What Lincoln City need to do to sustain Championship football after Michael Skubala’s exit

By Rob Beezley

Lincoln City had one of the best seasons in the club’s history in the campaign just gone as the Imps won the League One title in convincing fashion.

They will now be playing in the Championship for the first time since the 1960s.

Michael Skubala’s side accumulated 103 points across an impressive season before the 43-year-old departed for second tier rivals Bristol City.

The Imps beat the likes of Cardiff City and Bolton Wanderers to the title – with their campaign including a 29-game unbeaten run and an unbeaten streak in the league since November of last year.

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The joint managers

That brings us to the first point for sustaining Championship football and recent weeks have seen a big step in terms of certainty for the club.

The League One champions have announced that Tom Shaw and Chris Cohen, who were Skubala’s assistants last season, will take over.

Bristol City activated Michael’s release clause, rumoured to be over £1m and entered into talks with him and Skubala decided to depart Lincoln.

The club reacted extremely quickly, almost immediately confirming that Shaw and Cohen will replace Skubala as joint head coaches.

The duo will have their own ideas to implement into the playing squad but will also have learnt certain successful attributes from their former boss.

FAREWELL: Michael Skubala has left his role at Lincoln City to take charge at Bristol City
PICTURE: Nigel French/PA

Keeping star men

Another point for sustainability is the retained list at the LNER Stadium and pretty much everybody is staying (Jamie Pardington and MJ Kamara have been offered contracts and are considering their options).

The likes of George Wickens, Tendayi Darikwa, Conor McGrandles, Reeco Hackett, Jack Moylan and Rob Street will be integral to any success the Imps achieve this season, and the team can be built around such quality.

That brings us nicely onto the next point for continuity.

Moylan recently made his international debut for Ireland and whilst the opposition was Grenada, he hit the ground running and smashed in a hat-trick for his country.

This is bound to have caught other team’s eyes.

Whilst an impressive feat, this was not enough for Moylan to be named in the upcoming friendlies against Qatar and Canada.

Wickens was the leading clean sheet man in the league alongside Stevenage’s Filip Marschall. Hackett was the joint top scorer at the Imps alongside Moylan.

Street also hit the heights following a successful loan spell with Doncaster Rovers in the previous season.

He hit 10 goals this season and has two promotions in two seasons, which looks good on any CV.

That is before we even get into the assists for the Imps, it’s been a real team effort in that sense.

Hackett has seven, Moylan and McGrandles both have six and Tom Hamer has five, with several others also contributing across the season.

Attacking football

One of the major reasons behind the success of the LNER Stadium outfit is their ability to press from the front – this sort of tenacity will be needed in the Championship but of course, players in the second tier will be tougher, stronger and cleverer.

A mid-table finish or survival would be considered a success for Shaw and Cohen, giving Lincoln the chance to establish themselves in the Championship and become an even more formidable outfit.

The players have earned a well-deserved rest during the off-season, but they will soon gear up for pre-season and the start of the new campaign in August.

As many Imps fans already know, next season won’t be easy at all.

The stadium

The LNER stadium has a capacity of just over 10,000.

The club have announced already that they’ve sold just under 7,000 season tickets at the time of writing.

That said, a recent visit to the city for the champions parade showed the club has already started making the improvements needed to increase the ground’s potential.

New signings

While the Imps will want to keep the core of their squad intact, they will need a few astute signings to elevate their level and match Championship standards.

Shaw and Cohen will not be signing shedloads of players but the board will need to give them somewhat of a war chest to give the club the best chance of surviving an immediate return to League One.

How active Lincoln will be remains unclear, but Shaw and Cohen will surely add at least a few new faces to their squad.

Potential targets

Some of the rumoured players that could be joining are Falkirk forward Barney Stewart and former Peterborough United midfielder Archie Collins.

Stewart has scored 12 times and has a further two assists in just 28 games for the Bairns in the 2025/26 season.

Collins was a shining light in a disappointing season for Posh, and several clubs want to sign him. He popped up with three goals and seven assists in the campaign just gone.

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