By Nathan Jackson
December 25 2006

May say the Imps get into, and quickly eliminated from the playoff positions. It is also Keith's final month at Sincil Bank. The month sees a new City record, a new sponsorship, a few players released and our best player leaving for an absolute joke of a transfer fee.

May starts with the news that ex Lincoln City player, Steve McLaren, has been given the job of England manager, the first ex-Imp to do so since Graham Taylor. Ironically, McLaren’s later results in 2006 would see him be about as popular as Taylor was as England manager (not very for those not old enough to remember).

City’s results in April meant that the Imps needed just a point to guarantee a playoff place and even with a defeat, Posh would have to overcome Wycombe at London Road. Before the kick off, Jamie McCombe deservedly wins both "Player of the Season" and "Away Player of the Season," Jeff Hughes narrowly beats Lee Frecklington to"Young Player of the Season." Jamie Forrester’s debut goal against Grimsby was enough to see him win "Goal of the Season" and Graham Taylor (not the manager), wins "Volunteer of the Year."

The game between the two sides starts nervously with neither side managing to get a firm grip on the game. Rochdale had arguably the best chances as nerves appeared to be getting to the Lincoln players who were struggling to put a run of passes together. News filters through that Wycombe have scored against Peterborough meaning that it would now take a huge turn around for the Imps not to get into the playoffs. The spot is effectively sealed when Gareth McAuley headers in from close range. Wycombe make it 2-0 in their game before Rochdale equalise at Sincil Bank, but it doesn’t matter as the Imps have qualified for the playoffs.

A pitch invasion leads to confusion as no-one is entirely sure who we’ll face because quite literally, in the space of 10 seconds, our opponents changed from Leyton Orient to Grimsby Town. It was confirmed that we’d face Grimsby in the playoff semi finals whereas Cheltenham and Wycombe would contest the other semis. The final day results meant that Oxford joined Rushden and Diamonds in the relegation places, Carlisle, Northampton and Orient are promoted automatically.

In a week that saw the 21^st anniversary of the terrible Bradford Fire, forgotten Imps man, Derek Asamoah was called up for a friendly for Ghana. He apparantly plays well as the Africans go down 3-0 to French side Nice. Ex-Imp Junior Agogo also plays in the match. Jeff Hughes also wins his 5^th Under 21 cap with a 4-0 win over Liechtenstein. Asamoah’s departure from the Imps seems almost guaranteed but one of City’s youngsters, Luke Foster, signs a new 1 year deal.

In front of the Sky Sports cameras, the Imps run out for the 4^th playoff campaign in a row and just like the first, it’s against local rivals. The game against starts nervously but City seem slightly more confident than Grimsby and the Imps think they’ve taken the lead just after 10 minutes in when Jamie McCombe heads through the legs of Mildenhall. The joy doesn’t last long though however as McCombe is ruled to have fouled Whittle and the goal is chalked off. Marvin Robinson has a goal disallowed within a few minutes for an obvious offside.

Much like so many other times over 2006, Grimsby Town scored with their first chance and to be far, it was a well worked goal as a neat passing move saw the ball go around the defence and Gary Jones slotted home from close range. Lee Beevers came close to equalising but his thunderbolt from 30 yards was well saved by Mildenhall. City almost equalised in the final minute but Whittle clears Nat Brown’s header off the line. Grimsby take a 1-0 advantage into the second leg.

A few days later and Grimsby dominate the opening periods of the game but the turning point is when Rob Jones is injured for the Mariners. The tall defender has dominated in the area and was finding himself easily controlling the Imps attack and in his absence, the Imps won a free kick. This was swung in by Kerr, and the man who’d suddenly found himself unmarked because of the Jones absense, Marvin Robinson, headed by a still Mildenhall and City were level on aggregate and were suddenly on top. Nat Brown should have put the Imps into the lead overall but his shot from the edge of the area when high over the bar.

City appear to be on top as the game enters the second half but it isn’t long until Ben Futcher pounces on City’s lapse defence and taps in to re-establish the lead for the club where his father was a legend. The confidence is clearly gone from City and it isn’t long before an unmarked Gary Jones heads in from close range and it seals a win for Grimsby and they go through 3-1 on aggregate. City’s playoff dreams are over for another year.

It isn’t long before Keith Alexander sets about getting rid of the players he thinks are crap. Derek Asamoah, Matt Bloomer, Chris Gordon, Francis Green, Steve Robinson and Jude Stirling are all released. Sherlock signs a new contract whereas Gary Birch, Gareth McAuley, Marvin Robinson and Simon Yeo are all offered new deals.

Jeff Hughes recieves a full international call for Northern Ireland. He and Gareth McAuley play in the 1-0 loss to Uraguay but it’s the first time in history that 2 Lincoln players are playing in the same international team.

Just days after this, it is announced that Keith Alexander leaves Sincil Bank almost 4 years to the day after being appointed as a replacement for Alan Buckley. Automatically, he is linked with the empty managers seat at Peterborough United. He isn’t the only face to leave Sincil Bank as Jamie McCombe leaves Sincil Bank for an undisclosed fee, believed to be around £55,000, a sum that doesn’t amuse Imps fans, who thought he was easily worth a 6 figure fee at the very least.

The playoff final is contested between Cheltenham Town and Grimsby Town. It was far from a classic and it won by a fluke goal from Steve Guinan of Cheltenham Town. This means that City keep a local derby and lose a ground where we ALWAYS lose at.

It comes as no surprise that with just a handful of days later, Keith Alexander is named as Peterborough manager. Keith Oakes leaves the Imps to take over as physio at London Road with Keith Alexander. The search for a new manager at Sincil Bank is apparantly attracting some big names, including a few ex-Premiership managers including Danny Wilson and John Deehan.

The final news of the month is the announcement that Haart Estate Agents will sponsor the away shirts in the 2006/7. The deal includes a clause which means that unless the kits clash, the away kit must be worn on the travels.