Lincoln City remained clear leaders of League Two after a hard-fought 2-1 victory against MK Dons this weekend, but one of the talking points has little to do with events on the field.
When the teams ran out, Imps’ fan group ‘617 squadron’ unfurled a banner attacking MK’s history, with the caption ‘Franchise football est 2004’, as well as calling the Dons ‘vermin’, encouraging their team to ‘put them to the sword’.
It certainly stoked up the atmosphere at Sincil Bank, even when the Imps went 1-0 down. In a rather poignant moment the Lancaster bomber, hero of the 617 squadron’s raid, flew over the ground, prompting them to fight back to a 2-1 victory with a last-minute Jason Shackell goal. Few could argue they weren’t worth the win.
Some MK fans are still angry that their club gets such bad press in the modern age. 14 years later, is it time to move on? Or should more clubs make a stand? Some MK fans don’t mind the banner and revel in the notoriety of their 2004 inception following the demise of Wimbledon. In certain parts of London, the banner appears to have been very well received indeed.
Bath Womble feels that the Imps’ fans actions are a symptom of their recent non-league spell, a time during which they will have understood how hard it is to get through the leagues and of course what MK didn’t do to get there.
However, some fans, even from Lincoln think it is time to move on. Here’s a couple of sides to the debate.
https://twitter.com/MargDon1/status/1043534499349450752
The Real EFL would like to point out that Lincoln United are a Northern Premier League Division One side and didn’t have anything to do with the banner, although they haven’t ever had to play against MK Dons so their reaction to them isn’t known.
https://twitter.com/Citizen_Toby/status/1043499189618003968
https://twitter.com/BathWomble/status/1043902333766303744
https://twitter.com/mavhed/status/1043906616687505408
https://twitter.com/BathWomble/status/1043995800437739527
https://twitter.com/DannLUFC/status/1043942598103236608
https://twitter.com/alex_makel/status/1043816972809633792
https://twitter.com/AFCWTWEETS2/status/1043823869121966080
https://twitter.com/BadWomble1/status/1043896874443378689
