The transfer window slammed shut Monday evening at 7pm and some Lincoln City fans were a bit cautious. They shouldn’t have been. Here we will take a look at why it was actually an amazing summer for the Imps. The board at Lincoln City, along with Jez George and Liam Scully deserve a lot of credit and hopefully have had a glass of wine or two since.
Arrivals
We will begin our analysis with the arrivals and just why they deserve so much credit. With no fewer than 9 arrivals at Sincil Bank (sorry the Lner Stadium) it’s been a busy summer for the club. Of course we will get to the departures in a moment but Sonny Bradley and Ryley Towler were solid first signings of the summer.
For much of the summer it looked like they would be the only arrivals… that’s before a crazy few weeks that involved Frankie Okoronkwo, Ivan Varfolomeev, Oscar Thorn, Fin Barbrook, Dexter Lembikisa, Adam Reach and Justin Obikwu. The final four of those names arrived on deadline day! Talk about cutting it fine! A mix of experience and youth is what has been achieved for Michael Skubala’s side.
The likes of Bradley and Reach bring experience to add to the likes of Tendayi Darikwa who is the captain and Connor McGrandles who is extremely experienced. Sprinkle that with the youth prospects in Okoronkwo, Thorn, Barbrook and the rest and could Lincoln City achieve a top half finish this season? I’m not saying the P word, you can if you want!
Departures
A lot of the concern around Lincoln City came from the players that departed. The club tried to keep hold of Paudie O Connor, Sean Roughan and Ethan Erhahon, but all three departed to Reading, Huddersfield Town and Bolton Wanderers respectively. Pretty bad start eh?!
Then came the news of academy graduate Jovon Makama leaving for Norwich City. Ouch. Ethan Hamilton then returned north of the border joining Dundee. The board were confident enough though as Zane Okoro departed on loan on Deadline Day.
Quotes
Speaking earlier in the summer, Jez George was cautious. Here’s what was said to BBC Lincolnshire Sport:
“The market is difficult, it’s expensive. It’s become something where our top earner used to be towards the top of like a group of players in League One, where now our top earners are just becoming what is bog standard for any player in League One.”
“We’re fifth in [the cost-per-point] league table and it’s a league table we challenge ourselves to get in the top six. It wouldn’t surprise you to know that Birmingham are bottom.”
“We’ve got some players that we’re doing our due diligence on and that we’ve seen several times. What we have to be really careful of is not to sign a player overseas because we think we should, or to fill a place.
“They have to be better than we can get in the domestic market, or the same quality but much cheaper.”
“We are in a place where we believe we’ve got the right targets, the right options. But we’re going to be fighting in the market with lots of other clubs for those players because if you want to sign a good player in this league, there’s going to be a lot of competition.”
“What comes in doesn’t mean it’s going to get spent on the same position,” he added. .”Just because money comes in doesn’t mean a commensurate amount of money goes out, and every single deal has to stack up at being the right deal for us.”
“We’re ambitious. We want to do something really special for this football club.”
Summary
9/10
If you had asked many Lincoln City fans a few weeks ago if they were happy with the transfer window, many would have said no. Much of the spine of the team had gone and the squad was threadbare. Three of the arrivals have made their debuts, Ivan Varfolomeev appeared for a short spell against Burton Albion in the second round of the Carabao Cup. He also appeared against Mansfield Town on Saturday, a match the Imps drew.
Fin Barbrook then appeared against Notts County on Tuesday in the Vertu Trophy, along with fellow new recruit Adam Reach. Barbrook did not look out of place in the midfield and will be pushing for a place. Reach has filled the left-back hole left by Sean Roughan’s departure and he gained an assist.
One thing is for sure, Skubala has plenty of options both defensively and offensively if he requires change during a match to match or better the opposition. The board have backed him. For that I’m going to give the Imps summer business a 9/10.
It says a lot that Ivan Varfolomeev, Dexter Lembikisa and Justin Obikwu are on international duty this weekend.
