The Story of Lincoln City’s Promotion Miracle | Liam Scully

When we sit down with football club CEO’s, we hear about plans, ambitions, challenges, expectations. These are some of the most scrutinised jobs you could wish for, a privilege but also a huge responsibility. When Lincoln City shocked football this season, in what could only be described as romping to the League One title and therefore promotion to the Championship, getting their excellent CEO Liam Scully back in to talk us through this was an inevitability. We can embarrass Liam briefly, one of the most humble people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting in football. It was obvious from our first interview in October 2024 that this is an exceptional CEO and leader of football. But does that translate to the only success football truly understands: winning? That question has been answered. There’s been an operational discipline that would be the envy of many for a while; now they’ve added the performance to match. So how did Lincoln upset the sporting and business odds to achieve this? Let’s find out as we welcome Liam Scully back to the Business of Sport. ---------------------------------------------------- Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 01:20 – Promotion at Last: Delivering the Lincoln City Plan 02:42 – “Change the Game Until You Find One You Can Win” 07:13 – Building a Promotion Team on a Bottom-Third Budget 10:25 – Succession Planning Before Success Happens 14:06 – The Bold Decision to Appoint Two Head Coaches 18:13 – When the Squad Started Believing Promotion Was Real 24:12 – The Ownership Formula Behind Lincoln’s Rise 27:03 – Thinking Bigger: Stadium Investment & Long-Term Growth 31:01 – Championship Football: New Revenues, New Rules, New Challenges 34:19 – The Risk Balance: Staying Up Without Gambling the Club’s Future 37:26 – Football’s New Regulator: Opportunity or Burden? 39:13 – Keeping Fans Onside Through Massive Change 41:42 – The Emotional Promotion Parade That Stopped a City 46:21 – Championship Reality: Competing Against Football Giants 48:52 – Recruiting in the Championship vs League One 55:40 – Named England’s Most Efficient Football Club 01:00:23 – Innovation, Technology & Finding an Edge Without Big Money ---------------------------------------------------- Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1lD0eIj... Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast... Follow Harry Stebbings on X:   / harrystebbings   Follow Charlie Stebbings on X:   / charliestebbs   Follow Lincoln City FC on X:   / lincolncity_fc   Follow Business of Sport on Instagram:   / bizofsport   Follow Business of Sport on TikTok:   / bizofsport   ---------------------------------------------------- #businessofsport #charliestebbings #liamscully #lincolncity #football #championship #efl #ceo