A city has its prayers answered
Cup heroes spark spike in tourism (and Imp ale) as Lincoln finds its soul again
THey call it Uphill Lincoln where the cathedral stands. To reach it on foot means to climb the cobbles of Steep Hill, a street built by the Romans to connect the expanding community of Lindum Colonia via a one-in-seven incline.
High inside the Gothic masterpiece which dominates the city can be found the Lincoln Imp.
Sent by the devil to create mischief, the imp threw rocks, smashed windows and tripped the Bishop before being turned to stone by an angel leaping from the pages of a Bible on the altar.
That’s 14th- century legend for you; believe that and you’ll believe anything. you might believe a nonLeague team can reach the FA Cup quarter-finals with a little divine intervention because these days the Church and the Imps are firmly on the same side.
Frederick Lowson, grandfather of the current Bishop of Lincoln Christopher Lowson, played for Lincoln City. Club chaplain, the Rev Canon Andrew Vaughan, who is also the club photographer, was seen looking to the heavens moments before Sean Raggett scored the winner at Burnley. ‘I was staring at the scoreboard and wondering if we had the mental and physical resilience to see it out,’ said Canon Vaughan. ‘I couldn’t see the goal but once I saw them celebrating I thought I’d better get some pictures.
‘Football is one of those unique events where for 90 minutes you can have a rich man and a poor man sat next to each other and they are brought together, the best of mates. But you don’t have to be a football fan to appreciate what this means for the club and for the greater Lincoln community.’
yesterday it was red and white Monday—or# red and whitemonday—as decreed by BBC Radio Lincolnshire.
At Sincil Bank, however, the club shop was closed on Mondays and staff inside the ticket office were savouring the calm before the storm as they waited to learn where they would travel in the quarter- finals and how many tickets there would be to sell.
Around the city, there were Lincoln City shirts and jackets worn with pride and ‘We Are Imps’ flags fluttered from cars. Some were taped proudly inside shop windows. FP Watson, chemists in Bailgate since the start of the 20th century, take the prize for winning window display with shirts and scarves to offset the Deep Heat and razor blades.
Here lies a modelling opportunity if ever there was one for freshly shaven Imps boss Danny Cowley, who ended a press briefing for tonight’s National League fixture at North Ferriby by explaining how he had been trimming his beard for an appearance on Match of the
Day and ‘trying to get rid of some of the grey’ when his electric shaver broke. Time for a new look, Cowley decided.
Lincoln is smartening up its act. After BBC’s Football Focus was broadcast live from the office Danny shares with brother and assistant manager Nicky, some supporters took pity and donated a set of new office furniture.
The brothers were planning to retreat to their freshly refurbished nerve centre to study Sutton and Arsenal in last night’s tie, which decided their quarter-final opponents. First they planned to sit through a re- run of North Ferriby against Dover. This FA Cup run has already generated £1.5million for the National League club and will be worth twice as much now they are going to Arsenal. A windfall like this is a blessed relief for any non-League club but this campaign has also reconnected a club with their city.
The Imps are mighty once again and getting mightier by the minute. Lincoln scarves have sold out at MSR Newsgroup, where news and sporting memorabilia are fused while the shelves are packed with Aaron Ramsey and Santi Cazorla dolls. And ‘Howard Webb signed gnomes’ only £25.
Sales of Cheeky Imp ale are soaring at the Crafty Bottle in Steep Hill, with a slice of the profits going into the club’s youth system. A few yards up, the Wig and Mitre’s wine shop invited fans to ‘celebrate the Imps’ success’ with a bottle of Lincoln City red or white for £7.80. yes, plans are afoot for a fizzy version, too.
Cowley is full of ‘we’ve won nothing yet’ rhetoric but this city is mid-party. The Anchor in the High Street was jammed to capacity well before Saturday’s kick-off and stayed packed until the coaches rolled back into the city from Burnley after 6pm.
‘It lifts the whole city,’ said landlady Sam Dumbleton. ‘People are talking about nothing else and those who stopped going to games are going again.’
Tourism chiefs are thrilled by spikes of online interest — one after Saturday’s win at Burnley and another, an increase of 110 per cent, during Saturday’s Match of
the Day when the Cowley brothers appeared in the studio and an
armchair audience picked up their mobile devices to google Lincoln.
This is a city with a population of about 130,000, the cathedral and a castle, where one of only four copies of Magna Carta still in existence is on permanent display.
It is a region renowned for tasty sausages and links to the Royal Air Force. The Red Arrows are based at RAF Scampton — home of the Dam Busters — and Lawrence of Arabia lived in Steep Hill when he was stationed at RAF Cranwell. But these things can be easily forgotten when a city’s football club lose their League status.
Lincoln were relegated in 2011 and hit rock bottom when they crashed out of the FA Trophy at Carshalton of the Ryman Premier before a crowd of 488 less than a year later. ‘It’s been so low,’ said 63year- old Chris Ashton, a lifelong supporter and club volunteer. ‘Self-esteem is destroyed when you drop out of the Football League and it’s so hard to get back.
‘Slowly we’re turning it around and it lifts everybody. The crowds are getting bigger and people are talking about the football club. I must’ve been stopped six or seven times in Tesco by people who wanted to say congratulations because they know I’m a big fan.
‘The Cup run has brought us money and profile but for the soul of Lincoln, getting back into the Football League is what matters.’
All uphill, but Lincoln are relishing the climb. They know it will be worth it.