Nine Years in Paradise: The Story Of Lincoln City’s Rise To The Championship 2017-2026

Frompurgatory to paradise. From the National League to the Championship. When Danny Cowley ledLincoln City out of the National League in 2017, few imagined that the Imps’return to the Football League was merely the prologue to something far greater. Nine years on, a club that began the 2025-26 season with one of the smallestbudgets in League One finished it as champions – promoted to English football'ssecond tier for the first time since 1961. Nine Years inParadise is the story of that improbable ascent. Taking up the talewhere Six Years in Purgatory left off, it charts every step ofLincoln's climb through the divisions: the early silverware under the Cowleys,the boardroom revolution led by Clive Nates, the leftfield appointment of headcoach Michael Skubala, and a culture of innovation, data and intelligentrecruitment that left wealthier rivals trailing in its wake. It builds to anhistoric Easter Monday at Reading, where Jack Moylan's 96th-minute winnersealed the dream. As with Six Years inPurgatory, this is a comprehensive record of nine remarkableseasons. Every league and cup game is detailed, alongside transfers, tales fromthe boardroom and the off-field strategy that redefined how a football clubcould flourish. Every player to wear the shirt is profiled, each managerassessed, and a wealth of statistics compiled – the definitive account of how aclub that almost went to the wall in 2015 kept changing the game until it foundone it could win. For the Sincil Bankfaithful who endured six years of purgatory, paradise has finally arrived.