Marked for Reeco Hackett
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Lincoln City's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Lincoln City has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Reeco Hackett was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Millenic Alli falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Freddie Draper, and the manager let it.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
7.35, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Lincoln City had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 45. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match5 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Lincoln City
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Lincoln City are no longer polite ones.
Market7 Sep 2026
The deal that would have taken Jamie Pardington to Stevenage has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Lincoln City with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad7 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lincoln City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sonny Bradley, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Lincoln City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Varfolomeev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lincoln City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Lincoln City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jack Moylan is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Reeco Hackett
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Pharrell Brown and Lincoln City agree another 5 years.
Market31 Aug 2026
Stevenage are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Lincoln City will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer from Sheffield United for Sonny Bradley was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market24 Aug 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Lincoln City, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lincoln City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Lincoln City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adam Reach is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Ryley Towler gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Tom Hamer and Lincoln City agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lincoln City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Jack Moylan gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Lincoln City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tendayi Darikwa is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Market10 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Market10 Aug 2026
He is 14, and nobody at Lincoln City signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.