Steve Tilson's year in charge of Lincoln

Steve Tilson's spell as manager has ended and we will now take a look at his time in charge. Tilson will always be remembered for relegating the Imps and the personification of "Don't count your chickens".

If there’s one thing that can be learnt from Steve Tilson’s time in charge, it’s don’t assume anything.

When Tilson first game there were few complaining about his appointment. He had been placed in charge at Southend in the 2003/4 season and turned a poor Division Three (as it was known back then) side into one that comfortably survived and even reached the LDV Vans (again, as it was known back then) Final, although they eventually lost.

The 2004/5 season started very slowly but the signing of Freddy Eastwood proved to be inspiration, he scored the first goal in a debut hatrick against Swansea after just eight seconds and the combination of Tilson and Eastwood saw Southend storm up the table and they were only denied automatic promotion on the final day when any three of four sides could go up. They missed the boat after only drawing at Grimsby and Yeovil, Scunthorpe and Swansea all won promotion.

It didn’t take long for them to win promotion though as within four weeks they had beaten Northampton in the Playoff Semi Finals and then Lincoln in the final, although the latter of which was not deserved as the Imps controlled most of the game. Tilson lead Southend to the League One title a year later and despite being relegated straight back from the Championship, they did manage to win national plaudits, especially when they beat a strong Manchester United squad 1-0 in the Carling Cup.

Several years later and the Tilson magic had disappeared at Sincil Bank and the growing financial pressures at Southend meant that they decided to place him on gardening leave in the summer of 2010.

Meanwhile, 100odd miles away the Imps were about to lose their manager as Chris Sutton decided to leave Sincil Bank after exactly a year in charge. Tilson’s interest in the City job was made public on numerous occasions and he beat off challenges from some very credible opponents, including former Doncaster and Darlington manager Dave Penney, the combination of City legends Steve Thompson and Mick Harford, and several others.

Tilson had been left a shockingly poor squad by Sutton. He was reunited with Drewe Broughton, whom he had managed at Southend, as well as Josh O’Keefe, Albert Jarrett, Ben Hutchinson and various others who were viewed as the main reasons that the Imps were struggling.

So Tilson took the stands to watch City’s next game, a 2-0 defeat at Shrewsbury, although City more than matches their lofty opponents for most of the game. Tilson’s first game came a week later and resulted in a 0-0 draw, not an awful start considering that none of Keith Alexander, John Schofield or Peter Jackson had started with a victory during their reigns

Four loan signings came in the form of Luke Howell, Ashley Grimes, Josh Gowling and Gavin Hoyte, the latter of which was viewed as an excellent coup for City, joining the Imps from Arsenal. They helped City to a very respectable 2-2 draw at Wycombe Wanderers.

City did struggle for results early on and it wasn’t until an FA Cup match against Nuneaton where City secured their first point under Tilson, although it was hardly a result to go down in the ages as a classic. City were never in any real danger of conceding to Nuneaton, they Blue Square North side and their thug fans rarely attacked during the game. It appeared as though the Imps would be forced into a replay until a last minute goal from Jarrett put City through.

This was the start of a run of three wins in a row. Morecambe had done the double over the Imps in the previous season and only Bury had won at their new stadium, but that changed when despite conceding early from Jevons, goals from Moses Swaibu and Ashley Grimes’ first for the club saw City leave with 3 points. A week later and Hereford were the visitors to Sincil Bank, goals from Ben Hutchinson, Delroy Facey and Mustapha Carayol gave City a comfortable 3-1 victory.

The first signs that City were still very weak at the back came with the visit of Bury. City were holding their own against the promotion chasers before Anyon let a tame shot through his legs and that was the first of five goals that would go into his net that night. City did gain a semblance of pride a few days later by getting a 2-2 draw at Hereford in the FA Cup, although had it not been for Adam Watts giving away two penalties in the game then City would have progressed.

A month off followed due to the weather and it wasn’t until New Year’s Day when City resumed and the return from the enforced break didn’t go well, losing 2-1 in three successive games to Bradford, Northampton and Wycombe respectively. Moses Swaibu had been dropped early on during that run following poor performances and off the field issues where he allegedly attempted to steal from Tesco. Joe Anyon was also dropped after gifting Wycombe an equaliser in the game which they eventually won.

In came a few more loan signings, most notably Trevor Carson, a highly-rated goalkeeper with a dodgy haircut from Sunderland. A few defenders arrived also arrived, including Stephen Hunt from Notts County. The first game with the new(ish) looking but bottom-of-the-league Imps was a game at Stockport. Ashley Grimes, on loan from Millwall, scored a hatrick and Watts prodded in just before half time to give City four goals, but defensive frailties made the lead insecure as Stockport scored three themselves, and did threaten to make it 4 on numerous occasions.

The win though was enough to spark City into action. The Imps headed to Cheltenham, a ground where City have an atrocious record. They were chasing promotion, we were bottom of the league, so it took almost everyone by surprise as Stephen Hunt and Josh O’Keefe gave City a 2 goal lead. Frankie Artus did pull one back but City did hold on for a 2-1 win to move out of the relegation zone.

Momentum was now on City’s side as Port Vale came to Sincil Bank and succumbed to a late Ashley Grimes goal. A midweek trip to Bradford looked tricky, especially when they took an early lead, but goals from Delroy Facey and Gavin McCallum gave the Imps an exceedingly rare come from behind victory.

Delroy was on form and scored the only goal of the game as City won at in-form Hereford. Much like the previous winning run, City came back down to earth with a bump as Shrewsbury came to Sincil Bank and were 5-1 up at half time…..City did well to keep it at that scoreline, but few found any positives from the game. A few days later and the Imps did make it 6 wins from 7 as a brace from Grimes swept aside Morecambe.

A midweek trip to Aldershot showed the fighting spirit of City as despite finding themselves 2-0 down, City still plugged away and late goals from O’Keefe and Grimes made it 2-2. A 2-0 home defeat to Chesterfield was flattering of the Imps as Chesterfield could have had a hatful that day and that came a week before a remarkable game at Barnet.

Barnet were struggling but that didn’t stop them taking a 3-0 lead before half time. Goals from Howell and Grimes in quick succession brought City back to 3-2 before a penalty was awarded for the Imps. Grimes stepped up but his effort was saved and it eventually became 4-2 when Izale McLeod scored late on. Barnet would soon come to be glad of their risk to sign an injury prone McLeod after he had failed trials with several other clubs.

A midweek farcical game against Oxford followed as City dominated but only won due to two own goals from the visitors and a 0-0 draw with Accrington a few days later was deemed as a half decent result given their surprisingly good season.

March 12^th 2011 will be a day that will go down as the game that changed everything. Southend United were the visitors and a large crowd made their way up from Essex and gave their old manager a brilliant reception. City won the game 2-1 thanks to two goals from Ashley Grimes. It would be the last time City would taste victory in the 2010/11 season.

A midweek trip to Macclesfield followed and City were heading for a victory before a 93^rd minute equaliser and injury to Delroy Facey meant City left with just a point and an inspirational player out for the remainder of the season. However, by now the majority of City fans thought we were safe, twelve points clear of the relegation zone with just ten games to play.

By now Barnet were starting their own recovery under the leadership of Martin Allen, and whilst he soon left, he gave Barnet the momentum to pick up points. City on the other hand were struggling for anything. A 2-1 defeat at Stevenage didn’t come as a surprise but Trevor Carson leaving did as he was recalled by Sunderland and quickly loaned back out to Brentford. He was replaced by Elliott Parish, a young goalkeeper from Aston Villa without a single senior appearance for anyone.

In a season where thrashings at home were common, Rotherham’s 6-0 win came just hours after they had sacked Ronnie Moore. Ironically his son, Thomas, got a hatrick that night and it was the start of things to come. Defeats to Port Vale, Torquay and Gillingham followed. A draw at Crewe bought a welcome sense of relief to Imps fans as hopefully it would mean that results would turn around. They didn’t.

Defeats to Bury and Cheltenham left City as one of eight teams that could join Stockport in the Blue Square Premier. A week later and it’s half time at Oxford. Cian Hughton’s goal has seen City take the lead and Accrington were comfortably beating Barnet. As it stood Barnet were relegated and City’s home game on the final day to Aldershot would be a non-event. However, Elliott Parish decided to would be a good idea to come out of goal for a corner that was going no-where. It fell to an Oxford striker and it eventually finished 2-1.

Results elsewhere meant it was a straight shoot out between the Imps and Barnet. Barnet had been in this situation exactly twelve months earlier. That time they had survived because of Grimsby’s 3-0 defeat to Burton (although they would have stayed up anyway because they beat Rochdale). City hadn’t been in this situation since the 1998/9 season when we were relegated from what is now known as League One.

All of a sudden businesses started giving a crap about how City did as it was going to affect their income and the support for the club around the City was surprisingly high. A season’s best crowd against Aldershot again saw City safe at half time. Barnet were also drawing and as it stood, they were going down but then they scored within seconds of the restart. Now City were in trouble, needing a goal. Two goals in the Lincoln net later saw City needing Port Vale to score and for a brief moment, City fans thought it had happened as someone in the Stacey West stand shouted the Vale had equalised. Alas it wasn’t true and City’s 3-0 defeat, coupled with Barnet’s win, meant City were relegated.

A mass clear out followed due to the financial implications of going down. Long serving Paul Green was amongst the casualties, as were popular players such as Jamie Clapham and Delroy Facey. Only three players were offered contracts, Luke Howell, who had made his loan move from MK Dons permanent earlier in the season, Danny Hone and bizarrely Andy Hutchinson, whom had gone two years and twenty appearances since scoring. He had made an appearance in the defeat at Stevenage but didn’t touch the ball in the near half hour he was on the pitch. It was quite bizarre.

City didn’t sign a player until January but when they did, they came thick and fast as Tilson tried to bring in a mix of non-league players and former League players. Gillingham trio Josh Gowling, John Nutter and Tony Sinclair joined, as well as Rushden’s Sam Smith and Alan Power, Tamworth’s Kyle Perry, Cambridge’s Simon Russell, Eastbourne’s Jamie Taylor and Australian goalkeeper Doug Lindburg, who had been on trial with the club.

Lindburg’s signing was a bizarre one as Tilson made it clear he wouldn’t actually play for the club at any point. If Anyon was injured or suspended then a loan keeper would replace him. It lead to the question, what do the club get out of paying this goalkeeper, only for him to then not ever play?

Much like any other season, 2011/12 started slowly. An opening day draw against Southport was respectable given how we ended the previous season, but successive home defeats to Kidderminster and Wrexham left City near the bottom. A win at Telford, the first since March, and a dominant performance against Stockport left City fans optimistic, but four defeats in a row quickly bought back memories of the end of the previous season and the pressure was now well and truly on Tilson.

A win against Gateshead bought a welcome sense of relief to fans but most were still against Tilson in the four games since, City only got one win and Saturday’s 4-0 defeat at Tamworth was the end of the line for Imps fans with regards to Tilson and on Monday afternoon he and assistant Paul Brush were sacked.

Tilson left City after less than one year in charge and with one of the largest losing percentages in the club’s history.