Following Jacko's allegations of racist abuse, it appears that the investigation has matched our experiences of Saturday at Kettering in that it seems decidedly second rate. here, in full, is the statement from Imraan Ladak:
"At this moment in time, despite our best endeavours, there is no evidence that a single supporter (either from Kettering or Lincoln City) racially abused the Lincoln bench. In fact, our investigation points to quite the opposite.
"Peter Jackson spent much of Saturday's game acting in an inappropriate manner, which included trying to intimidate the officials, kicking television cables and encouraging his players to feign injury. When this didn't work, he turned his attention away from the game and tried to incite our supporters, who showed great restraint, despite the provocation from Peter Jackson and I congratulate them for this.
"Many supporters, managers and Chairman around the country will know that Lincoln City have a very ugly element within their "support", which is why we had to have such a large police presence at the game. Many Lincoln fans were misbehaving on Saturday, before, during and after the game. On the other hand our supporters behaved themselves, under the most difficult of circumstances, yet Peter Jackson's illegitimate claims have managed to create headlines that have tarnished our clubs good name.
"If the Lincoln bench had been subjected to any form of racism (from a Kettering or Lincoln supporter), I am sure the fourth official, one of our players, one of our stewards or one of our supporters must have heard or seen it too.
"Several Chairman in non league football have had had to phone me to apologise for the racial abuse I have suffered at games and to thank me for not making an issue that would have besmirched the name of their club as a whole, due to a very small and unwelcome minority.
"I now have a very cynical view, shared by many of our supporters and officials about the reasons for Peter Jackson's post match comments. If his allegations prove to be unfounded, I hope he apologises in the public domain, with the same enthusiasm, as he made the allegations on Saturday. I also thank Peter Jackson and his stooges for their pre-match comments via the media that motivated our players to perform so well on Saturday"
Like a true representative of his club, Ladak couldn't resist a little poke at the pre match hype as well.
"In the meantime, Kettering's "bank-rolled bruisers" look forward to our big day out at Sincil Bank and the rare opportunity to experience a warm shower, a Wembley-like playing surface, their hospitable supporters whilst praying that we can keep the margin of defeat down to single digits before the mighty and angelic Lincoln City can move on to play a game against their local rivals in the next round."
Considering this has been reported to the FA, LCM finds this a completely inadequate resolution to an extremely serious issue. Ladak plays on the racial abuse he has suffered in the past (not at the hand of City of course), but seems to give no serious thought to investigating this matter properly.
Whilst it would be churlish to suggest stuffing Kettering a week tomorrow would give everyone great satisfaction: it really would. The whole day out showed that despite their being some good footballing teams in the conference, the inhospitable pokey little grounds and long balls ca still win the day. Nothing really has changed since 1988.
Perhaps Ladak would like to comment on the disruptions to the minutes silence by a handful of morons in the home support......