coup. Chris couldn’t convince them Lincoln City was the place to be though, so we ended up with Patrick Brough, James Caton and George Maris. They were underwhelming at the time, Caton perhaps the pick of the three and the only one not currently playing league football. Yes, finances play a part, but after Clive’s investment in December 2015, we weren’t poor, not ‘selling-club’ poor anyway. Lincoln City was a hard sell and Chris, despite sound transfer targets, found that out. He did bring Jamie McCombe in though, maybe the very first time in ages we saw a higher-level player recognise the potential in the Imps.

Two years ago, Lee Frecklington was out injured, but on his return he scored in a1-0 win against Premier League hopefuls Middlesbrough. James Wilson played centre half for Oldham against Millwall and Bradford. We lost to Wrexham, Forest Green and Dover.

This isn’t intended to pour scorn on the side of 2015/16, we lived within our means and in the early part of the season battled really well against most sides. For a while we looked like play-off candidates in the National League, but although it seems a lifetime ago, it isn’t. It’s two years and the movement we’ve enjoyed in that time is frightening.

Whilst we may not think two years is lightning quick time, how about four months? That is how long since we went to Meadow Lane and faced that same Notts County side, getting beaten 4-1. Yes, we were done by dodgy decisions that day, but the truth is they looked better than us for periods. They moved the ball around well and, despite us pressing hard, we only ever looked like grabbing something from the game, not earning it throughout. Fast-forward to this weekend and you see us completely control three-quarters of a game against essentially the same County side. Our squad, reshaped and reshuffled, looked infinitely better than one from just sixteen weeks ago. The new signings certainly impressed, but those old hands looked much-improved too. Matt Green had one of his best matches in a City shirt, despite some calling him wasteful in front of goal. He could perhaps have done better with his header, but other than that I thought he looked sharp. His goal was well-taken, his overhead quick was instinctive, accurate and saved well. He ran for ninety minutes without ever stopping. That’s a confident and complete Matt Green, back in September he was only just bedding in.

We might ‘only’ have drawn against the team in second on Saturday and thanks to the referee it might have felt like a defeat, but for me the change in our side since September and even October has been massive. Danny’s sides do always get better, he tells us that every week and we’ve seen it ourselves, but the speed with which it has happened has caught me a little by surprise. Maybe it shouldn’t, last season it was the October 1st game against Braintree in which Danny said ‘we’ve begun to find our method’. I think it took six weeks longer this season, until November 25th against Port Vale, but it has happened again. We’ve hit a benchmark match and seemingly, everything has clicked.

I’m finding it staggering how quickly we’re moving, but only when I pause to take stock of the situation. Often as football fans we spend a lot of time looking ahead to the next game, the next place above us in the division or the next new signing. Doubtless, I’ll soon be blogging about centre forwards I believe we should bring in, almost moving on from the amazing week of recruitment we’ve just experienced. When you pause for a second and realise what is happening here, it really is an amazing time.

Right now, this very second, I believe it is as exciting to be a Lincoln City fan as at any time before in history. Again, I’m not taking away from Bill Anderson, Graham Taylor or Colin Murphy, nor from Keith Alexander. Those guys achieved much for the club, working in their own ways and with their own methods, but there was always something hindering their progress. Often it was money, perhaps not with Graham, but certainly the others. Right now, that isn’t an issue. Don’t for one second believe we’re a rich club, don’t think we’ve got limitless reserves of cash to spend as we see fit, that isn’t the case. What we do have is a stable football club, organically evolving and growing to fit the new world of the EFL. However, never before have we attracted players from a higher level with such alarming regularity. Never before has that come hand in hand with a growing and passionate fan base, exciting and vibrant young managers with respect and integrity. Just look at the display, instigated by the 617 and performed by the whole Coop stand. I’ve never known a Sincil Bank like this, not in my 30 years of following the club. It is astounding where we are and what we now stand for. I’m not sure about the #impsasone personally, but we do exude unity and togetherness like never before.

The most comparable time has to be Graham Taylor’s era, there’s no question about that. I think Graham’s teams existed in a simpler time when it perhaps was all about football and bums on seats rather than all the other stuff a modern day side gets bogged down in. The 21st century brings an awful lot of additional complications to a football club, but the rewards are much richer. Football moves quickly and right now, nobody in football is moving quicker than Lincoln City FC.

Enjoy it, cherish it and never forget how it feels each and every day to support our club right now. This is what all football fans strive for, this is what Morecambe, Grimsby, Accrington and all the other League Two sides aspire too. For once, we are the envy of the Football League, the National League and (dare I say) half of League One also.