OPINION: Why Mansfield Town can follow Lincoln City into the Championship if they continue on the current path

That will no doubt be the thoughts of plenty of Stags fans after they watched Lincoln City wrap up their stunning and much deserved promotion to the Championship on Easter Monday.

The Imps showed exactly what can be achieved when a clear long-term strategy from the top is mixed with vision, ambition, an excellent manager and, of course, plenty of quality on the pitch.

Lincoln will now play Championship football for the first time since 1961, though it wasn’t so many years ago that they were rubbing shoulders with Stags in non-league football.

It’s a rise up the football ladder that Mansfield’s fans also crave, with a small section of the fan base already asking whether Stags will roll the dice next season in a bid for a top six spot or continue to ‘settle for survival’ as they see it.

Patience is rarely a part of modern day life, and it’s even less so in football.

But patience is also a must if clubs such as Stags are to continue growing and achieve their aims.

Without stackloads of cash a la Wrexham, a club like Mansfield simply cannot go out and buy five or six ready-made big-hitters in the summer transfer window to surge up the table.

The soon to be title-winning season hasn’t happened overnight, or by luck, over at Sincil Bank.

Lincoln have spent seven seasons now in League One and only made the play-offs twice during the last six campaigns.

They have fine-tuned and built, slowly but surely, to put that promotion-winning squad together, with wise moves in the transfer-market, hard work on the training ground and a squad of tight-knit players who bought into the philosophy.

The building blocks process is something that Nigel Clough has been doing very effectively down at the One Call with improvements evident to see during each of the last three seasons. The failed play-off bid of 22/23 was followed by promotion, before a 17th-placed finish in League One last time out and an enhanced points tally this season.

Some fans have been left somewhat frustrated by what they see as an overly cautious approach, but this season was always going to be about laying the defensive foundations needed to take the team forward.

In presser this week Clough spoke about how Stags’ analysis of the 2024/25 season showed a need to improve in the defensive third. Stags shipped a whopping 73 goals during that season. It’s been quite some turnaround with only Stevenage and Lincoln boasting a better record in the goals against column this season.

That solid base has seen Stags lose just six times on the road all season, the fourth joint best in the league, and lose just three of their last 20 games. Just take a moment to think about that and the bigger picture. If that doesn’t show a superb improvement I don’t know what does.

Critics will of course say the devil is in the detail and there are too many draws. It’s undeniable that 10 draws during those 20 games has held Stags back. The defeat at home to Peterborough is also one that really haunts.

Nigel is of course no fool and he knows only too well that he has to find that missing ingredient up top for Stags to kick on and challenge, saying in presser this week: “What we’ve got to do looking ahead now, is maintain that defensive solidity and get a few more goals and create a few more chances.

“We have done that at times but I don’t want the two to necessarily be at the expense of one another. If we’re going to be successful, we have to do both in equal measure.”

Attacking transfers will certainly take priority this summer, but fans shouldn’t expect mass arrivals with Nigel already suggesting tweaks to what is now a decent-squad will be the order of the day.

Bringing Championship football to the One Call Stadium for the first time since 1978 is a big big task, but Clough ended a two decade exodus from League One and there’s no reason why he can’t break this duck as well.

But to do that he needs time, patience and for the whole fanbase to get right behind Nigel and his boys.

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