Vital Statistics
Founded: 1884
Chairman: Clive Nates
Last Season: League One - 16th
Nicknames: The Imps
Rivals: Scunthorpe United, Grimsby Town, Hull City
Major Honours
None
Scheduled Matches
Portsmouth vs Lincoln: Tuesday, January 26th (7:45pm)
Lincoln vs Portsmouth: Tuesday, November 3rd (7:45pm)
Lincoln City: A brief history
Formed in 1884, Lincoln were founding members of the Football League Second Division in 1892 and would spend much of the twentieth century bouncing between the second and third tiers of English football before relegation to Division Four in 1962.
The Imps stayed in the basement division until 1976 when they won the Division Four title under Graham Taylor. However, the yo-yo label the club earned stuck as they continued to be relegated as low as the Conference and as high as Division Three. Lincoln qualified for the League Two play-offs for five successive years from 2002 to 2007 but failed every time and were relegated to non-league football again in 2011.
It wasn't until 2016 until Lincoln's fortunes changed with the appointment of Danny Cowley. He and his brother Nicky guided City to the FA Cup quarter-finals in 2017, knocking out Burnley and Sunderland on the way. They were the first non-league side to get to the last eight of the competition for 109 years and they also won the Conference National the same season.
Back in League Two, Lincoln won the EFL Trophy and lost the play-off semi-finals in their first season back but that was followed up with winning the division the following season, bringing the Imps back to the third tier and continuing their tradition of moving amongst the leagues.
The Manager: Michael Appleton
No stranger to Pompey fans, Appleton's first job in management was with the crisis-hit Blues in 2010 having coached at West Brom previously. He couldn't prevent relegation and left for Blackpool the following season and then for Blackburn in 2013.
His first solid job in management was at Oxford where he won promotion to League One but then becames Leicester's assistant manager in 2017. When the Cowleys left Lincoln for Huddersfield, Appleton was their replacement.
Match To Remember: Portsmouth 4 Lincoln City 1 (Division Three - 02/11/1982)
Alan Biley netted a hat-trick in this game with Billy Rafferty scoring the other as a rampant Pompey laid a marker down for the 82/83 season where they would finish champions.
Match To Forget: Portsmouth 0 Lincoln City 2 (Division Three - 17/09/1977)
The 77/78 season is said to be the worst in the club's entire history from those unfortunate to have endured it and this was one of many abysmal home defeats. Pompey ended the season rock bottom of the league and relegated to the fourth tier for the first time in their history.
The Ground: Sincil Bank (Capacity: 10,120 - Away: 1,100)
Sincil Bank is the only ground in League One I've yet to visit. Ground review to come.