Marked for Andrei Coubiş
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match27 Oct 2026
3‑0, and Conor McGrandles took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Lincoln City tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A brace, and Conor McGrandles takes the afternoon — 8.29
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Conor McGrandles provided it, and the 8.29 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
No sign of nerves from Yunus Emre Konak at 20 — 8.08
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Yunus Emre Konak did not need any: 8.08, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Veljko Milosavljević 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.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match31 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: James Collins. 1‑0 against Peterborough United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jakke Van Britsom, and the manager let it.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.57 on the card, and the Lincoln City support went home talking about one name.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
52 days out for Muller Fernandes after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Lincoln City will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A brace, and James Collins takes the afternoon — 8.55
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. James Collins provided it, and the 8.55 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Andrei Coubiş is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Veljko Milosavljević and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
George Wickens has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Match17 Oct 2026
A point taken on 96 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Match17 Oct 2026
3‑3, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Muller Fernandes out for 99 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lincoln City will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Lincoln City close the window on a squad of their own making
10 in and 2 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Market7 Sep 2026
FC Nantes come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Lincoln City did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: FC Copenhagen keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Veljko Milosavljević 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The window shuts on the Liam Bennett deal
Lincoln City ran out of time with Cambridge United. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Andrei Coubiş slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Andrei Coubiş is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad17 Aug 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 121 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Yunus Emre Konak at 20 — 7.99
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Yunus Emre Konak did not need any: 7.99, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $9.7M — a club that wants Ephron Mason-Clark enough to be asked twice.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Lincoln City
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Lincoln City asked and Coventry City said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match15 Aug 2026
A 2‑1 win over Plymouth Argyle, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Andrei Coubiş
“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.
Market17 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Jack James has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Andrei Coubiş and Lincoln City agree another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tanto Olaofe and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Gil Vicente have kept their man, and Lincoln City go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Lincoln City are still strangers to each other
8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The formation has left Nando behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Lincoln City will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Braga: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
Andrei Coubiş knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Lincoln City, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tom Bayliss, and the manager let it.
Market10 Aug 2026
Nando is 38 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tanto Olaofe and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Sonny Bradley and Lincoln City agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Nick Oyekunle is in the works
Lincoln City have made the call to Southampton. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Bournemouth have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
Andrei Coubiş asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market3 Aug 2026
No place for Adam Reach in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Adam Reach has his answer from Lincoln City; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A strip of cloth that decides nothing on the pitch and tells the dressing room whose opinion counts. The manager has made a statement without making one.
Market3 Aug 2026
36 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Ask me in the summer. I will know before anybody else does.” He is 35 with 615 appearances behind him, and Lincoln City have to plan for both answers.