Lincoln City F.C. - Rivals

Rivals

Lincoln City are one of two professional football clubs playing inside Lincolnshire. The other, Boston United are the closest professional club to Lincoln and are generally considered to be the club's main rivals, however both clubs have dropped out of the Football League in recent seasons meaning the county now has no representative clubs in the professional leagues. Rivalry between the two clubs intensified in 2002 when Boston were promoted to the Football League, however "The Pilgrims" would go on to suffer a series of relegations since dropping out of League Two in 2008. Other football clubs in Lincoln's geographical region include Scunthorpe United, Grimsby Town and Hull City from the counties of North Lincolnshire, North East Lincolnshire and Humberside respectively. All three clubs are viewed as local rivals, however all three clubs lie in towns further north around the boundaries of the Humber Estuary. These three clubs compete in the Humber Derby between themselves, generally meaning supporters view that as their natural local derby as opposed to playing against Lincoln City.

Peterborough United, Mansfield Town and York City are all clubs who have had some sort of local rivalry with The Imps in the past. The emergence of a cash rich Gainsborough Trinity who operate in the league below could spark a fresh rivalry, but usually games between the two have only normally been contested in pre-season friendlies. The two other clubs in the City of Lincoln, Lincoln United and Lincoln Moorlands Railway are further down the footballing pyramid and are not considered rivals.