Gary Hutchinson, from The Stacey West, has been giving us his impressions of this season at the LNER Stadium, and what the future holds for Lincoln City.
How would you sum up your team’s 2022/23 season, and why?
2022/23 was a hugely successful season for the Imps. We finished 11th in League One, our highest finish in a standard season (not Covid-affected) since the early eighties. We never really flirted with promotion; in fact, at one point, fans were worried about the drop, but in the end, we finished in the top half of the table. Remember, when the season started, many tipped us for the drop, both pundits and our own supporters. We had a new Head Coach, a rookie whose only previous experience as the number one was when Macclesfield slipped out of the Football League. The squad needed work, and generally, anything outside the bottom four would have been classed as a result. Therefore, 11th is quality.
Which players stood out for you and why?
There have been too many to mention, but I’ll give it a go from a personal point of view. The first has to be a January signing, Ethan Erhahon. I like a good central midfielder – football might produce heroes at the back, and headline grabbers up front, but it’s in the engine room where games are won and lost. If you have a competent, calm holding midfielder, protecting the back four and breaking up play, I think you’re always in with a shout of winning matches. We haven’t had that – Liam Bridcutt was quality, but you only got 30% of the season out of him before he broke. Erhahon, signed from St Mirren for an expected club record fee in January, is the type of player I love. He’s 21, has huge resale value, and is so assured on the ball and off it that he’ll earn us big money when he moves on.
Ben House signed from Eastleigh in January 2022 and didn’t immediately stand out. He looked alright, and at the beginning of the season, he was playing in midfield. He had to fill in up top when Tom Hopper got injured, and that was that. he’s another with huge potential, a hard-working centre-forward who should create as many as he scores. He was let down by those around him at times, and loans like Jordon Garrick and Jack Diamond didn’t work out, but with the right players, I think House has 20 goal involvements a season.
Special mentions go to Player of the Season Paudie O’Connor, as well as Regan Poole, Carl Rushworth, and Adam Jackson. All four were major reasons why we kept plenty of clean sheets, and didn’t lose to any team finishing in the top four.
What were the biggest disappointments of the season, and why?
In terms of players, Tashan Oakley-Boothe and Jack Diamond were poor. The former never got going during his loan from Stoke; the latter promised so much but was a big disappointment. Of course, his subsequent departure and criminal charges haven’t really helped him in terms of a legacy at the club, but he wasn’t anything special before that.
Losing to Chippenham in the FA Cup was disappointing, given that the prize money for progression is good. Fair play to them, they did a number on us, and we were down to the bare bones in the attack, but it was still a low point. The same goes for losing to Accrington in the EFL Trophy. We had a nice route to the semi-finals, home draws against clubs struggling in the league, but we went out with a whimper. Both of those games were missed chances for a bit of revenue.
Which matches stand out for you, good and bad, and why?
I’ve mentioned Chippenham, although I was watching St Pauli that weekend, so didn’t really experience the anger like others did. I was pretty disappointed with Burton on Boxing Day. In fact, Burton beat us twice this season, 3-0 and 1-0, and I don’t think they’re anything special. There were some home draws we should have done better with as well – I was perhaps more disappointed in drawing 0-0 with Cambridge than I was in losing to Burton at home!
Too many stand out as special. The 1-1 draw at Sheffield Wednesday was pretty big but wins at Oakwell and Portman Road stand out. I think the best two matches of the season, in terms of the league, were our 1-1 draw with Plymouth and the 2-0 win at their place. They showed we can mix it with anyone on our day.
Imagine, I’ve mentioned these, and still haven’t got to winning 3-1 away at a Championship side in the League Cup.
How do you rate the job your current manager has done?
You can’t fault Mark’s honesty. He admitted he came to us with an idea of how he wanted to play, quickly realised he couldn’t, and rebranded to ensure we finished where we did. It was hard watching, at times, functional football to avoid defeat, but the positives outweighed the negatives. It’s easy to feel a bit spoiled as a Lincoln fan – in the last six seasons, we’ve won two divisions, one trophy, and been to a play-off final. Mark has managed to emerge from the shadow of those achievements in his own right – that’s not an easy thing to do at all.
Put it this way – twelve months ago I was worried about what the next year holds. Writing this, I’m excited to see where we’re going. I think that is a good barometer of the job Mark has done.
What is needed over the summer if you’re to improve next season?
We haven’t lost many key players, and we have a good spine to the team. What we need now is a bit of decoration. A Christmas tree, with no baubles or tinsel, is a growing, functional tree. That’s us right now – leave us as we are, and we’d be functional, just existing and probably surviving. In the summer, we need the baubles, the decorations, and the glamour. We need an attacking midfielder who will score five and create another five. We need the wing-backs who deliver pinpoint crosses and chip in with four or five goals. We need the wingers who (you’ve guessed it) score four or five a season. We need goals, and if we add those to the current squad, the hard-faced battlers who refuse to be beaten, then we might just be able to improve on 11th.
