By Nathan Jackson
December 2 2005
1946-47 – Football League resumes following the end of the war and Bill Anderson is the manager of City. Out of 22 sides, City finish an average 12th, winning 39 points from 42 games. Doncaster Rovers are promoted as champions in a season where they set a new points record for the 2 point system, something that we’ll be hearing more about later.
1947-48 – If you thought Keith’s budget was tight, Bill Anderson had considerably less, having an overall budget of just £2000. However,
1948-49 – City’s return to the division they founded all those years ago, didn’t go particully well and City were relegated straight back down after finishing bottom of the table. Whereas City had only lost 8 games the previous season, they only won 8 games and were relegated with
1949-50 – City did almost win promotion straight back to Division 2, however, a poor run towards the end meant that the Imps finished 4th, 4 points off eventual champions
1950-1 – City have a better season in terms of points than the previous season, but end up 1 position worse off. The division had been expanded to 24 teams and
1951-2 – At the end of the 1948-9 season, the chairman had declared to Division 2 that City would return to that division 3 years after getting relegated and in the 3rd season after being relegated, City again won the title, it was made even sweeter considering we pipped local rivals
1952-3 – For the first time since the 20’s, the Imps managed to stay in the 2nd level of the Football League structure after being promoted and although City finished 15, Anderson still had ambitions of pushing the club into the highest level of football for the first time in the clubs history.
1953-4 – An unremarkable season sees the Imps finish 16th after just 14 wins from 42 games. This season, like many before it, followed the pattern of City having fantastic home form but dreadful away form. City only lost 4 at home but only won 3 away. Leicester and Everton were promoted into the top division.
1954-5 – Again, City fail to flatter and finish 16th again and although the away form picked up, the home form started taking a nose dive.
1955-6 – After 3 rather poor seasons, City pick it up a bit, finishing 8th but again the away form probably cost them a chance of getting into the higher division, 14 wins out of 19 home games was countered by just 4 wins on the road.
1956-7 – A return to “normality” for the Imps sees them barely escape relegation and although a 9 point gap looks comfortable enough, there was plenty of nervous bums on seats for the Imps.
1957-8 – You see all these teams call their escape’s from relegation as the great escape, however, this truly was the great escape. With 6 games to go, City were rock bottom and had to win all the remaining games to stay up. City got off to a decent start to these 6 games by beating both
1958-9 – City again survived by a single point and only 2 points separate the bottom 4 teams. City finished on 29 points, 1 point above relegated
1959-60 – A less heart-stopping season was a relief for many as City finished an average 13th, collecting 39 points. Aston Villa and
1960-1 – City’s luck finally runs out and they are relegated, finishing bottom with just 24 points, 9 points adrift of
1961-2 – Whilst the Imps had been away, there were now 4 teams relegated from Division 3 and City’s luck from 4 years previous, had defiantly run out as the Imps are relegated along with Torquay, Brentford and
1962-3 - City’s downward spiral continues as they finish 22nd out of 24 in Division 4, winning just 13 of their 46 matches. Brentford,
1963-4 – The ying/yang form of
1964-5 – City record a 20somethingth finish for the 3rd time in 4 seasons. This time finishing 22nd, winning 11 out of 46.
1965-6 – Yet again, the Imps finis 22nd and only avoid finishing bottom by 2 points.
1966-7 – City’s incredibly bad form over the years finally catches up to them as they finishing bottom of the entire football league, winning a measly 9 games out of 46.
1967-8 – City hit the relatively dizzy heights of 13th, having an average season, winning 17 and losing 20 of the 46 games.
1968-9 – City show improvement, finishing 8th, yet the same old story denies them a promotion challenging season as only 4 away wins, holds the Imps back. Doncaster Rovers,
1969-70 – City have no real excuses for not putting on a promotion challenge, again, the Imps finish 8th but poor form in general sees them finish 9 points off the promotion places that are filled by Chesterfield, Wrexham, Swansea and Port Vale.
1970-1 – City’s steady improvement is halted as the Imps finish a disappointing 21st with
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