Lincoln City’s Chief Executive Liam Scully believes that football clubs are too important to their communities not to be respected and protected by the owners, as reported by Irish News.
Scully was speaking after The Imps were voted 5th in the latest Fair Game Index that measures how sustainably the 92 league clubs are run as well as coming out on top for their equality standards.
Respecting The Past
Scully expressed how it was not the job of those at Lincoln City to tell others how to run their football clubs but did insist that there should be an “overall framework” to ensure good governance was in place to make sure clubs were not lost.
He told the PA news agency, “Owners of football clubs are only ever temporary custodians of these great anchor institutions within their cities and their towns.”
“For us, it’s respecting the history and heritage of Lincoln City, running it in a way that we believe is appropriate. We’re still trying to be ambitious on the field, but it’s about making sure that at no point we’re putting the overall long-term financial health of the club at risk,” he continued.
Importance To The Community
The Chief Executive discussed just how important clubs like Lincoln City are to the communities they serve, describing them as the glue and giving examples of how the club helped during the lockdown period.
He spoke of incidents where the club were used to put people in contact with those they have sat with for years but had no way of communicating with.
“We had people phoning up saying: ‘I’ve sat next to Dave for 15 years. I don’t actually know his surname. I just know him as Dave, and he’s known me since I was a kid. I just want to know he’s all right. Would you mind just passing my number on to him and we can have a chat?’
“You then play that forward and you realise Dave is a widow, he’s in lockdown, he’s been really lonely,” said Scully.
During a period that was so difficult for so many, the club (when permitted) opened their doors once a week for fans to share a socially distanced picnic to allow some engagement with those outside of their homes.
Scully added, “That’s why these clubs are assets that have to be protected. That’s why we’re anchor institutions because, you know, when Bury (had their EFL membership withdrawn) or if Derby had been lost, it’s not really the green rectangle that people would miss. It’s a vehicle for however many people that sit together to be together, and have that commonality.”
Independent Regulator
City are members of Fair Game, a group of clubs that had been calling for an independent regulator for English football.
When asked why independent regulation was so important, Scully commented, “(Clubs) manage conflicts reasonably well – we compete at least twice a year and we’d almost do anything for a win, but the rest of the time we’re reasonably collaborative.”
“When it comes down to those big decisions or those big moments, those fundamental principles, I think the levels of conflict are incredibly difficult to overcome.”
“If you’re a director at Redtown FC and you’re also a member of the EFL or the Premier League board, you have your duties and responsibilities as a director of that company, Redtown FC, as well as the wider game, and I think that’s incredibly difficult to get the balance right.”
“Self-interest is a really simple way to put it, and it’s a bit of a combative term because you’ve got fiduciary responsibilities as a director to both entities and I think that’s where conflicts become very difficult to manage.”
“It’s a sensitive and delicate matter, it’s how we unpick that and how do we find fair and fundamental change in our game overall. I think we just need some outside assistance with that.”
Looking To The Future
At the LNER Stadium, a new community and skills hub is being built that will offer services from cancer care to English lessons and will offer citizenship and education to the diverse community in the vicinity of the ground.
Writer’s View
Ever since Liam Scully joined the club alongside the chairman Clive Nates, they have taken the football club forward to a place that was unimaginable less than 10 years ago and, as a fan, you have always had the impression that they are genuine when saying they will never put the long term future of the club at risk.
The way the lockdown situation was dealt with in terms of season ticket holders who had committed their money to the club saw a very difficult situation handled well.
Money from the FA Cup run was invested back into the football club in the form of a new training ground and the club have a group of Supporter Liaison Officers to assist fans on a match day.
Some of the clubs in League One over the past few seasons have been able to outmuscle City financially but, no matter how frustrating it may be for some fans, those in power at the club have refused to spend beyond their means to protect the long-term future.
The Lincoln City Foundation continues to do great work in the community, working alongside schools to help children and young people access sport as well as providing holiday camp places for those on low incomes. Initiatives such as the Dementia Friendly Walking Football Group and the Level Playing Field meeting to discuss disability access at matches are further examples of how the club are mindful and aware of its role within the local area.
⚽️ Lincoln City Foundation have recently set up a new dementia-friendly walking football group.
The sessions will run every Tuesday from 1-2pm for anybody with dementia of any gender, age or footballing ability.
➡️ https://t.co/wztMpFLCL1#WalkingFootball #ImpsAsOne pic.twitter.com/r9mNMzB15T
— Lincoln City Foundation 🇺🇦 (@LCityFoundation) July 14, 2023
⚽️ Lincoln City, Level Playing Field and Lincoln City Foundation held an open meeting at the LNER Stadium earlier this week to discuss disability access at Imps matches. #WeAreImps | #ImpsAsOne
— Lincoln City FC 🇺🇦 (@LincolnCity_FC) May 28, 2023
About Scully’s point of the club being a vehicle for people to come together, this is the case for myself and those I attend the matches with. It is a chance to catch up, spend time together and enjoy what we all have in common. An opportunity to enjoy time away from busy work lives, to have a laugh and focus our energy towards the same goal. Even during the summer, we speak of football and wait for it to return so the idea of a club being so badly managed that it disappears is one that is unthinkable.
Thankfully, the results of the Fair Game Index sustainability vote indicate that the club are very well and the future is in safe hands.
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