News
Richard Lalka is granted lifetime membership of the Red Imps Community Trust for his sterling media work and Julian Burley wins a Special Recognition Award for his years of dedication running Vitals.
Main winner and our Fan of the Season is Paul Baker who has assisted with Trust activities in the Fan Village through rain or shine for years with great energy and enthusiasm. Congratulations Paul!
News
Football was in crisis as recently as the beginning of this decade. Bury FC had just folded. Another regular opponent of Lincoln City, Macclesfield Town, followed. At the opposite end of the spectrum, wealthy clubs wanted to form a breakaway European Super League. COVID lockdown switched off the game’s income streams overnight.
The Conservative government launched a Fan Led Review in 2021. The Football Governance Bill was then introduced into Parliament, seeking to turn the Review’s recommendations into law. The Bill has now received Royal Assent: the Football Governance Act 2025 is now the law of the land – English football has an Independent Regulator.
It’s perfectly fair to say that significant change will not happen immediately and that powerful vested interests will still cause problems. But simply having the Act in existence is truly a momentous event for the future of football. We are now at the start of a new journey and the direction of travel is clear. Clubs will eventually have to operate in a financially sustainable way. Rogue owners should play no part. There should always be meaningful engagement with fans.
We’re proud that the key investors at Lincoln see themselves as custodians of the club for the time being for the fans, both now and in future generations. Our club’s investors have been vocal advocates for football to operate in a financially sustainable way. And the manner in which they have embraced the need to engage with fans is first rate. They have encouraged our Trust to be a critical friend. Everyone who is a season ticket holder or who joins one of the other club membership schemes is automatically a Trust member. There are democratic elections for two representatives of the Trust on the club’s Board of Directors. The Trust has been given power to veto (if requested by fans in a democratic vote) any proposals for stadium relocations or changes of club name, colours and badge. There’s a Fan Advisory Board.
Our Trust has worked tirelessly to support the embedding of that culture in recent years. In doing so, we haven’t just collaborated with the club and with other fan groups associated with it. We’ve also sung the club’s praises to external parties, such as our friends at The Football Supporters’ Association, various other clubs’ supporters’ trusts and our contacts in the House of Lords and in the House of Commons.
Red Imps Community Trust welcomes the Football Governance Act and looks forward to the part that the Regulator will play in safeguarding the future of football.
The game is now in a much better place because of the new legislation.
News
News
The Red Imps Community Trust and Lincoln United officials seen pre-match at Ashby Avenue, with the Trust the game’s matchball sponsor and a great occasion for all there with the result finishing 2-2.
Rob's Column
With thanks to the Lincolnshire Echo
Your Trust – I say ‘your’ because most of our fans are members – has done a bit of soul-searching in the last couple of weeks. We like to think we’re on the ball and we do some good things but we can never stand still.
One area we think can be improved is assessing what younger fans think about their club and, indeed, this fans organisation that they are an important part of. We’ll soon be announcing a young supporters representative will be joining our board. What he – it’s a ‘he’ but I can’t identify him yet – brings to the table will, if necessary, be taken into the heart of the club and get the attention it deserves. The last few years at the LNER have been successful and this has attracted a lot of youthful fans to our games. Knowing what they think is pretty vital therefore. We’ll help those messages get heard.
Aiding this young fella will be a new dedicated Trust volunteer who is keen to assist, and you will maybe notice a significant Trust presence in the ground at matchdays in 25-26. We have a busy role in the Fan Village but not all our fans go in there so we’ll be promoting the Trust and completing surveys in the stands and circulation areas on a regular basis.
We’ve looked at our comms and our team do a great job. Our posts and content will continue to do the basics and more but there’ll be more of a creative element too this coming season. Feature video clips will be put out and, a hidden gem in our heritage work – our online museum – will be promoted much more. Judging by the collectors and other Imps history buffs who we see at our pre-match pod, there’s a real appetite for looking through Imps memorabilia. We have a good deal of it and it’ll soon be more readily accessed.
Our heritage remit has grown and grown. Our third landmark plaque, recognising our Imp nickname and its Cathedral-based origin, has been ordered from the manufacturer and we’ll have an opening ceremony in the next few weeks.
On top of that we’re hard at work setting up a Lincoln City exhibition in an amazing location here in this amazing city. It’ll be open during the summer school holidays so watch out for news of that.
I’ll now stop dropping all these not-so-subtle hints and never fear you’ll get much fuller details as soon as we’re ready. The bottom line is that we’re honoured to have so many brilliant members and we’ll continue to work hard on their behalf.
News
The Trust Fan of the Season Trophy winner to be announced soon. It could be you!
News
The Trust have been facilitating meetings with supporters who miss having a match programme. They’d like to know if there’s individuals or groups out there who’d like to lead on the production of a fan-led alternative featuring articles, interviews, competitions, and more. It can be match-by-match, monthly, or on a four-a-season basis…your call.
If you’d like to edit, organise, or just contribute to such a project please get in touch via our contact button.
News
The Red Imps Community Trust has a busy media team but we can never stand still. We’re always keen to hear from people who feel they can contribute with their communication skills and new ideas. We’re all voluntary but involvement with us can provide valuable experience. If interested get in touch at media@redimpstrust.co.uk
News
Lincolnshire Road Transport Museum is pleased to offer Red Imps Community Trust members 10% discount on normal admissions prices. Just show your Imps Gold Membership season pass that includes Trust membership for 2025-26 to gain the discount.
For details of location, openings times, etc go to www.lvvs.org.uk
News
Rob Bradley and Biff Bean will both be on LCR from 11am this morning talking all things Trust and Rob’s new book, Imposter.
You can listen to the station live from this link.
