Opposition's View - Lincoln City

Last updated : 28 September 2009 By Jacob Daniel
With tomorrow's local derby at Lincoln City fast approaching, NCM took time out to speak to Lincoln City fan Nathan Jackson about Chris Sutton, why Notts won't get automatic promotion and how Lincoln City's season seems to have fallen apart before it had even begun. Nathan runs the excellent Lincoln City fansite www.theimps.tk.

1. Chris Sutton, that's a bit of a surprise! You happy?

Can't really say at this stage if I'm honest. I must admit I was hoping for someone with more experience, with my personal favourite being Brabin. However, as they say, every manager has to start somewhere and Sutton certainly talks a good game from what I've heard so far.

There are also rumours that Sutton and Pearce have put in £250,000 of their own money into the club, which is very interesting and gives him a bit of a budget to bring in new players, something that we clearly need at the moment.

2. Was it right for Peter Jackson to leave?

Yes, most definitely. We had never been more than midtable also-rans under Jackson and were quickly starting to any chance of doing anything worth while this season.

I was one of the first to notice last season that he had an overall record of losing more games than he won and he never changed that record. Granted we could put in some good results every now and then, but a 5-1 thrashing at Grimsby really made a lot of people realise that Peter wasn't the man for City.

Virtually all of our decent players left and were replaced by either kids who weren't ready or journeymen who just didn't care.

In terms of position, we may appear to have finished two places higher last season than we did during Jackson's first season, but add the points back on to various sides and we would have finished 15th again, with Jackson not having the excuse of Schofield's poor start of the previous year

3. What's been going so wrong at Sincil Bank this season?

We've got a bunch of players who quite frankly don't give a crap about anyone other than themselves. There have been recent rumours that four of our players had a go at fans in the town centre and when the fans said "You're not fit to wear the shirt," the players just flashed a load of jewelry at them, no doubt brought from Argos or Cash Converters.

We're not overly bad at the back and have one of the best keepers in the division, but our midfield don't create anything at all, and other than the occasional goal here and there, the strikers waste the precious few chances the midfield do create. The fact we have only scored seven goals in all competitions says it all really.

We have Scott Kerr as captain and ever since he was appointed to that position in 2007, we slowly got worse both on and off the pitch. All he does is waved his arms around like a hitch-hiker wanted a lift, but that's about it. He's not fit enough for League Two football, let alone to be the Captain of a League Two side.

4. How's Richard Butcher doing so far?

I'm not impressed in the slightest. Four years ago he was an exciting midfielder who could change a match without even thinking about it. Now he's just a lazy, uninterested bystander who you could be forgiven for forgetting he was even on the pitch.

5. Who should we be looking out for on the Imps' side?


No-one outfield. The only half-decent player we have is Rob Burch (the goalkeeper). Everyone out field is a bit rubbish to be honest,

6. What do you reckon the season holds for both sides?

With Sutton incharge we could quite literally do anything. It's a complete and total guess from anyone, no-one can predict it accurately. I'd be happy with a high midtable position because that would at least be progress from the Jackson days.

As for Notts, I don't quite think you're good enough for automatic promotion, but you should easily make the Playoffs.

7. Thanks Nathan, finally a prediction for the match?


Notts victory by at least three goals.