Michael Skubala Closing in on Bristol City Job
Michael Skubala is closing in on the Bristol City job, and Lincoln City are bracing themselves for the end of a remarkable, if brief, chapter.
According to John Percy, negotiations between Skubala and the Championship club are ongoing, with a three-year deal close to being finalised. If it goes through, Lincoln will not just lose their head coach – they will lose the man with the second-best win percentage in the club’s history, and the architect of a season many around Sincil Bank would call their finest.
From distant interest to first choice
This has not been a straight line. Far from it.
When Bristol City first made contact a couple of weeks ago, it barely registered as a genuine threat. The approach felt tentative, a polite enquiry rather than a raid. That perception changed quickly.
The picture sharpened once James Ellis, a close friend of Skubala, took over as sporting director at Ashton Gate. Suddenly, this was not background noise. This was a live possibility, with a clear link between dugout and boardroom.
Then the door seemed to slam shut.
Bristol City moved for their preferred candidate, Tommy Elphick, last week. Inside the game, the expectation was that Elphick would take the job. Some reports even suggested Skubala was instead edging towards a new deal with Lincoln, a fresh contract to cement the progress he had made.
Then came the twist.
Elphick, it was reported, turned the role down, opting to remain at Dean Court under Bournemouth’s new manager. The move left Bristol City scrambling, their first-choice plan in tatters and their pre-season looming.
They went back to Skubala. Hard.
Talks accelerated on Wednesday, and there is now a growing sense that agreement has effectively been reached. If that holds, it would be a surprise to see Skubala leading Lincoln out for their pre-season friendlies.
Lincoln’s next move
So the focus shifts to Lincoln and what comes next.
This is not a club that lives week to week anymore. There is a structure, a strategy, and with that comes a succession plan. Every head coach appointment sits within a framework: lists drawn up, profiles matched, contingencies prepared. That is how Lincoln have operated in recent years, and it is why the expectation around the club is that a replacement will arrive quickly.
Speed, though, should not be mistaken for panic. The groundwork has been laid.
Inside the current setup, there is a compelling internal option. The idea of Tom Shaw and Chris Cohen stepping up appeals to many who have watched this staff work. Skubala’s regime has been built on collaboration rather than a single dominant voice, a coaching group rather than a one-man show. Promote from within, the argument goes, and you keep that culture intact.
Everyone shifts up a rung. The gap gets filled from below, not above.
A Brentford-style blueprint
The model is not new. Brentford have been the poster club for this kind of joined-up thinking.
Dean Smith transformed them, then left. They did not tear up the plan or chase a big name. They promoted Thomas Frank from within. Frank took them to the Premier League. When he moved on, they elevated set-piece coach Keith Andrews to head coach. The result? A club that has finished in the top ten of the Premier League in three of the last four seasons, without ever jumping on the managerial merry-go-round.
Continuity. Clarity. No scramble for a “name”, no desperate calls to the usual suspects.
Lincoln, on a different scale, have tried to build along similar lines. If they follow that path again, the next man in the dugout will arrive already fluent in the club’s language – the players, the owners, the expectations, the culture.
For now, Lincoln wait. Bristol City press on with their bid to land Skubala. One club looks to launch a new era in the Championship. The other stands on the brink of another reset on the touchline.
The question is not whether change is coming to Sincil Bank. It’s whether this moment becomes a disruption – or the next carefully planned step in Lincoln City’s rise.
