“The Cowleys were different as after years of bargain basement managers we actually went out and did the research and found them,” said Whiley. <\/p>\n
“The excitement was there and I remember the event where they first met the fans they were cheered into the room.<\/p>\n
“We can look at this season and see promotion to the Championship as the best thing the club has done, but those three seasons, two promotions, FA Cup quarter-final, winning a trophy at Wembley. That changed it all.<\/p>\n
“They brought a buzz back that we hadn’t seen since Keith, and they were like Keith in that they would find players on the way up, scour non-league and find the future stars.<\/p>\n
“The fact is, that even after the Cowleys left to join Huddersfield, the energy stayed. <\/p>\n
“It sticks with me that Danny said to me he didn’t want to see kids in Lincoln wearing the shirts of Premier League clubs, he wanted to see them kicking a ball in the park wearing a Lincoln City shirt. <\/p>\n
“The success, the work that was done means that is a reality. I see it all the time when I go round the city, people wear their colours with pride.”<\/p>\n
While Mark, Leigh and myself have covered parts of Lincoln’s recent history, one man who has been the stalwart has been BBC Radio Lincolnshire’s Michael Hortin.<\/p>\n
His first game was in 1999, and he was there in the commentary box as Lincoln gained promotion to the Championship.<\/p>\n
“This promotion is the culmination of a long-term plan,” said Hortin. “This is about a chairman and board who have been thoughtful with their investment. <\/p>\n
“Lincoln’s FA Cup run earned them a lot of money and they did not spend it on players, they spent it on a whole new training set-up. <\/p>\n
“The Cowleys were the start of a transition from the old way of doing things, to a set-up that is very much part of the modern game. <\/p>\n
“Under them a sporting director was brought in to support recruitment and player development and now we really do have a true ‘head coach’ in Michael Skubala.<\/p>\n
“It is about finding those raw players, developing them, selling them, and it is paying off as it has allowed them to secure players on better deals.”<\/p>\n
Lincoln have, as Hortin describes, recruited ‘experience’ to the squad. Their head coach, though, is a man who had limited time in the professional game, but Hortin said Skubala’s ability to learn and adapt has been impressive.<\/p>\n
“I remember the first game Skubala took was against Stevenage, and it was a bit of a shock, but he was quite cool and his reaction was more ‘huh, this is what it is about’, and he learned,” said Hortin.<\/p>\n
“The way the team has adapted and what Skubala has done is create a team that is hard to beat.”<\/p>\n
A team that is hard to beat. A club that has been learning, developing, recruiting, all building up to where Lincoln are now. But what next?<\/p>\n
Hortin is confident that the club will remain realistic. “The first goal will be survival, but the thing is they had a plan to become an established League One club, and now they will be working on another plan for what comes next.<\/p>\n