The last thing the Championship needs is another spying scandal, so when a lorry emblazoned with KGB parked up alongside Lincoln City’s training ground on Tuesday lunchtime there was laughter as staff pondered whether the Soviet Union was examining their set pieces. It shows the relaxed atmosphere at one of the second tier’s newest clubs, one that has had a summer of change yet maintained continuity by appointing joint head coaches. Tom Shaw and Chris Cohen have replaced Michael Skubala, who led the Imps to 103 points and promotion back to this level after 65 years away before leaving for Bristol City.
It was a symbiotic appointment because while the former assistants were devising a sales pitch to the club’s hierarchy, the wheels were already in motion to promote from within. Their plan is to banish English football’s memories of Liverpool’s ill-fated pairing of Roy Evans and Gérard Houllier. The duo are doing final preparations for Saturday’s season opener at the Riverside against Middlesbrough, who have spent more than £20m on summer signings – Lincoln have spent a quarter of that across their 142-year history, indicating the task ahead.
We drive in together, we drive home together, we spend all of our days together, when we’re off, we’ll have a game of golf together. We obviously have differences in small decisions and nuances within everything, but principally we see the way that a football club should be run and the team should play very, very similarly. That gives us a really good chance.” Lincoln are a forward-thinking club but the latest major decision is not about experimentation.
The duo fit the club’s philosophy, having worked within academies giving them the skills to develop players, as they did with Jack Moylan, who was sold to Cardiff for a record fee. Shaw and Cohen were key members of Skubala’s staff, taking on great responsibility, and Lincoln were keen to reward their progression and give the squad continuity. The players have been told not to call them “gaffer or boss”.
They complement one another, with Cohen’s focus on the defence and Shaw the attack to share the workload. The pair are rarely side-by-side on the training ground, as they seek different perspectives, whether watching a session taken by the other head coach or the former Hull defender Paul McShane, while David Preece oversees goalkeeping. I’ve been an assistant for a long time, so I’ve had that relationship with managers where I’ve had their full trust, but there is a different feel about having the final decision and being sure that you’re making the right one.
To have two of us to check and challenge each other and then come out with hopefully the best logical decision for the team.” The bickering, they say, is left for golf. The club have handed out 14 new contracts since promotion, in addition to two permanent signings and three loans to maintain momentum. The 2016-17 run to the FA Cup quarter-finals as a National League side brought prize money which was invested in a purpose-built training ground, having not had one before, which sits between a former RAF base and a potato field.
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