Leicester visit means summer is heating up

By Nathan Jackson
April 25 2006

The Imps' pre-season fixture list is already taking shape as Leicester City and Liverpool friendlies are confirmed. Along with a possible friendly against Nottingham Forest, it promises to be easily the most entertaining pre-season at Sincil Bank since Keith took over 4 years ago.

In the past, the Imps haven't pulled in many mouth-watering ties with the friendly against Kevin Keegan's Manchester City being the only real highlight of the pre-seasons from recent years. Sincil Bank has often been void of entertainment, interestingly enough, nearly all of City's pre-season opponents always have a relegation battle. In 2002/3, the Imps were scheduled to face Mansfield, Northampton and Huddersfield, the game against the Cobblers was called off whereas City won the other two games 3-2 (Mansfield) and 1-0 (Huddersfield) respectively.

In 2003/4, the Imps played Manchester City and Port Vale at Sincil Bank in the pre-season and both teams barely avoided relegation, perhaps the signs were there for Man City who could only get a 2-2 draw at City whereas the Imps beat Port Vale with a Simon Yeo 2mph thunderbolt. In 2004/5, the Imps faced Nottingham Forest and Watford, both struggled against the drop and Forest did end up getting relegated. Rotherham and Grimsby were at Sincil Bank last summer and Rotherham are currently 1 place above the relegation zone in league 1.

That could be a bad omen for Forest who will play against at Sincil Bank in the summer if the 2 teams aren't in the same division. The game in last season's pre-season was timid affair that ended 0-0 in front of just under 5000 fans. If the game does go ahead, it has been penciled in for Wednesday 26th July at 7:45pm. Leicester will make the trip to Sincil Bank on the Monday before that, also for a 7:45pm kick off and will hoping to avoid the curse after barely avoiding the drop this season.

However, there is no doubt as to what the highlight of the pre-season will be, a visit from current European Champions and potential FA Cup winners, Liverpool. After the sale of Jack Hobbs during the summer, the Imps are guaranteed a friendly and it is expected to be the first sell out at Sincil Bank since Sunderland visited the Imps in the 1999/2000 FA Cup 3rd Round.

Although no other friendlies are confirmed, it is widely anticipated that the Imps will do the usual tour of all the non-league sides in Lincoln and after the way the season has gone, it is expected that the Imps will make a trip to Cambridge after a behind-closed-door friendly earlier this season and it could very well be Matt Bloomers debut if he seemingly inevitable move to Cambridge happens.