Steve Tilson has now taken Southend down from the Championship to League 1 and then League 2; following it up with the Imps exit from the Football League. It is some record but he is nowhere near our worst or best manager. On the other side of the coin Graham Taylor (Watford & Scunthorpe United) and Colin Murphy of Hull have grabbed our hearts and our headlines and deservedly so.
But we owe the Imps, warts, prawns and all to John Henry Strawson and the Lord of The Imps himself Bill Anderson. Despite the Sincil Shambles Tilson is not even close when it comes to the worst manager in our history. Without a doubt our greatest, or most consistent and successful manager, was Bill Anderson, the architect for the fabulous fifties including the great escape. Not unlike Tilson we could have perhaps let him down gently a season or so earlier but he undeniably helped us to punch above our weight in Division 2 (Championship) for 9 seasons. Don’t know him her is a taster.
1947-48: Building a championship winning side with little more than £2,000 3rd Division North.
1948-49: Relegated
1951-52: the Imps won the 3rd Division North for the third time. scoring an all time club record of 121 goals. The 1951-52 season was the best in City's history with 36 goal Graver, Garvie et al the leading lights.
1957-58: The great escape when Lincoln produced the most dramatic escape from relegation in League history winning our last 6 games.
1960-61: The Imps' stay in the 2nd Division ended in relegation as the bottom club.1961-62: A disastrous season as Lincoln are relegated again into the Fourth Division,
Despite the Sincil Shambles Tilson is not even close when it comes to the worst manager in our history. Our worst manager, although as you can imagine thre have been some contenders, who we will not mention in part for risk of a super injunction or two, when Bill Anderson retired in 1965was Con Moulson a solid sounding chap. It was a bit of a shock, but perhaps like Chris Sutton he must have had some off CV qualities. The new manager got the nod despite the club being in freefall and the ex player being 58 and not having had any day-to-day involvement in football for almost three decades. After only eight matches all defeats, which saw an unconventional 3-3-4 formation being deployed and 21 goals conceded, Moulson was relieved of his duties. After his turn as manager, Moulson reverted to his role as kit man and resumed work at the factory where he had been previously working.