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A brief history of Lincoln City FC
By Nathan Jackson
August 8 2008
Lincoln City are a side that have rarely changed divisions in recent years. City returned the League in 1988 and have only not played in the fourth tier once during that period. However, City have occasionally challenged to get out of this division during this time, has it always been the case.
The club officially formed in 1884 after Lincoln Rovers disbanded. Lincoln subsequently became the first side to ever use the word "City" in their name. The first game for the Imps was a 9-1 victory over Sleaford Town in October 1884, George Hallam scoring the first ever goal for Lincoln City but Edwin Teesdale took the headlines in City's first ever competitive game, scoring four as the Imps thumped Boston Excelsior by an 11-0 scoreline.

The first piece of silverware came in 1886/7 when a replay resulted in the Imps beating Grimsby Town 2-0 to win the County Cup. Despite being founder members of the Football League Division Two, the Imps didn't get off to the best start, losing 4-2 away at Sheffield United in 1892. City then moved to Sincil Bank in 1895 an they have remained there ever since.

Fluctuations between the Second Division and localised Leagues took up most of the next 25 years before the Imps helped form the Third Division North. We kept flipping between that division and Division Two until the 1962/3 season when we were relegated to the Fourth Division. This isn't a good time for the club as City are struggling for mediocrity before Graham Taylor was appointed in 1971.

Taylor oversaw an improvement at the club that culminated in the Fourth Division title in 1975/6. City won 21 of their 23 home games and the Imps also win 11 games on the road. It was a record breaking season as 74 points was the best ever gained under the 2 point system and 32 wins in a season was a new record for any team in Division Four, scoring almost 100 goals in the process. Taylor left a year later.

City slowly started struggling again and they were relegated back to Division Four  in 1979. Despite losing three less games than Southend United, the Imps have to settle for second behind the Essex club, but it doesn't really matter as the Imps are promotion and City only missed out on a second successive promotion by a point in the following season.

The mid-80s turned into a traumatic time for the club, being involved in the Bradford Fire in 1985 and this clearly has a bad effect on City, suffering two relegations in a row and entering the Conference for the first time ever. However, Colin Murphy's men return at the first time of asking, winning the division on the final day of the season against Wycombe Wanderers.

That's about as exciting as it gone for 9 years. City missed out on the Playoffs on the final day of the 1996/7 season before winning promotion in the season following, although we are quickly relegated back. A few years of financial plight later and the Imps are fortunate to survive in order to compete in the 2002/3 season. City are favourites for relegation but end up making the Playoff final, beating Scunthorpe United 6-3 on aggregate in the semi finals before being destroyed by a strong Bournemouth side. That season will be remember as the season where Keith Alexander's Non-League Legion proved the so-called "experts" wrong.

Four years and four more Playoff failures later and the Imps are almost relegated to the Conference, only bringing in Peter Jackson saves the club and he will now lead City's charge on the League Two promotion places in 2008/9.

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