“The Cowleys were different as after years of bargain basement managers we actually went out and did the research and found them,” said Whiley.
“The excitement was there and I remember the event where they first met the fans they were cheered into the room.
“We can look at this season and see promotion to the Championship as the best thing the club has done, but those three seasons, two promotions, FA Cup quarter-final, winning a trophy at Wembley. That changed it all.
“They brought a buzz back that we hadn’t seen since Keith, and they were like Keith in that they would find players on the way up, scour non-league and find the future stars.
“The fact is, that even after the Cowleys left to join Huddersfield, the energy stayed.
“It sticks with me that Danny said to me he didn’t want to see kids in Lincoln wearing the shirts of Premier League clubs, he wanted to see them kicking a ball in the park wearing a Lincoln City shirt.
“The success, the work that was done means that is a reality. I see it all the time when I go round the city, people wear their colours with pride.”
While Mark, Leigh and myself have covered parts of Lincoln’s recent history, one man who has been the stalwart has been BBC Radio Lincolnshire’s Michael Hortin.
His first game was in 1999, and he was there in the commentary box as Lincoln gained promotion to the Championship.
“This promotion is the culmination of a long-term plan,” said Hortin. “This is about a chairman and board who have been thoughtful with their investment.
“Lincoln’s FA Cup run earned them a lot of money and they did not spend it on players, they spent it on a whole new training set-up.
“The Cowleys were the start of a transition from the old way of doing things, to a set-up that is very much part of the modern game.
“Under them a sporting director was brought in to support recruitment and player development and now we really do have a true ‘head coach’ in Michael Skubala.
“It is about finding those raw players, developing them, selling them, and it is paying off as it has allowed them to secure players on better deals.”
Lincoln have, as Hortin describes, recruited ‘experience’ to the squad. Their head coach, though, is a man who had limited time in the professional game, but Hortin said Skubala’s ability to learn and adapt has been impressive.
“I remember the first game Skubala took was against Stevenage, and it was a bit of a shock, but he was quite cool and his reaction was more ‘huh, this is what it is about’, and he learned,” said Hortin.
“The way the team has adapted and what Skubala has done is create a team that is hard to beat.”
A team that is hard to beat. A club that has been learning, developing, recruiting, all building up to where Lincoln are now. But what next?
Hortin is confident that the club will remain realistic. “The first goal will be survival, but the thing is they had a plan to become an established League One club, and now they will be working on another plan for what comes next.
“The one thing is that new owner Ron Fowler will likely go about it the same as Clive Nates. It will be done in a quiet, steady, thoughtful way. That has become the Lincoln way.”
