It's funny what can change in 202 games

By theimps.tk
May 28 2006

Keith Alexander was the manager at Sincil Bank for just over 4 years and he leaves after turning the football club around. After 202 games in all competitions, Keith Alexander left the club last Wednesday and it's been an amazing story of hope, tradegy, dispair, merriment and pain

Keith Alexander’s 2^nd spell at Sincil Bank was the cause of Phil Stant’s inept management techniques that has seen the Imps slip to 23^rd, one point and a place above bottom of the league and the way it was heading, the Imps were virtually guaranteed to suffer a 2^nd relegation in 3 years. Then again after a disappointing 3-2 home defeat to Leyton Orient, hundreds of fans protested about Phil Stant and his assistant, George Foster. Stant was sacked a few days later and the quest to find a new Imps manager started.

 

It didn’t take long for former Grimsby manager, Alan Buckley was named as the new man in the hotseat at Sincil Bank and City’s sudden change from a hoofball side to a side playing beautiful football was clearly having an effect and they won 3 difficult games. A 3-2 away win at Mansfield was the first away victory in nearly a year before City repeated the act with a 3-1 win at Kidderminster just days later. That weekend saw City defeat eventual league runners up, Cardiff City. Despite winning just 3 of the final 13 games, only 5 defeats meant that City finished a relatively comfortable 18^th and Buckley had come and performed the miracle.

 

During the summer, Buckley brought in a familiar face in the form of Northwich Victoria manager, Keith Alexander, the former striker was also a former manager at Sincil Bank but he would be assistant to Buckley. Alexander would convince Buckley to bring in Mark Bailey from the Vics. The Imps were many people’s dark horses for promotion but got off to an extremely bad start, however, form picked up and City appeared to be heading for a lower mid-table finish. However, after a 3-1 home win over Carlisle, City suddenly stopped getting results and if it hadn’t been for Halifax’s horrendous form, 11 games without a win at the end of the season would have seemed catastrophic. City finished 22^nd.

 

However, towards the end of the season, it was announced that City were just days away from being the first league side in a while to go out of business all together. Thankfully some hard work from the fans, the board and a kind voluntary reduction in wages for the majority of players saw the Imps survive. However, to cut costs, the board had to get rid of several high earners and it started with Alan Buckley. Steve Holmes, Grant Brown, Justin Walker and Lee Thorpe were amongst several high earners to leave the club.

 

Buckley’s former assistant, Keith Alexander was placed in temporary charge in an interim role before eventually being appointed manager on a full time basis. Alexander’s long term friend, Gary Simpson was brought in as assistant manager and the two began to bring in new players. The first pair to join the Imps under the new regime were Worksop Town striker, Dene Cropper and Doncaster Rovers’ giant full back, Ben Futcher. A few days later and they were joined by Hyde United’s Simon Yeo and Nuneaton Borough’s Simon Weaver. They would eventually be joined by Scott Willis and Adie Mike. The critics were less than convinced and the Imps were tipped for an immediate relegation.

 

However, 4 wins from the first 7 games got the people of Lincoln’s hopes up that it could very well be a good season for the Imps. Kettering Town’s Richard Butcher, Ashton United’s Chris Cornelly, Barnsley’s Allan Pearce, Lancaster City’s Chris Ward and Belper Town duo, Niall McNamara and Mark Ward joined throughout the season. City however quickly got a reputation of getting the ball forward as quickly as possible but it was defiantly getting results and arguably the highlight of the regular season was the away trip to Hull. The Imps became the first ever away side to win at the new KC Stadium after a Stuart Bimson penalty won the game for City.

 

It got to the final game of the season and Keith Alexander’s non-league legion were on the brink of the playoffs but it looked unlikely once Martin Gritton pounced on an uncharacteristic Paul Morgan and Alan Marriott double mistake to score (no, seriously, Martin Gritton did actually score), however, a late Simon Yeo half volley secured a playoff place for the Imps. City were due to face Scunthorpe United in the semi-finals and the home leg will go down as possibly the best ever game to be played at Sincil Bank as City had two goals leads on 3 occasions before eventually winning 5-3. After winning 6-3 on aggregate, the Imps faced Bournemouth in the final but the Cherries proved too strong for the Imps and won 5-2. However, you’d have been hard pushed to find a Lincoln fan who wasn’t proud of what Keith Alexander had done with the club and in a way, it felt like a victory.

 

Keith didn’t waste anytime in bringing in new players for the new season as Richard Liburd, Rory May, Ellis Remy, Gary Fletcher, Marcus Richardson and Francis Green all joined the Imps squad early on. However, the pundits still weren’t convinced and City were predicted to finish around the mid table area. After a frustrating start, City went on to lose 1 game in 18 and this became the best Imps’ team out of Keith’s 4 years in charge as they played with confidence and despite not winning many games, this was our best chance to go up. However, in November there was something that would shake the foundations of the team.

 

City were playing Brighton and Hove Albion in the FA Cup and the fans showed their support for Keith Alexander who had been linked with a move to Peterborough United. City won the match but just a few days later, the news filtered through that Keith Alexander had collapsed in his home and was rushed to the Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield where surgeons tried frantically to save his life. Well wishes came in from all corners of the country with even Premiership prima-donnas somehow getting away from their mirrors to send cards. It was a long process but Keith made a mini return in the away win at Doncaster when he sat outside in the cold for the first time since the illness began and Alexander was back in the dugout for the local derby against Boston United when even the Boston fans applauded him.

 

City would make the playoffs again but critically, the Imps had finished 7^th and had to face Huddersfield, easily one of the best sides in the division and they showed exactly why they deserved promotion as they pipped City with a 4-3 win on aggregate. Several players left Sincil Bank during the summer but the one that shocked the fans the most was Mark Bailey’s departure.

 

Keith tried a new tactic ahead of the new season and tried signing a few foreign players and they came in the from of Gareth McAuley and Ciaran Toner. City got off to another horrendous start, however, form quickly picked up and City climbed up the table. November came around and despite losing 3-0 at Hartlepool in the FA Cup, City won all 3 of their league games against Northampton, Darlington and Yeovil and Keith Alexander won his first “Manager of the Month” award in his Lincoln City career. City’s season stalled a bit however but a 4-2 away win at Grimsby turned the season around and the Imps’ made the playoffs again. Despite an aggregate scoreline of 2-1, City controlled both games against the Silkmen and comfortably made it to the final. However, after having a perfectly good goal disallowed, City would dominate the game for 104 minutes only for Southend to then score with their first shot on target and then they scored with their 2^nd to win 2-0.

 

A mass exodus of players saw Gary Taylor-Fletcher, Peter Gain, Ben Futcher, Richard Butcher, Simon Yeo, Ritchie Hanlon and several others all left via one method or another and it was a major case of rebuilding for Keith Alexander. Kidderminster duo Gary Birch and Dean Keates were joined by Scarborough’s Scott Kerr and Colin Cryan as new signings. They were also joined by Swindon’s Steve Robinson, Chesterfield’s Marvin Robinson, Larne’s Jeff Hughes, Sheffield Wednesday’s Luke Foster, Huddersfield Town’s Nat Brown and Hucknall Town’s Danny Bacon.

 

City actually got off to their best start under Keith, securing 5 points from the opening 4 games, higher than any other season under Alexander but it quickly turned into a relegation battle. A 4-1 defeat at Cheltenham was the turning point and City would go on a run of losing just once in the next 19 games and City didn’t lose in 2006 until March 25^th. In the middle of that, they were joined by Grimsby Town’s Martin Gritton, Oxford reject Jude Stirling and Simon Yeo returned.

 

City went on to make the playoffs again but lost both legs and 3-1 on aggregate and although not a major surprise, it was arguably more disappointing than the previous 3. Keith Alexander released several players before announcing his resignation on Wednesday 24^th May, just over 4 years after taking over from Buckley.

 

What can you say about Keith Alexander? Yes his tactics weren’t for the purists and his full times rants seemed more like a rerun of an old interview but at the end of the day, he changed the club around and although 4 playoff defeats in a row is disappointing, if you’d have offered that to any Lincoln fan during the financial crisis of 2002 then they would defiantly have taken it. Keith left the club is a far better condition that what he picked up in 2002 and overall, his time with the Imps was a success.