The team leads the division as top scorers and boasts the meanest defence, currently seven points ahead of Cardiff. This marks a dramatic improvement from last season, when Lincoln finished 11th and 17 points off the play-offs, struggling with injuries and losing key players Ethan Erhahon and Jovon Makama last summer. According to Daily Mail - Sport, Michael Skubala described how the club recruited for the dip they had last season in the winter, addressing injuries with numbers and quality, which helped them manage the middle part of this campaign after always starting well and finishing strong throughout his tenure.
Experienced additions such as Sonny Bradley and Adam Reach have complemented emerging talents like Ivan Varfolomeev, who joined for a record fee from Slovan Liberec and has become increasingly influential, though the exact fee is unknown. Lincoln's recruitment follows a clear, data-led and disciplined process, with the club rejecting opportunities to sign some players in January to protect squad balance and wage structure, details of which are unspecified, and they felt Alfie Lloyd had the traits and character to fit despite his mixed spell at Leyton Orient where he failed to score, though the specific traits are unclear. After a 3-0 victory against Bradford City at the end of January, according to Daily Mail - Sport, Michael Skubala felt this could be a landmark campaign for his side, while Liam Scully described how the club made a plan several years ago and vowed to stick to it, emphasizing it took a lot of work from many people.
We put in a great performance and I said to the coaches that this is a serious team. I knew if we could keep them going and focused, they could do something special.
Skubala also noted they've not really thought about getting a set number of points, instead attacking every game to win it.
We made a plan several years ago and vowed to stick to it. This isn’t a one-year build, and it's taken a lot of work from a number of people because it takes a village to have success.
It sounds nuts, but we’ve not really thought about getting X number of points. We’ve just attacked every game to try and win it. That’s been the mantra. Then we review it and go again.
We recruited for the dip we had last season in the winter. We struggled with injuries, so we addressed that with numbers and quality - and then we didn’t have the dip. We’ve always started well and finished strong throughout my tenure, but this time we managed that middle part of the season.