Michael Appleton has made a steady start to life at Lincoln City since his arrival in September, but the former Oxford United manager has huge ambitions for the Imps during his tenure.

His side sit in 15^th place in Sky Bet League One and are 10 points ahead of Tranmere Rovers who occupy the final place in the bottom three. Appleton has certainly steadied a ship that looked destined to sink when Danny Cowley left the Imps to join Huddersfield Town at the start of September, with the Imps plummeting down the table. His calmness on the touchline has taken a little bit of getting used to by the Lincoln supporters when they were used to the frantic nature of the Cowley brothers.

Appleton has a completely different approach to his predecessor in almost every area possible in the game. Whilst Cowley was evolving an effective philosophy that had worked wonders during his tenure at Sincil Bank, Appleton had years of learning from some of the very best that English football had to offer. Although it was very clear that the Cowley brothers were making Lincoln City into a better footballing side than their reputation suggested, Appleton has almost taken that to another level.

The first few weeks of the Appleton reign could be described as difficult to watch for the majority of the Lincoln supporters, not because the performances or results were poor at all because Appleton guided the Imps to some incredible wins, but because the players were clearly going through transition. The former Oxford United manager clearly didn’t have enough time in his early stages to fully describe the way he wanted his side to play football, with many players making errors to never be seen again in an Imps shirt. Tom Pett being one of those players, a poor performance away at Gillingham was the last chance that Appleton was willing to give.

The former Manchester United man has built his own reputation in recent years as a manager to likes to bring in players from academies and expose them to a first team environment, for those same players to be sold on for big fees that would help the club remain sustainable. His time at Oxford epitomised just that with players such as Kemar Roofe, Callum O’Dowda and Josh Lundstram being just three of the players that he coached on their rise to the top. So, when the transfer window rolled around in January, Imps supporters were expecting young players to be brought in from bigger clubs who had a point to prove.

In many ways, those supporters were right. Three out of the 12 signings that he made were over the age of 22, with a host of young players being drafted in from Premier League academies. Tyreece John-Jules arrived from Arsenal, Timothy Eyoma from Tottenham and Connor Coventry and Liam Scully were drafted in from West Ham United. These players were highlighted by Appleton as players that could not only progress the football club but also these young talents so that a relationship between Lincoln and the various other clubs would go from strength to strength.

Although the way that Lincoln City were playing before the enforced break was far from perfect, with Appleton being the first person to admit that, but with his signings coming into use in recent weeks and the increased support from the Sincil Bank crowd, the football has been typical Michael Appleton. During the win against Burton Albion, the players understood when to play out from the back and on many occasions played immaculate football around both boxes with chances flowing which would end in Lincoln outscoring their opponents.

But with the enforced break, and Lincoln already destined to confirm their place in League One for next season, the supporters are questioning what is next. This was the club's first venture into England’s third tier since the turn of the Millennium and to have stayed up as comfortably as they seem to have done was the aim set by Danny and Nicky Cowley at the start of the campaign. Bad runs and results have dictated how close they have been to the bottom three, but many Lincoln fans will believe that there are three worse teams than them in the division.

The football club showed a lot of faith and ambition in Appleton when he was appointed, with him signing a deal until the summer of 2023. Talking to the Stacey West Podcast back in December, Appleton spoke of ambitions and where he wants to football club to be come the end of his current contract, he stated that he wanted Lincoln City to be a Championship club. A highly ambitious statement considering that Lincoln spent the majority of the last decade dwelling in the fifth tier on English football. The Championship was always a pipe dream for when the Cowley’s were in charge but they were an ambitious management team and Appleton has seen from his short spell at the club that they have the fanbase and facilities to find themselves in the second tier.

In the short term, Appleton will be looking to consolidate his side’s position in League One over the next few seasons and will be scouting potential new signings that could fast-track that progress and move them into the Championship sooner than anticipated.

Next season certainly looks key for the Imps as they attempt to become competitive in League One both on and off the pitch.